Little Guy on the way!

Ray and I found out on October 30th that I was pregnant.  Since I had just gone off the pill at the end of September, I had been taking a HPT every weekend in October to make sure it was safe to drink...after all, we had a UT tailgate one weekend and a NASCAR race another weekend!  Well, the last weekend in October, I took about 5 tests before I could convince myself that there were two pink lines.  We still didn't want to get too excited until we had the doctor's confirmation.  We went for the first ultrasound on December 1st and we got to see that, indeed, we had a baby on the way!  We were thrilled!  That night, we took our "Little Guy" to his/her first concert.

So little!

We're gonna be parents!!
(Justin Moore @ Western Carolina)

We decided we would wait a while before telling anyone so it could be our special time.  We ended up (unexpectedly) telling my parents when they took us out to dinner because my mom asked if I was pregnant.  She asked because I wasn't drinking any wine at dinner.  Haha!  Naturally, we wanted to tell Ray's parents soon after, so we made a special trip to Knoxville to share the news.  We waited until Christmas with family to tell my sisters and a week later to tell friends.  This is such an exciting time and we feel extremely blessed to have so many people supporting us!

Here are the first few belly shots...  let's see how long I can keep wearing my jeans! ;)

12 Weeks

13 Weeks

14 Weeks

Snow on January 3rd

I forgot to add the pictures of the first snow of this Winter.  I had to go in for an optional Teacher Work Day (school was cancelled for a day), but Ray was off and took Fancy out to play.  He snapped these photos.

Front yard

Delayed update!

I am the worst at keeping up with a blog.  Maybe I'll do better now that our secret is out!  I plan on posting weekly pregnancy updates.  Let me catch you up real quick...

Getting a real Christmas tree was a must for our first Christmas in the house!
 

Hung the family stockings: Fancy, Kimberly, Ray, and Tink! 

Decorated the tree and then...
it fell to the hardwood floor  on its own at 2:00 in the morning.
Shattered some of our favorite ornaments.
Bought a new (bigger) tree stand and had to redecorate.
Lesson learned!

Ray's high school played in the 4AA State Championship game.
(Garner vs. Page @ Wake Forest)
Sadly, Garner lost.
Scotty McCreery was there with the Blue Crew.

While we celebrated Christmas in Greenville (on Ashley's birthday),
I gave her a birthday card from "Little Guy."
She and all the sisters were surprised and happy! 

Excitement all around.
Glad the secret is finally out! 

We finally got to go to my parents' house for Christmas Eve.
It was a blessing to be able to attend the Candlelight Service,
hang stockings with the family and wake up there on Christmas morning.

Amy and Brent got engaged on Dec. 21st.
He took her to Birmingham, Alabama to celebrate
with his family on Christmas Day.

Daphne, Randy, and Casey came to our house on Christmas Day.
We opened presents, relaxed and then...

We ate at Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse for dinner.
A fun first! 

NC State played in the Belk Bowl on Dec. 27.
The little Guy's first tailgate and NCSU Football game! 

We beat Louisville!
Thanks to my parents for the awesome seats!

If it's State football or a NASCAR race,
we get to spend some time with Kim.

  

Ray got to catch up with an old friend, Brian M.
He drove from Wilson to watch his team lose!

I got to see one of my old best friends, too.
So happy to catch up with Laura!