The Big News is out...

And if you haven't heard...

After holding in our secret for many weeks, Jeremiah and I are excited to let everyone know our family will be expanding. We are excited to see what the Lord has for us, and we are anxious over the upcoming task of being parents. We feel truly blessed to have "one on the way."

I was actually pregnant when my niece Pippa was born - it was fun to hold a new baby, knowing that I was carrying one of our own. Jeremiah and I held in the secret while family stayed at our house after Pippa's birth. But we are very glad that we can let all of you in on the excitement now.

We had told our parents a few weeks ago, and they have been bursting to share the good news. (I will share how we told them soon). But Thursday, was the day that the news started to spread. Since I am now entering my second trimester, we decided that it was time to start filling in our family. We were able to share the news with our grandparents, letting them know that they will have another great-grandchild very soon. From there, the news spread to aunts and uncles and cousins. Friday morning, the news went public on Facebook. (It seems nothing is official these days until it is posted on Facebook.)

I knew that I wanted to do something fun to share our news. My creative sister Amy helped me come up with a plan to incorporate our last name (Cook) into the announcement. After setting the table with some selected pieces of my beloved Fiesta dishes, I knew that I needed something else to make the table seem more "baby friendly." Amy suggested some Cheerios thrown about the table setting - and that seemed to do the trick. Luckily, my neighbor had a small spoon, a bottle that matched the plates, and a hand full of cereal for me to borrow.

It took me a while to find the magic angle for the photograph. I stood on our table...I stood on our chairs...I tried lots of things to make sure that I was not in the reflections on the spoons or plates.  Finally, I settled on 4 images that I liked...

In the end, everyone loved the font and image in the bottom right corner best. And I think it is fun to note that is the same font I used for all of our wedding invitations and programs and such (You can download Pharmacy for free here).

For those who are wondering, we are 14 weeks along. I have had 2 great doctor's visits and everything looks great. I was able to hear and see the little heartbeat again on Tuesday - it was so neat to notice the difference from the first ultrasound (at 9 weeks). This last visit, I could see the face cavity and the spine. Our God is truly amazing! The little peanut is growing so fast! I do believe our baby is now the size of a lemon (3 1/2 inches). I am feeling much better now that I am entering the second trimester, but I must admit an afternoon nap always sounds like a good idea.

I am not craving anything too strange, but I am currently in love with Wasabi Peas, peanuts, string cheese, pickles, M&M's and peanut butter. And Jeremiah doesn't mind when I have an occasional Krispy Kreme or Zaxby's craving.

And...I am finally able to make my baby Pinterest board public - I have been secretly saving links and ideas for weeks. You can check out some of my findings here. However, we are waiting 6 more weeks to find out the gender before any real plans are made.

The day after I told my parents, my mom and I found a Diaper Genie at Target for $7 - marked down only because that store didn't sell that version. And my mother in law found a Jenny Lind changing table for me for FREE!

So, I guess that you can say we have the diaper changing station almost ready. I am on the hunt for a dresser of some kind to paint. And I would LOVE to find a Jenny Lind crib at a really great price (or better yet...for free). I am so excited to not have to search for these items in secret any more.

Again, we are so blessed and so excited to see what God has in store for our family. We appreciate your prayers!

"Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him."  Psalm 127:3