New Pictures

So, Little Pumpkin (affectionately shortened to pumpkin) says Hi! I am sorry I didn't get back here on Monday to share the story of how we told our families. I've let myself become distracted by the fact that I need to clean and other daily activities that I have yet to catch up on.

But, if I don't post today I may have my families jump through the phone to rip my head off as I had a new ultrasound done for a fetal growth study I'm participating in at MUSC. Needless to say, people are ready to see more pictures.

So, I had originally called my family and told them to come down for my Senpai award ceremony on Saturday. And that was the guise to get them here. Chad called behind me to all of his family in the area and my family and asked them to come down for a "surprise" birthday party for me since I already had one event going on it would be perfect and I would have that Saturday off anyway.

But, it obviously wasn't really a surprise party, as I was helping to plan it. Needless to say, I could type out the soap opera it was to plan - because it was fun and I enjoyed it very much- but I'll save that for later. My mom swears she's going to pay Chad back for this. The only problem with that is it was my idea (which, Chad pointed out to her, but it doesn't seem to matter.)

So, my family came to my awards ceremony and the members of Chad's family that could be here went with him to set up for the party. We were all playing games trying to make sure that the other didn't find out information before necessary and at one point I had to stall my family so we wouldn't arrive at the party location before Chad had set it up! (That was interesting, my mom is trying to get me back out the door after changing my clothes and I'm trying to take my sweet time by writing down movie times and in general being a slow poke!)

We got to the location (Cypress Gardens) and Chad and James met us in the parking lot, giving a story about going to a new room that Chad and I had never been to before (because it was new) and I was surprised by the party guests, particularly that I was not expecting Daniel and Kat to be there (her schedule is as crazy as mine). Although, we made our families wonder if Chad was mentally stable because the room was decorated for fall.

Chad and I didn't keep everyone is suspense much longer, partially because I had already been directly asked by my mom if I was pregnant (she says I looked different that the last time she had seen me, even in my most unflattering gi) and partially because it wasn't fair to Chad to make people wait longer (he hasn't been able to talk to anyone about this)

So, we handed out our party favors - candy corn for most, and for the grandparents and great grandfather (and Daniel and Kat) we handed them a box with the first ultrasound picture (that you saw in Saturday's post) and a note above that saying "Surprise! Our little pumpkin is due on October 10." And the mom's burst into tears at that point shocked and excited that I was that far along.

After that we enjoyed the party and had a wonderful time. And my thanks goes out to those of our friends that helped it be a party and helped us tell our parents!

We figured this would be the one time we could have fun and surprise everyone so we took that opportunity.

The one other thing I'll tell you about is the nickname for this one is Little Pumpkin and that is for a specific reason in my head. You see, the babies at work - I call them Little Ones. I go to work to take care of the Little Ones. My baby is not allowed to be a Little One. Therefore, being due in October, Little Pumpkin is the nickname I've settled on. It's definitely stuck already.

But, enough talking. Here are the rest of the pictures from today's ultrasound. Enjoy!