The Beginning ~ Benny's Story

Lets rewind the wheels a little bit. So obviously from the title and original post of this blog you can guess that Rus and I are expecting a bouncing baby boy. We are incredibly excited and the time is getting short before he arrives. While every parent thinks that they are unique in their pregnancy journey (and they are) we think that our discovery of the pregnancy and the beginning of the process was definately different than most people.

This summer I was blessed with a unique opportunity. My work assignment for the summer is to serve as the Assistant Camp Director at a Boy Scout in a very rural area in the Catskill Mountains in New York. The camp is 1400 acres of God's Country and really can not be compared to any place I have ever been. The sky seems to stretch on forever, with new places of beauty around every corner. While the schedule and the job were both very hectic, it was easy to feel peace and serenity while standing on the edge of the lake. The sounds of laughter and play and learning could be heard echoing across the property and it was a great place to live and work!

Now, traditionally, food at camp has the reputation of not being very good. However, this year, it was fantastic! We had a great new kitchen staff and the food was just close to gourmet! The first week of camp I was loving it and worrying about out growing my uniform. I noticed that my weight was dropping. Fast forward to weeks 3 and 4 of camp and I have no appetite and I am getting nauseous just about every day. During a rare night off and visit from Rus and trip to his cousin Elise's home I stopped at the Wal-Mart on my way home. On a whim I purchase a pregnancy test. I forget about it for the next couple days, until I am really starting to get worried. That morning I take test number one and number 2 (because you cant take just one and they are both definately positive. I didn't know if I should be jumping for joy, or crying in my bed. Rus was living 3 hours away and wasn't able to be here for this. It wasn't how I had imagined it would be. Even though it was pretty early in the morning, I called Rus and asked him if he was sitting down. He proceeded to inform me that he was in fact still laying down as it was very early. :) After getting over the initial shock he was very excited and reassured me that everything would be ok.

The rest of the summer was an interesting journey as I was one of the few women on staff. I wouldnt call what I was blessed with morning sickness, but rather all day sickness. I felt bad for my staff as I couldnt really clue them in to why I wasn't acting like myself. A few of the wiser people on staff did indeed figure it out, were very helpful, and ran interferance for me when I needed a break from the craziness of camp life.

I finally returned home when I was 13 weeks and had the joy of sharing the news with the two families. Everyone seems to be excited to be adding to the Dowling/Greller/Boyle/Sawyer clan.

Baby Greller, 13 weeks

And so it begins...

So its not like I dont have enough to do... After seeing so many people with new families writing blogs, I thought.. "Hey, I can do that too!" So here I am, embarking on this journey. I am hoping to chronical the little time left that Rus and I have before Benjamin Robert arrives in the world. After he gets here I hope that this can be a place for friends and family to come and see how our life is changing.
I promise that this road is going to be exciting. I know that we will make mistakes, do things wrong and learn a lot along the way. I also know that while we will be tired, we will have a blast along all of these twists and turns..