It's A...

I always thought I'd want to find out the sex of Schatze Von Raapalje ahead of time. That's my personality. I'm a planner. So when people asked me initially if I'd find out, I said yes. But I hadn't really thought about it... til now. And now, I don't really want to find out. No, I'm still not much of a surprise person. A is always saying I ruin surprises. But in this case, I think I'm going to try. I'm not DYING to find out if we're having a boy or girl right now.. just overall content.

We picked out colors - turns out they are gender neutral anyways. Knowing boy/girl won't change those plans. Does the baby really need gender specific clothes in the first three months anyways? Do I need pink or blue acessories? Not really. It's looking like I can still plan and not know the sex... so we're going to go with that..

Of course, A can read ultrasounds a little better than your average Joe, so if at the next one he sees on accident, well, I guess we'll all know. But at this point, really looking forward to the surprise mid-June!

(I swear. Some things out of my mouth these days just really surprise even me.)

Surprise!

We're expecting another Rapalje!!

Baby Rapalje, code name Schatze Von Raapalje, will be joining us in June of 2013!!!

The week we found out went a little something like this. 

It was a few weeks before Halloween (the week of October 15th) and we were in Blacksburg visiting Mom, Brett, and Ali and to see the Hokies play! We dressed up the pups and took a family picture.

A left and went back to Ohio while I stayed in Bburg...

A few days later, (October 15)  I was contemplating buying a plane ticket to visit some girlfriends in Germany for March 2013. Being the responsible husband that he is, A reminded me/asked me if my period was late... and maybe I should take a test before buying a thousand dollar plane ticket. My first reaction? Nah, I'm not pregnant. However, much to my surprise... This little device said differently...

..and this one too... and the other 4 that I took!

Of course we were separated for the next week and a half with A being in Ohio and me being in Bburg. We maybe could've planned that a little better.. But once reunited, we made our way to Richmond to celebrate the nuptials of Bhatta and one lucky guy, Josh, then flew to Napa with friends to wine taste. Let me tell you, wine tasting while pregnant and unable to wine taste, not really all that much fun!

I decided that I will obviously be documenting this entire baby's life, including my pregnancy, but hadn't yet figured out how to do it. But of course, I had to start taking pictures... also so I remember what I looked like BEFORE baby... so hopefully I can get back there one day, or close.

And then I started doing pregnant things.. like throwing up 4-5 times a day, getting nauseous at the smell in the fridge (even though no one else could smell anything), craving odd things (like pickles on my pizza), taking many naps throughout the day, and more.

And the weeks following went a little something like this...

We went to have Thanksgiving in Benson where we got to hang out with four absolutely adorably sweet little girls who made us both very excited about the new baby to come... Although to be honest, the whole thing still didn't feel real!

I found out Marissa Miller was pregnant (A and my's favorite super model - ha!) and I started to hope and dream that I'll look something like this pregnant... ha!!!

And then last week, I had my first doctor's appointment on base where I heard the heart beat (at 172), but did not have an ultrasound yet. And this week, yesterday, Schatze Von Raapalje had it's very first (of many, perhaps millions) picture taken! The doctor established that I am due around June 20 (not quite as far along as we thought!). The heart beat was 182 yesterday and the baby was SO VERY ACTIVE the entire ultrasound, punching away! It was crazy to see!! That and the fact that you could literally see the heart beating in this little person. Wowzers.

And as awesome as it was texting all my friends and family the picture of Schatze, that's just not going to be doable for the entire pregnancy and for his/her entire life. SO we decided to start this blog. I also don't really have the desire to put these things on Facebook. I'd rather have those who WANT to know what's going on be able to find out, but not have it blow up their NewsFeed.  SO for those interested, here you go, you're own personal invitation to read my diary about Schatze Von Raapalje. This blog will continue after the bebe is born and we all know I will be loading this thing up with a brazillion pictures!

Also, please let me know if you are interested in being able to access this blog. For now, it is public. But pretty soon, it will be by invitation only so not everyone and their mother can see my pictures! And seeing as we just started the blog today, it's a little plain-Jane. Expect that to change shortly too!