The secret is out!

After 16 years (to include 7 years of marriage), we are finally ready for the next phase of our life.  Jimmy and I are going to have a baby!  We are so excited and ready to be parents.  This baby has been wanted and loved long before it was even conceived.

We found out on December 22nd and only told our immediate family and a few close friends.  It's been such a hard secret to keep!  I had a feeling all that week that I was pregnant, so decided to take a test one morning.  Jimmy was at work when I took the test and I freaked out when it was positive.  I took 3 more just to be sure!  I wrapped all the tests up in a little gift box.  I didn't want to tell Jimmy over the phone, so I begged him to come home early from work, so he did.  I sat him on the couch and told him that the kitties had an early Christmas gift for him.  He unwrapped the box, saw the positive tests and we just hugged and cried.  It was such a great moment in our lives. 

We've given our baby the nickname "MJ." A dear friend came up with it and it stands for either "mini Jimmy" or "Mary junior." We are so excited.

It's funny because we had always planned, since we were teenagers, to start a family when I was 30. Well, baby MJ is due on September 3rd, just 4 days shy of my 30th birthday. When we started trying (yes, this was planned), we weren't expecting it to happen so fast, but I guess you can't plan everything ;0)

The baby will be born at the National Naval Medical Center (Bethesda) in DC, which is also known as "the President's Hospital" since that's where the President receives medical care.  We thought it was very fitting for our first child to be born there, ha ha ha. 

Here are some pics from my first sonogram at 9 weeks. Right now, I'm at about 12 weeks. We'll find out the gender in late April!