One year ago today...

...we found out we were going to have a baby!!!

And here she is one year later!!!!

July 25 will always be remembered as the day our lives were forever altered! We thought we were happy then, but we had no idea the absolute joy Reese Elizabeth would bring us! And I soooo knew it was a girl from day one!

I don't know if I ever blogged about the day we found out so here goes...

I was still on nights and had worked all week. I had Friday and Saturday off. On Friday (the 24th) we went over to Aaron and Worth Anne's for dinner and a movie or something like that. I was 2 days late and SOOO NERVOUS!!! We had just started trying the month before and I thought there was NO WAY it would happen that quick! I couldn't even concentrate on the movie! We decided to take a test the next morning. I still didn't believe there was any way I could possibly be pregnant.

The next morning I popped out of bed bright and early. The only symptom I had was constant peeing!!!! Andrew came into the bathroom and I nervously peed on that stick. I was shaking!!! I capped the stick and then practically threw it at Andrew b/c I couldn't even bear to look at it! He walked over to the tub to look at it while I washed my hands. I walked over to him as he was waiting for results. It was one of those ones with the 2 lines. I was still shaking!

He looked at me with a disappointed face and said "Babe, I'm sorry. There's only 1 line." I said "That's ok, I didn't think it would be positive." I took the test from him to inspect it myself and was shocked to see a 2nd line rapidly getting darker and darker. I infamously screamed "There's another line!!!!!" He grabbed it back from me and said "Oh my gosh you're right!" We stood there in disbelief staring at 2 very dark lines- obviously a positive pregnancy test! There was no way that thing was a false positive!

So I snatched the test back and started pacing the bathroom. The bathroom got very small so I proceeded to pace the house! I couldn't stop staring at my positive pregnancy test! Surely it couldn't be that easy! I suddenly decided that we must get more tests! So off to Starbucks we raced to get some coffee. We stopped at CVS on the way home to pick up a pack of those digital tests. I thought surely that test would be the ultimate decider.

So we get back home and I pace some more and wait until I have to pee again. Fast forward- I have to pee again! We run to the bathroom and repeat the whole sequence of events from an hour or so ago and wait. We both stare at the test like 2 kids on Christmas morning as the little hour glass thingy ticks down the seconds and suddenly...PREGNANT pops up!!! I screamed! Andrew high fived me! WE WERE PREGNANT!!!!!!

Andrew suddenly had the urge to mow the lawn- don't ask me why. So while he did that I jumped on baby center to figure out my due date! I was 4 weeks and 1 day and due April 2. I couldn't believe I was only 4 weeks! Man, April 2 felt so far away. But I LOVED that my due date was April 2. I have a thing for even numbers and I love the month of April. It is both of our birthdays and the month we met!

We went out to lunch at San Francisco Oven and went and made a shirt that said "I'm gonna be a cousin" to give to Mack later that night. I wanted to wait to start telling people, but Andrew could not wait to tell his brother! I agreed we could tell them if we could wait until our first doctor's appointment to tell the rest of the fam. We went to the pool with the other Herrells and then went over to their house and gave Mack his "present". They quickly got it and were soooo happy for us! We had a cook out that night to celebrate!

And the rest is history! The past year crawled by at times, but wow here we are a year later with a precious 3 month old! They say the days are long, but the years are short and I totally agree. She is amazing and wonderful in every way and I can't believe we didn't even know she existed until July 25, 2009. In some way it feels like she has always been here with us. I have heard people say that before and never really understood what it meant, but now I do.

So happy 1 year anniversary to us of finding out that we were blessed by God with the most precious gift of Reese Elizabeth!