It's been a while....

Wow!  Where do I start?
Last time I blogged was January 2011!
     Okay well the biggest news of all: WE ARE EXPECTING!!! Our sweet little bundle is due around Thanksgiving time this year.  It is definitely something to be thankful for.  We are having a little baby girl and couldn't be happier.  We had been trying for about three years.  Fertility treatments, medications and still nothing.  Finally, one day I turned to Daniel out of the blue and stated that I was done with the doctor visits.  The poking and prodding and labs and tests.  I was starting to feel like a pin cushion!  We both agreed that we weren't going to do any more of these tests and that God will bless us with a child when we were ready, in His time... Not ours.  We figured that if we didn't have our own by the time we were thirty, we would start looking into adoption.  Well, six months later, of no stress and just being us, we became pregnant!
     It was kind of funny how it all happened.  We were getting ready for church one Sunday morning in March and we were surprisingly ready early for once.  We decided to go to Starbucks to pick up some coffee because I LOVE my caffeine.  On the way back, maybe a mile from our house, I started feel insanely nauseated.  We had to go back to our house because I was feeling I was going to vomit.  I turned to Daniel in the car and said, "Maybe I'm pregnant."  His response: "Maybe."  As we had had this conversation so many times and I had taken so many tests, it was a natural 'not getting our hopes up' response.  So we went home, I didn't vomit but after a few minutes felt better enough to go to church.
     I didn't think about it for most of the day.  We just did our normal thing around the house.  Around the afternoon, I needed to use the restroom.  I figured I would just take a test but I knew the results.  It was going to be negative.  Daniel had just started vacuuming the house.  I was washing my hands and looked down to see something I had never seen before...  The test said PREGNANT!  I was so used to the tests saying NOT in front of that I didn't know if my eyes were playing tricks on me.  I SCREAMED at the top of my lungs for Daniel to come to me.  He must have thought I had fallen in the toilet!  I was shaking and pointed to the test.  He looked, got a huge grin on his face and said, "Congratulations mommy."  I started bawling then.  Thanking God and hugging my wonderful husband.  I couldn't believe it.  I had NEVER had a positive test before.  I of course took about four or five more within the next few days just to make sure. :)
     As of right now, I am 23 weeks and 5 days along in this pregnancy.  We found out a week or so ago that we are having a baby girl.  We are beyond ecstatic!  We are so happy to be making room in our little house for a little person.  I know that she is definitely going to be a daddy's girl.  Daniel is going to be an amazing father and I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life and to guide our child toward the right path.  Our baby girl and I are so blessed to have him in our lives.
     Other than that amazing news in our lives:  I worked at a retail store from May 2011 to July 2012.  I am going to school full time right now and the job plus school on top of being pregnant was getting to me.  Too much!  I will be earning my BA in Social Sciences in October 2012 which is just a few weeks before baby is due.  Excellent timing! 
     Daniel is working like a mad man as usual.  He just came home from a eleven week deployment so we are happy to be a family all together again.  Our dogs are spoiled rotten as usual.  They are so happy that their dad is back!
     We will be having visitors soon down here in California!  My oldest sister, Devonne, her husband and their two boys are coming to visit at the end of August.  We are so excited to have them come down here and see new and different things.  I am already planning on San Fran and Napa.  I am going to be DD of course. :) Right after Devonne and her family head home, at the beginning of September, my dad and step-mom are moving from Washington to Arizona.  So a definite pit stop at the Denmans is a must.  At the very end of September, Daniel and I are driving to Washington to visit family and friends.  Devonne is throwing a huge baby shower for us which I am so excited about.  She is the crafty artsy fartsy one in the family so I know she is going to make it amazing!  Once we get home, my good friend in California, is going to throw me another baby shower.  We are definitely blessed to have so many people wanting to celebrate this little one with us.
     Our lives are so full of amazing people and love that I can't believe it sometimes.  We are so amazed at the outpouring love that each of you have given us throughout the years.  We love you all and are so blessed to know you.  Thank you!
-Love always, Emma