Our wonderful, awesome, terrifying, fantastic news

Kristin and I are expecting a baby sometime around January 28th.

There - it's out. *phew* We've been keeping this news to ourselves for a few weeks now, since the first trimester is such a touch-and-go time for most pregnancies. We discovered that to our grief in March: our first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage at the end of the month. But so far this pregnancy seems to be going well. We had our 10 week ultrasound on Wednesday of this past week, and we actually saw the baby flailing its arms and kicking its legs. Okay, so they're 'buds,' not actually arms or legs, but hey, our baby is moving!

As you can imagine, we're excited and terrified all at the same time. Becoming parents is a step we've anticipated since we first met, but now that the day is hopefully drawing near, we're just praying God will give us all that we need to be good parents to our little one. It helps that we are surrounded by friends and family who are doing many of the things we would like to do for our kids - we can watch and learn from some good role models!

I was going to post a pic of the ultrasound, but I haven't scanned the picture yet. Hopefully I'll get that posted in a few days.

Kristin is not particularly enjoying the pregnancy. She's struggling with even more dietary issues than normal. Her gall bladder has apparently decided to go on strike in protest of the changing work environment; the least bit of greasy or fatty food sets off reactions that aren't pleasant at all. She's had a lot of nausea, but no vomiting yet. "Morning sickness" is such a lie - it's more just "sickness" in our case. AND Kris is gaining weight very quickly, which is healthy, but Kris is worried about losing it afterwards. I've told her she can marathon train with me when the baby is born, but she just throws stuff at me when I say it. I'll tell you, between dealing with nausea, diarrhea, irritability and a lack of sleep, this pregnancy has been nothing but an inconvenience for me. :-)

In other news, Kris is bound for San Antonio tomorrow with a busload of high school kids. They're going to the ELCA National Youth Gathering, and are we ever praying for a calm stomach for Kris over the next 10 days. For me, it'll be 10 days of watching the movies I like (horror & sci-fi, mostly) and wondering why the house is so quiet. I already miss my beloved and Lumpy, our impending arrival. Please pray for safe travel!

Scotty