Our Pregnancy Story

Before this little guy graces us with his presence in about a month or so, I thought I'd share a little of our pregnancy.  (And just a warning: it's not too glamorous or exciting, but it is his story and ours, and that makes it all the more special to us.)

We had discussed, prayed and planned to try to get pregnant for awhile.  I'm too Type-A to have anything happen on the fly, so this was on the radar for a long time.  Mr. Bergstrom and I just felt like the time was right too, we had purchased a house, I was going part-time at the theater and our sweet brother and sister-in-law had just told us they were expecting.  To physically prep for pregnancy, I went on Weight Watchers and lost 15 pounds, as well as, started taking prenatal vitamins to get my body completely ready for a baby.

It was July 2011 and I decided that I wanted to wait at least 5 weeks before I took a pregnancy test, that way I could see if I got a period and feel like the test was more accurate, having waited longer than 4 weeks.  I set a date and would count down with Bergstrom, "Two more days until I take the test, "Tomorrow morning I'm going to take it..."  On the planned day, I woke up and immediately took the test.  It was 6:30 in the morning, I'm looking like a zombie with bedhead and Bergstrom's in his underwear. (Sorry,babe)  I took the test and walked out and told him, "It's positive."  It was so immediate.  He couldn't believe it.  I couldn't believe it.  We were pregnant.  We hugged and began our day beaming from the inside out.

We decided to tell only a few close friends and our siblings right away.  Bergstrom's parents were coming in town in a few weeks and we wanted to wait to tell them and my parents in person all together.  It was incredibly hard to keep the secret.  I remember two weeks before our 'big announcement' I had lunch with my mom.  I was about 5 weeks and she looks at me across the table at Pei Wei and says, "You look so good, so beautiful today."  "Uh, thanks, Mom.  It's Weight Watchers." (BIG LIE!  I had stopped Weight Watchers once I found out I was pregnant.)

So, fast forward to August 27th.  We planned to go out to eat with both of our parents.  Our hearts were pounding.  B and I had talked about and planned what we were going to do, going to say and it was all up to him.  I was going to let him spill the beans.  It was torturous.  We were there for at least 20 minutes before our food arrived and B offered to say a blessing over the food.  I don't remember his exact words, but it went something like this, " Dear Lord, thank you for this food and for allowing us to have this time together with our parents.  We ask a blessing on the food and ask that they will not scream too loudly when we tell them they're going to be grandparents come April."  I'm pretty sure there was no "Amen," just a round of squeals and hugging and some tears.  We produced the ultrasounds that I had just had done and everything is a bit of a blur from there.  Luckily I snapped some pictures:

We're a pretty happy, excited family, can't you tell?  This little one is going to be so loved and spoiled its not even funny.

29 Years Old Today!

The Tradition Continues - 4 years

January 5, 2012

January 5, 2011

January 5, 2010

 

January 5, 2009

January 5, 2008

Merry Christmas from us!

Here's a little joke for my fellow ADP cohorts, "From Us to You with Love!"

This Christmas season has been interesting for many reasons:
1. Working at a church around Christmas, puts a new spin on things
2. House to decorate
3. Our first real Christmas tree
4. Performing in a mainstage Christmas show with 16 child actors. Eek!
5. Finding warm clothes to cover the little baby bump! (And I realize, I haven't offically announced that news to the blog world, but, yep, I'm 5 months pregnant! Guess I should do a blog about that, huh?)
6. Dog sitting Yoda and Caramel for the Watkins

All of these things have pros and cons and I have experienced them all this season. Unfortunately, the cons have made some white Christmas days blue, but we always stay optimistic around the holidays, right?

Jen and I just had a conversation how it is just so hard to keep up with soceity's idea of what we should look like, act like and do during Christmas. Normal, every-day life is hard enough, but throw in presents, baking, shopping and work and WHAM!...you're skating on thin ice of insanity!

A woman I'm performing in the Christmas show with told me that they don't decorate, don't do presents, don't do anything typical, so that they can really focus on Christ and celebrating the Nativity each Christmas. WOW! I was taken a little aback when I heard that. No tree? No lights? No wrapping paper? Initially, I felt sad for her and her family, but then I was totally reminded that that's probably what it SHOULD be for Christians. That's why I love Charlie Brown Christmas so much, Linus reads Luke 2 and then says, "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

As I spend my last Christmas without a child, I hope and pray that I can always take a minute to breath into my soul the true meaning of Christmas. I hope you'll do the same. If not, what's the point of the whole season any ways.

Love to you and yours!

Home Sweet Home: the exterior

On June 28th, Mr. B and I closed on our very first house.  We had a nice relator (recommended from church members) and an even AWESOMER (yes, I'm using that word) loan officer, Erna Hay at Cornerstone Mortgage (also recommend to us from a friend).

If I can back up a bit, I should say that this decision was not taken lightly.  We obviously saved, planned and prayed about it for...well...since we got married.  It has always been a dream of mine to own a home.  Of course, my dreams were pretty big: River Oaks, 5 bedrooms, pool, etc.  (Cue the laughter.)  Yeah, pretty big.  But my dreams were happily fulfilled with our little one-story, 3 bedrooms, 1500 sq ft house in Katy.

The process went so smoothly from loan approval, searching to closing.  When we found it, it was on the second visit out house hunting.  B saw the house on har.com and said it had only been on the market for a few days.  We immediately contacted our relator and because we were so eager, she wasn't available to show us the house that weekend, so we went with her assistant.  Our prayer was that if it was the right house, we'd know.  Well, you can guess what happened...

Our house was in wonderful condition with a new roof and new a/c. And was only on the market a week before we put in an offer. Perfect size for a small family and in a location that was very family friendly.  The price was right and we just had good vibes the moment we walked through the door. 

So enough talk, here are some shots of our exterior:

 (Didn't really do too much with the exterior.  Added the flag and front door wreath.  YAY for finally having a garage to pull in to.  I'm thinking of painting the door red.  How fun would that be?  Also, please pardon the grass.  Texas has experienced the worst drought in it's history.)

(The view from our front door, a middle school.  Some people might not like it but we love seeing the guys practice football and the parents picking up their kids.  So far, traffic is not a problem.  They're in school before we even head out.  Plus, it's comforting knowing the school police are always near.)

 (Our spacious backyard.  Below the trees they had an amazing swingset for their two boys.  We were hoping they would leave it since those things are hard to transport, but alas.  A family friend is giving us his old grill, so I can wait to hang out back here and smell the burgers cookin'.)

So that's the exterior of our home.  Come on over if you're in the area!

Don't Hate Me Blogworld

I know, I know.  Who am I and what am I doing here?  Well, this IS my blog after all and I thought I'd dust off a few LOT of cobwebs that have been collecting here for the past few months.  And trust me, I hear you all thinking, "Well, it's about time!" or "WHAT?!?!  She's still alive?"  All I can say is, I have some mighty good excuses which I promise to reveal in these next few posts.

EXCUSE #1 - We moved!!
Yep, we moved out of our cute apartment to live the suburban life.  We had lived in #43D for three and a half years and really loved it.  The complex is made up of individually owned apartments, so a lot of older residents retire there, aka quite neighbors.  The location within the complex was perfect for Mr. B and me because it was in the middle, next to a swimming pool.  (Ironically though, we never ONCE swam in the pool.)

And in honor of us moving out of #43D, I took some pictures of what we will and will NOT miss about this apartment.

1. The frig door opened right against the wall.  Now imagine, when I took this picture, my butt was up against the counter.  Every time we opened the frig door, we I (cus B is so skinny) had to do the "shrinking woman/suck in gut" trick.

My dad looked at it to see if it was a reversable frig door, but, alas, it wasn't.  For 3 1/2 years, we put up with maneuvering around our little two person kitchen.  Heaven forbid we have people over because we had to practically do a sign in/sign out list of people who could be in the kitchen at one time.

On a happier note: I did like the red and white checkered wallpaper.  A little retro.  A little fun.

2. The next thing that I will not miss is the handle on our toilet.

 We had to hold the handle on the toilet to make sure that it flushed, but then, make sure that it didn't stick and stay down.  When this happened it would just run and run.

I felt a little bad for company because on a few embarrassing occasions, someone would come up to me and say, "I couldn't get the toilet to flush."  I also had my supersonic ears on whenever someone came over, because inevitably, the handle for stick and the toilet would be running forever.

3. During the first two years, our thermostat would not stay on "automatic."  It would either be "On" or "Off."  That basically meant it was either a sauna or iceberg.  In all honesty, we didn't care too much.  We weren't flipping the electric bill, but it did cause some uncomfortable nights of either being too hot or too cold.

I will say, when new management took over, they did replace the thermostat which solved all problems.   (sigh) I will miss not paying electricity though.

Just a few things that I will and will not miss.  Like I said, Jason and I had some awesome times in the apartment and I'm sure, like most couples, the first place you live together will always be special and memorable.

So, where did we move to you ask?  Well....WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!  (cheers and firecrackers)  We love our little home and pictures and a tour are coming soon.  In the meantime here is a little sneak peak:

Pretty exciting, huh?  See, I told you I had a good excuse!

Nice to see you again blogworld!

To clarify

After reading my blog, my beloved thought I should clarify and stop any potential rumors of my being pregnant. Nope, sorry, not with child.

What I would like to share is that this Thursday, we are meeting with a loan officer/broker on beginning the process of buying a house. (Wow, so weird to actually write that.) I guess it wouldn't be "beginning the process" since we've already been pre-qualified and such. On Thursday we're going to finally meet with them, face to face, and go over the condition of the loan.

It's very scary and very exciting. I've dreamed of a place of my own for a long time, probably ever since I first saw that little cottage and the illustrations in the book Amy the Dancing Bear by Carly Simon.

The illustrations are fabulous in this book that I hardly ever read the book. The basic story is that Amy doesn't want to go to bed. She wants to stay up and dance. She convinces her mother to let her stay up with different excuses, "the moon is just at the right spot in the sky," or "the fireflies are glowing outside my window." Reluctantly, her mother agrees each time by saying, "When I get finished with the dishes..." or "By the time I'm done with my bath...."

Because they are bears, their cottage is very log cabin-esque. Hanging vines and flowers are in each room and comfort and romance ooze through this book. LOVE IT!

I can't wait to have my own romantic, cozy cottage. And someday, I too will have my own little "Amy bear" to dance with...