Well...we made it this far!!! Now it was time to
tell our family & friends the news...Mark's
grandmother was having her 98th Birthday party
and of course the whole family would be there!!
So what better time to tell everyone!! We wrote
the news in a birthday card and gave it to grandma
signed from "her Newest Great-Grandchild". It
took her a couple of moments to comprehend
what she was reading, but once she finally "got it"
she was VERY thrilled!! This photo is from the
moment she "got it".
CHAPTER TWO
This is Grandma Mary with her cake and all but
one of her Great-Grandchildren...I am sure you
can notice they are all girls. Granted - the one
that is missing IS a boy, but what do you think
are OUR chances of having a girl??? Yikes.
Now, for a little backstory...when Tina's parents died 6 years ago,
her dear friends Brian & Betsy Kurtis took her under their wing and
adopted her as one of their own children. Tina has been friends
with the Kurtis family for over 20 years, but the love and support
they have shown her since her parents' passing has been like that
of a parent and Tina loves them as she would her own Mother &
Father and loves their daughters as her own sisters. We truly feel
as if we are natural members of their family. So...The very next day
just HAPPENED to be our Niece Haylee's christening party & Dad
Brian's birthday party. We drove to Niagara Falls and repeated the
procedure all over again. We gave Brian a birthday card from "his
newest grandchild" and watched his reaction as the news sunk in.
The top photo is when Brian was processing the news and the
bottom photo is when Brian was 'helping' Betsy to process the
news!!!! She was not quite as fast on the uptake as Brian
was...hehe... Well...now that our family knows the news, it is just
time to hang out and enjoy our 2nd Trimester!!!
Every year Mark & Tina make the hour long pilgrimage to
Cedar Point to celebrate Tina's birthday in October. It
is wonderful because the weather is usually divine and
the whole place is DECKED OUT for Halloween. It is
truly spectacular there in October. This year was a
little different since Tina was now 3.5 months pregnant.
No roller coasters this year and none of the really
jarring rides that make Cedar Point so much fun...but
we still were able to spend the whole day walking
around, enjoying the shows, the ferris wheel,
merry-go-rounds and TONS of great midway foods!!! We
were good and were very careful, but Tina's doctor
STILL yelled at her when she found out (after the fact)
how we had spent the weekend.
Somewhere along the way in the 2nd
Trimester, Mark was trying to figure
out how to diffuse some of Tina's
"emotional swings". (This is Tina
writing this and let me tell
you..."emotional swing" is putting it
gently...I was a raging hormone for
months on end!) But I digress...Mark
was looking for ways to distract Tina
from her anxieties about everything
and decided he would buy her a fish
tank!! It gave Tina something to
soothe her by watching them swim
around. (Believe me, it actually did
work..I would spend hours doing just
that.) It was especially fun when our
first "litter" of baby guppies was born!
Little did we know Starlite Kennels
would become Starlite Salukis, BC's &
Fancy Guppies! The photo to the
right is "Starlite's Lucky"...the sole
survivor of that first batch of babies.
(Hence, her name is LUCKY.)
Mark ripped the envelope open and revealed that we would be
having a DAUGHTER!!! It took us a second to process the
news...but once it sunk in we both started to cry...(well...Mark
started crying first and it made me cry just watching him!) He is
just so happy to be having a little girl. He can't wait to start
teaching her everything he can (golf, dog shows, golf,
construction, golf, photography, golf) and playing with her (golf)!!
We tried for a while to keep her sex a secret too...but that really
did not last past Christmas. Everyone knew we had had the
ultrasound and they were wearing down our defenses!! So...we
just spent the next couple of months slowly preparing for her
arrival. We started to get the Nursery in order (at least Tina
thought it was in order...wait 'till the 4th chapter). We enjoyed
being Show Photographers with Brian & Betsy at the week-long
Cleveland Classic circuit where this picture was taken. Tina was
5.5 months pregnant at this point.
YIKES!! Time for our 20 week ultrasound when we can
find out that our baby is happy & healthy and what is
the "sex". We had originally thought the "sex"
ultrasound would be right before Christmas, so we had
made the decision to have the Doctor NOT say the sex
out loud...but to write it in a card we brought along and
we were going to open it on Christmas morning. Well...as
you can see from the date stamp on the photo, our
calculations were a little "off" on the timing. But we
stuck to our guns and still had the doctor write the
results in the card and seal it up so we could not peak.
We vowed to make it as long as we could without
looking. Who knows, maybe we WOULD make it to
Christmas....um....or at least until after dessert that
same evening. That was when Mark grabbed the card
and declared he could not stand the suspense any longer!
Ah....Christmas morning!!! We had finally reached
the 6 month mark and were approaching the end of
the 2nd Trimester. Tina was no worse for the
wear...not much sickness...she had managed to slow
down her weight loss a bit and was at least
maintaining which made the doctors happier. She
was sleeping well, staying in good shape, and other
than the raging hormones...wicked long crying
fits...crazy dreams every night....and anxiety-ridden
emotional responses to EVERYTHING....Tina had no
complaints about the pregnancy so far!!! (Mark
probably had a few complaints though if you ask
him...re: the above "symptoms")
And since this brings us to the close of our 2nd trimester...our next big event to look
forward to is our BABY SHOWER!!!!! Our shower was being hosted by the Kurtis Family
and we could not be more excited that it was coming soon....so click on ahead to see just
how much fun we really had!
