Happy Valentine's Day!

I LOVE Valentine's Day! Don't you think it's great that a whole day is dedicated to celebrating love of all forms in your life?  Mike is well aware by now that I like to celebrate holiday's for an entire week, and this Valentine's season was no different! There were lots of chick flicks, caramel hershey's kisses, ju ju hearts and cuddling at the Bergeson residence this month!

One of our annual Valentine traditions is to make sugar cookies!  Our kitchen turned into a cookie factory for a couple days while we made about a billion sugar cookies for our neighbors.  Mike was a really great sport, and helped me frost every last cookie (he definitely would have won a 'most creative cookie decorating' award).  

The night before Valentine's day we got all dolled up and went out to a fancy steakhouse for dinner.  We decided that's the way to do it- go out to celebrate the night before to beat the mad crazy V-day rush and enjoy a quiet, romantic, delicious dining experience.  

And just for kicks, here's a little 'bump' picture.  I'm stoked I finally sort of have one!  Yay!  (Most people are still surprised when they find out I'm pregnant- they just assume I've eaten too much fudge over the holidays and am getting a chunky tummy).

Mike insisted that he was going to plan our actual Valentine's Day evening.  I got home from work to find grilled lemon chicken and an out of this world cheese fondue for the two of us!  We enjoyed a romantic dinner with Frank Sinatra serenading us in the background, and finished up the evening by exchanging love letters and gifts, eating chocolate and sugar cookies, and cuddling.  So grateful I married this gem of a husband.  I feel like the luckiest lady in the whole world.  

Mike, I love you to the moon and back!!

Hope you all had a wonderful V-day!!

Oh baby! Finding Out the Sex......

For Mike and I, the very most exciting part of our Holiday season happened on December 19th because it’s the day that we found out the sex of our baby!!!  We had been anxiously anticipating this day ever since we found out we were pregnant.  We couldn’t wait.  I have no idea how people can go without finding out... I’m way too impatient! To be honest, from the very beginning I was 100% sure that our baby was a boy.  I just felt it.  I don’t even know how to explain it, but I just knew.  From the very start I've felt such an instant connection with this little baby growing inside of me (as I’m sure all expectant mothers do), and I have felt so so strongly that a very special little boy was going to come to our family.  The crazy thing is that most of our family members and close friends were convinced it was a boy as well.

Both Mike and I were totally giddy for weeks before our appointment.  My doctor does ultra sounds at every visit so we’d seen the baby a few times already, but this was the day we’d find out for sure what the sex was!  As we were driving to the ultra sound I told Mike that if it wasn’t a boy I would be completely SHOCKED, and that I'd make the doctor check again.  I was that sure.  He was pretty darn sure it was a boy as well, but he thought there was a possibility it could be a girl.  

We had decided beforehand that we weren’t going to have the doctor tell us the sex of the baby at our appointment because we wanted to have a big celebration that night and find out with our  family!  We figured it would be fun to have so many of the people that already love our baby so much there to share in our exciting news.  The appointment went well, and the doctor wrote the sex of the baby on an ultra sound and sealed it in an envelope.   It was SO HARD not to open up the envelope, but we wanted to wait for the big reveal.  

A couple of hours later we gathered at my parents house for a big party!  All of my siblings and their spouses, as well as both sets of my grandparents were there.  Sadly, all of Mike’s brothers and their families live on the east coast so they couldn’t make it, but his parents were on speaker phone with us from Idaho, anxiously awaiting the news.  When everyone arrived we had them take either a pink or blue punch, depending on what they thought the baby was.  

Most people took blue, but a few took pink just in case it was a girl (we’d hate to have her look back at photos and think that everyone wanted a boy).  Mike and I both took blue punch.  

Everyone gathered around.  I was shaking profusely because I was so so so excited!  It felt almost like opening my mission call again (except this time there wasn't even the possibility of a bad thing written on the paper- like Cleveland!  hahahah.  I knew this time, I wouldn't burst into tears because I was sad.  Oh how wrong I was about Cleveland.  Funny how my mission to Cleveland actually made this day possible!)  Anyway, together, Mike and I opened up the envelope..... 

Just as I knew, it was a BOY!!!!!  We are going to have a BABY BOY!!!!!!

We couldn't even contain our excitement!

Wahoooo!!!!!!!

I also couldn't contain my emotions.... I'm going to be a mama!!  Nothing has ever sounded so wonderful.

Everyone was so excited and supportive!

To say we're excited for this little mister to arrive would be a HUGE understatement.

Best Christmas Ever!!!!