The Beginning

On Saturday, Aug. 15, while on vacation in Northern Michigan, we learned that Anne was pregnant. It was a wonderful blessing, but little did we know how much our lives would change.

In early October, we went to the doctor for the opportunity to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. The little one was stubborn and the nurse could not hear the heartbeat. It turned out to be another blessing as we got to take an early ultrasound as a result. The baby was just fine, rocking out and bouncing all around in Anne's belly.

The next big event came on Dec. 3. This time it was a scheduled ultrasound. On that day, we learned that our bundle of joy was a beautiful baby girl.

All of a sudden, the baby that we had called "it" or "baby" or "peach (depending on the size)" had a gender. Baby Girl Larson was becoming more of a reality.

Knowing that we were expecting a daughter, Anne and I started thinking about names. Being one to consider all my options, we got a baby book and went through all the names (man there are a lot of strange ones out there). We narrowed a book of thousands down to 40 or so over Christmas. I had my idea about how to trim the list down - but so did Anne. She said she knew the name she wanted - Elizabeth Rose Larson. It sounded perfect - and so my plans quickly were forgotten.

Today was ultrasound number three, and we learned that Elizabeth was already four pounds, six ounces - a good weight for her age. Anne doesn't want her to gain more than another three pounds - I told Anne that pre-birth is a little early to give our daughter a weight complex.

Now, we're on week 32 and we can hardly wait to meet Elizabeth. Although, we still have a lot of work to do - so if she waits until her due date (April 23), that would be just fine with us.