A lot can happen in 4 years!

Today is Taylor and I's (mine and Taylor's?  I don't know!) 4th wedding anniversary.

Four years ago today, on a rainy New York City afternoon, we made it official and then danced the night away.  Here are my posts about that entire weekend.

Before the wedding: http://vandysanctus.blogspot.com/2009/11/im-married.html
Wedding day: http://vandysanctus.blogspot.com/2009/11/rest-of-wedding-highlights.html

 And I just uploaded the beautiful slideshow that our photographer, Kim Koluch created for us:

It really does capture that day better than any words I could write.  And the music is just PERFECT!

This year I am particularly mushy over our anniversary.  I don't know if it's all the milestones this year: Taylor graduating from Business School, buying our first house, some family health issues we've had this year or the fact that I'm pregnant, but this year just feels monumental in a lot of ways.

What?

Did I say something shocking?  Oh, right, WE'RE HAVING A BABY!  And I think this deserves to be on my 30 Before I'm No Longer 30 List, for sure :)  Let's call it....procreate.  And for your information, this was accomplished before I actually turned 30, technically, but enough about that.

The newest member of the family is scheduled to arrive April 16 or thereabouts.  Most of you probably already know this from facebook, but since this blog is my chronicle of my life, I'm going to document it here as well. 

So I found out about baby on August 7th, the day before I left for a bachelorette party in Nashville.  Looking at the pictures, I'd say you wouldn't have known that I wasn't drinking :)  We still had a blast (and stayed out until 3 and 4am!).

Then, I managed to keep the news mum for a month while I convinced my mom to come to St. Louis with me to visit Taryn.  I had huge plans to tell them in person, and THEN Taryn got engaged the week before we went.  It was perfect because we got to celebrate both things in person!

I agonized for a long time over how to surprise my mom and Taryn and settled on a silly idea.  I decided to buy them each a calendar, and on my due date I wrote "Become and Aunt!" and "Become a Grandma!" and I inserted a little photo of my first ultrasound.  You can kind of see the baby, that little shape in the top of the dark area shaped like a footprint.  We're calling the baby gummi bear for now due to its shape.

Anyway, so I did that and took the calendars with me to St. Louis.  My mom and I put together a little gift bag for Taryn and I managed to sneak the calendar in there then casually give one to my mom, too, so they could open them at the same time.  And here's what happened:

Pretty priceless if I do say so myself :) That same day, my sister asked me to be her Maid of Honor.  It was truly a special day.

 It was another month before we made it "facebook official".  Here are those announcements:

Enjoying one of the perks. This additional benefit is expected to arrive in April 2014!

Thank you all for your congratulations! I think Nashville is excited to be a big brother, but he definitely doesn't realize that his days as the (big) baby of the family are numbered.

 So there you have it!  :)