Oliver & Tara +2!

04
Jul
2012

July 4th Photo Shoot

My parents were in town for the holiday, so we wanted to let them “meet” their latest grandchild today via ultrasound (since we’d never really had a first one but for a quick picture at 7weeks). And boy did we get a show! “Squishy” was flipping, hiding, waving and even got the hiccups. I can’t lie, in between giggling at the images up on the screen, I was so emotional. It’s really happening, it is REALLY our turn to welcome our own little one into the world. We have waited, cried, prayed and had our hearts broken so many times. The same bible verse kept running through my mind…

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. – 1 Samuel 1:27 (NIV)

Here are the pictures and video of our blessing. You can click the images to see/save a larger version!

Measuring baby from head to “rump” verifying the due date!

12wks_feethandsup — “Throw your hands (and feet) in the air… like you just don’t care…”

12wks_upsidedown — Hanging out… upside down…

Video coming soon …

Praying you have a wonderful 4th of July celebrating! We have so much to celebrate this year …

<3 Tara (& Oliver)

03
Jul
2012

12 Week Bump

categories: Baby Bump

I just couldn’t get myself to take a photo till we were in the “safe zone”.

I also didn’t have ANY energy.

That being said …..

12wksbump — 12 week bump – better image coming later!

<3 Oliver and Tara

01
Jul
2012

Nana and Papa McKinney

categories: Audio, Surprise!

My parents were both in town at the same time, so we could FINALLY break the news to them! Now, you know I couldn’t just say it – we had the benefit of seeing them eye-to-eye and watching their reactions (unlike the majority of our family). They are some of the few people who knew of our on-going struggle to get pregnant and were praying fervently for us. So we convinced them to go out to dinner with us to celebrate “mother’s day” and “father’s day”, since they had been out of town for both of those holidays. We met them at P.F. Changs in downtown San Jose. We then brought of the conversation of dates for a trip to Vegas we were going to take in January …. all while having these in our laps:

nanapapashirt — Nana and Papa x2 (this will be their second grandchild)

I’m not quite sure what my favorite part of this audio is …

dad cutting me off when I was trying to get to the big news
the dramatic pause where we hold up their shirts
dad’s yell of “ARE YOU KIDDING?!” which resulted in the entire restaurant looking at us 🙂
Me, being too close to the secret recording, laughing and crying simultaneously through the whole thing
Mom telling the waiter when he came to give us our food
Ok… I pretty much love the whole thing.

Listen for yourself… Telling Parents Moment

<3 Tara (& Oliver!)

20
Jun
2012

Hearts Beat Fast…

categories: Audio

Today we heard a beautiful sound … one that left Oliver’s mouth hanging open and me struggling between smiling and crying. We heard our baby’s heartbeat – and it was the most beautiful sound in the world. Over two years of waiting … it was pure magic.

squishy_heartbeat — Our hearts beating together …

Click the link to heat the baby’s heartbeat

I keep hearing the lyrics to Christina Perri’s song in my head..

Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave
How can I love when I’m afraid
To fall
But watching you stand alone
All of my doubt
Suddenly goes away somehow

One step closer

Chorus:
I have died everyday
Waiting for you
Darlin’ don’t be afraid
I have loved you for a
Thousand years
I’ll love you for a
Thousand more
Time stands still
Beauty in all she is
I will be brave
I will not let anything
Take away
What’s standing in front of me
Every breath,
Every hour has come to this

One step closer

Chorus:
I have died everyday
Waiting for you
Darlin’ don’t be afraid
I have loved you for a
Thousand years
I’ll love you for a
Thousand more

And all along I believed
I would find you
Time has brought
Your heart to me
I have loved you for a
Thousand years
I’ll love you for a
Thousand more

One step closer
One step closer
Chorus:
I have died everyday
Waiting for you
Darlin’ don’t be afraid
I have loved you for a
Thousand years
I’ll love you for a
Thousand more

<3 Tara (and Oliver!)

01
Jun
2012

Verification

categories: Ultrasounds

Today we went to see my OBGYN for the first time. The first thing she said when she walked through the door was “WOW! What a surprise!!!!” She was the one who had referred us out when she couldn’t help us anymore. And boy was she surprised to find out prayer, and not infertility treatments, had gotten us to this day. A quick check showed that yes indeed, there was a baby! This was also verified by the 4th pregnancy test I had taken this morning… I didn’t want to waste anyones time if it all wasn’t real!

Since there wasn’t an ultrasound tech on duty yet that morning, my doctor did the first quick ultrasound herself.

We lovingly refer to him or her as “Squishy”. And we can’t stop staring at this image!!!

<3 Tara (& Oliver)

25
May
2012

Oliver finds out …

categories: Surprise!, Video

This morning I couldn’t believe it still.. so I took the 3rd (and last) test in the box. Yup. Still said pregnant.

Time to begin operation “Tell Oliver”. I’d been planning this for years.

The fortune inside the cookie says “You’re a father”

What I love about this: He looks like I’ve just played the worst prank ever … I think this really shows how much we’d been waiting and wanting but still struggling with the “what if it never happens….” question.

24
May
2012

Today…

categories: Surprise!

I hadn’t been feeling well all week. After a long weekend at Maker Faire, I figured I’d just overdone myself and that a seizure was on the way. But as the week went on the exhaustion just wouldn’t subside, no seizure came, and I was weirdly adversive to some of my favorite foods.

…. wait a minute.

I thought about it for a few days before finally buying that new box of pregnancy tests. Oliver and I were set to go out of town for the long weekend to celebrate our 6 year anniversary. And those two dreadful words (“not pregnant”) just always made me so emotional. So here was my thought process: take the test Thursday, have it say “not pregnant”, cry, get over it, have a nice weekend with the hubby.

So I did it… and waited. And waited some more. Then a little longer. (ever notice how those 2 minutes feel like HOURS?!?!)

… it said pregnant.

I stared in disbelief for what must have been a minute. Then I began to shake, cry and had to hold myself up on the bathroom counter for fear of falling.

I took another test that evening… because I didn’t believe it. But it said the same thing. I would wait till morning to tell Oliver.