Baby Time!!!!

So it has been a while since I last blogged, but I have some big news, incase you haven’t heard….I’m going to be a daddy! I have known for quite a while now but have just gotten the opportunity to get on here and blog about it. We are ten weeks this week and it is such an incredible time.

Ashleigh and I were babysitting Tripp one night and we were just sitting on the couch playing with him, and Ash looked over at me and smiled. I said, “what are you smiling about”, and she said, “I can’t hold it in anymore”….not having any idea what she was talking about I asked, and she said, “look in the bag next to couch”. So I picked up this little white bag and looked inside. When I moved the tissue, there was some baby stuff that said stuff like I love my daddy, and stuff like that. It also had two positive pregnancy tests in it! Apparently my brain didn’t want to believe it, because I just kept saying, “are you serious? Are you serious? Are you serious?...it was quite hysterical.

So we kept everything a secret for about 3 weeks, because we wanted to wait until we were a little bit further along before we told anyone. But then the day came to finally tell our parents. So we first went to have Sunday lunch with my parents. After the meal we went over to her parents house, because Ashleigh hadn’t seen her mom in a couple of days, or at least that was our excuse. When we got there we started talking to Lori, and Ash’s sister Britt came in and told us that her and her boyfriend Chad had just finished their Christmas tree and they wanted us to come look at it. So we got Ash’s dad and we all went in to the bonus room to “look at the tree”. While we were just standing there, Ash handed her mom a bag, and said, “I found this for you the other day and it made me think of you”. Nobody really thought anything about so we just kept talking while Lori opened the bag. Inside was a mug that said something about grandchildren being precious. Lori looked at us and said, “Your not pregnant are you?”. We said, “yes”. She said “no your not”. And we said, “yes” and everyone got excited. There were hugs and tears. Everyone was so excited for us.

So after we left their house we went straight to my parents house. We came in and acted like I had left my wallet somewhere. Well my mom was in her sewing room upstairs, so before she came down, I hid our video camera in a corner in the kitchen because I knew when she found out she would be hysterical to watch. So when she came downstairs, I “found my wallet” and we went into the kitchen. I gave her my “Christmas list” and told her to look over it and see if it was “ok”. You have to understand that my mother hates my Christmas list every year. She will literally sit there and mark off things that she would “never buy for me”. So of course she looks at the list and starts to mark stuff off. Well she gets to the bottom of the first page and says, “James I’m not going to buy any of this crap”…well when she flipped to the next page it said, “baby stuff….a crib, diapers, Merry Christmas Grandmother”…well when she read it, she did exactly what I expected…she screamed….and screamed….and screamed….and screamed. I went to hug her and she went to Ashleigh. Pretty funny.

As funny as it was to watch her scream, it was really heartwarming to watch. She has wanted to be a grandmother….well basically since she found out she was adopting me.

So a couple of weeks went by and we had our first doctor’s appointment. It was so much fun. The anticipation and joy that was going on that day was overwhelming. We got to have our first ultrasound, and the doctor said everything looked great. We got to hear the little heartbeat which was at 178 beats per minute which they said was really strong. And that’s what made it real to me…to hear the little heartbeat and realize that my child is actually there and growing inside Ashleigh. It is still a little overwhelming, but you have no idea how excited I am and how thankful I am that God has given me this opportunity. To father a child and raise it, and to use the child as an opportunity to give glory to God. I just thank Him so much for it.

Ash’s morning sickness has been pretty bad. Pretty much 24 hours a day. She has good days and sometimes we are just thankful when she has a good couple of hours. As hard as it is on her, the doctor told us that her feeling sick is a good thing for the baby, so in our own little way we are thankful for her sickness.

I hope that you will all pray for us as we go through this experience. Pray for us to be prepared to the best of our abilities, pray for the health of the baby. Pray for Ashleigh and I, that we will prepare our hearts, our minds, our spirits, and just pray that we will be the parents we are meant to be. Our next appointment is December 31st. I will try to put up another blog after that just to give everyone updates.

Be an example.