The Big Reveal

We have quickly hit the double digits and are now 10 weeks! Baby Yonemura is growing and sometimes making Mommy really sick in the process...(although, I have been told by many that this is a good sign and perfectly normal). I hope to lose the nausea in the coming weeks.

We have officially announced we are pregnant to our family and friends - everyone is so excited. I must make mention however that no one could be more happy than my Mom! She has waited patiently for this moment and I couldn't have been happier to tell her the good news. My Mom has often told me growing up that the greatest accomplishment in her life is her kids. As she puts it, "I was put on this earth to be your Mom and it is the best job in the world" (mind you my brothers and I did test this devotion on many occasion growing up).

My Mom naturally had to know first and from there made the painstaking wait for another week and a half to tell everyone else. My Dad's birthday was coming up and what better way to tell everyone than to have him open something special revealing our secret?

The men in my family are golfers (my Mother and I have come to accept this weekly, sometimes bi-weekly, ritual as a permanent fixture in our lives). With this golf theme/obsession in mind, I had the perfect gift! The day arrived and we went through all the birthday cards, presents and cake until finally I slid one last surprise gift to my Dad (with Mom grinning ear to ear). He reached in the bag and pulled out two small items: a white bid with the phrase "The Littlest Golfer" and a tiny pair of baby golf shoes! Everyone went wild and it was how I had always imagined that moment.

I look forward to the weeks ahead and know that through every step God has blessed me with a support team. Koto has already become obsessive with the way I sit or lay (insisting that laying on my stomach might not be comfortable for the baby). My brothers are already putting in their two cents when it comes to names and my Mom... well, let's just say we have already been crib shopping. I look forward to bringing this baby into such a loving and close family!

Here are the shoes that we bought for Daddykins (soon to be "Paw Paw") to open on his birthday! What better present is there than to get a grandchild!

A Single Day Can Change Your Life

Never has the statement, "a single day can change your life" been so true! It was the morning of Thursday, September 17th when my world changed. My husband Makoto and I had been ready to expand our family for sometime but nothing up until then had worked out. In fact, we had just tried for a baby in August and following all the instruction labels on the test boxes, numerous blogs and friendly advice given to me from all the wonderful friends and family that we have been blessed with, I waited 15 days then tested and was given a negative.

Side note: I never realized when I was growing up that it was possible to do all the things that you were taught to do (get good grades, go to college, get married, work on a successful career, have a baby) and then still have things not work out as you have always been told they would. Order and prosperity are what is granted to good girls who do what is expected of them - YEAH RIGHT. Well, reality had different plans - let's just say that I began to hear my biological clock a couple years ago. Having a relationship that totaled nine years dating prior to marriage meant that I was sure of who I was spending the rest of my life with and ready for the future. Makoto (a.k.a Koto) and I were married on March 17, 2007 and our relationship (despite what I thought prior to marriage) has grown so much deeper than I even thought possible. So no surprise we wanted to expand that love beyond ourselves. We did do this at first with the addition of our sweet baby girl Zoie (who I guess I should note is our dog). Zoie is so much more than our dog - she has been our child and is completely spoiled to prove it! But with Zoie now four years old I hoped God would bless us with a Baby!

Flash forward: I woke up just before 8:00 a.m with no real plans for the day. Despite testing a week earlier and getting a negative, I had a desire to use the last test in the box. Each time I had done this I followed a ritual - pee on the stick, cover it up, walk out of the room and wait for the big reveal. This morning I was just covering my bases - more like confirming that I was not pregnant. So I did what I needed to do but this time watched as the first line appeared, as it had so many times before, and then surprise, surprise, the second line appears! SUCCESS - WE ARE HAVING A BABY!

In that moment, so much happiness and fear hit me all at once. I immediately called Koto to find out when he would be home - after what is now eleven years he can pick up on when I have been crying. He demanded to know what was wrong and to have it categorized as good or bad. At the sound of the word good he instantly concluded that we were pregnant! After all, what else could possibly have me so emotional.

Now begins our journey! It is my hope that this blog will serve as a document of this special time in our lives to be shared with friends, family and later to be passed on to my sweet angel baby (be it a boy or girl) so that they know how much they were anticipated and loved before they ever took there first breath in this world. I love you, Baby - this is for you!