Announcing Baby B!

In case you've just tuned in, Baby B is short for Baby Bedinghaus. As in the tiny raspberry sized baby growing inside of me. Yup, we're having a baby! Our baby -- the Lord's precious gift to us that we are only beginning to comprehend and love.

Basically it started with some good soul searching and determining that we are never going to be in the place we think we should be to have a baby. Rob will be in school for what seems like forever, our debt is still there, we don't know when we'll own a house, etc., etc. Considering the biblical mandate God gives us to be fruitful and multiply we thought, well, lets go on an adventure and submit this to God and see what happens. That was around the end of December. I'm nine weeks along. You do the math. Obviously God decided it was our time!

Then we had some special mommy and daddy time and then there was this:

We had to get the one with words, just to make sure

Then there was a lot of jumping around and freaking out by us. And then we got to plan how to tell our families which was just the best because we knew this was going to be a huge surprise to them. In case you don't know, this baby will be the first grandchild on both sides so yea, you can imagine the reaction.

We were so thankful that the Yoder family ski trip got pushed back from January to mid-February (see previous post -- and about that, I actually didn't ski that weekend. Most of the photos are from my cousin Kristal. I had to make it seem like I did ski so no one would be suspicious! I apologize for any deception this may have caused) so we could tell everyone in person. We celebrated my mom's birthday that weekend so decided to wrap up this for her:

I wish we had that moment on camera when she figured it out. Priceless. More freaking out and crying ensued. Such a special moment though with my family being there.

She's going to be such a great grandma!

More freaking out came later on Sunday of that weekend when we stopped by Rob's family to tell them. Since Kayla (Rob's youngest sister) has a birthday right around when I'm due we thought we'd do the same doll idea and give it to her as an early, random birthday gift. Kayla loves random things so it was an easy sell.

When she finally figured out she was going to be an aunt there was more joyous celebration.

I went to the doctor today and everything looks good. He actually tried to find the heartbeat (apparently it's easy on skinny girls -- point for being skinny!) but no luck. That is not a cause for concern though because it is so early and he didn't expect to find it. I will have a real ultrasound on March 31st. I'm due the first week of October, we are not finding out what we're having and no, we're not sharing any names. :) You'll just have to wait to meet him or her!

Ahhh. It's almost uncomprehendable to me that this is my life now. That I am so deeply responsible for another life and one that is so tiny and fragile. It has been an amazing journey so far as I've walked through a miscarriage of a dear friend recently and now our own blessing. Bittersweet in some ways, but so rich too because I'm already starting to grasp how as a mother I am only going to be a steward of something that truly belongs to the Lord from before time began. My friend has helped me realize this and I feel her spirit and the connection we have helping me understand the frailty and preciousness of human life. There is no guarantee I will carry this baby to full-term, but oh I hope so. The hope and promise this child gives me is unbelievable and I desperately want to be it's mother for a very long time.

Thank you for sharing in our lives and our joy! Please pray for us as we continue to grasp what it means to be parents (do you ever really figure that out?!) and what it means to bring life into this world. We are thrilled at this adventure.