Well

Anything I write now will be anti-climatic, so I'm not even going to try to be cute and clever. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your comments made me cry and it's too early to be pregnancy hormones, so they really were THAT sweet.
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I'm stealing these fun facts from my sister's blog www.itsybitsywriter.blogspot.com. It has been 22 days (according to my best guess) since conception, so my babies hearts have begun to beat and they have their own circulatory system and blood type. I have to rely on my sister for this kind of information, because I picked a really inconvenient time to swear off non-fiction books.
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Speaking of books, ironically enough, I was reading Sarah by Orson Scott Card when I found out I was pregnant. Sarah is based on Sarah from the Old Testament who was barren until she was really old and then miraculously conceived Isaac. Truly I had just thought to myself, "Man, I ain't got nothin' on Sarah. What am I complaining about." Then I went and took the pregnancy test and wala! (Is that how you spell wala? whalah? walla?)
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As for not calling any of you and telling you the news personally, I am an equal opportunist. I made everyone read it on my blog. I didn't even tell my mom or sister. There is just no good segue into saying I'm pregnant, so I opted out of the conversation route. Besides I'm not one who is known for telling the same story over and over again. Oh wait, I am, but I was short on minutes and my cell phone hurts my head.

I Passed!

I have only failed one test my entire life and not only did I fail it, but I failed it 24 times over the past two years! Well, I studied hard my friends. Did some extra-credit. Paid my dues and finally on April 27th, 2009, at 9:10pm, I passed!!!

Now I know I'm going against the status quo by announcing this so early, but I've been trying for so long, that people ask me almost daily if I'm pregnant yet. To avoid lying to my friends and family for the next three months, I'm coming clean from the start. Thank you so much for all your prayers and please don't stop now. I'm currently growing vital organs inside me and I really don't want to mess that up, so pray, pray, pray away. I will be.
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After I secretly took the pregnancy test and double checked the results, nay, quadruple checked the results, I went into the front room and tried to act casual. Bear asked me why I was bouncing around. I'm not normally very bouncy. I asked him if he had any plans for January and he looked at me funny. I said, Do you want to have a baby?" Again, he looked at me funny and I said, "Well, I hope your not busy, because I'm having a baby in January." Then he asked, "Really?" I showed him the test and after much studying of the results, I got a huge hug and a kiss.
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After so many negative results, I think we were both a little slow to accept it. Now we both can't figure out what to do with ourselves. If this had happened when we first started trying, I would have ran out and bought every baby book in existence and diligently started preparing. Well, I already read all the baby books two years ago and now I am at a loss. I guess it's normal life for now and sleeping in while I still can.
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By the way, at the end of my O.C.D. post, I mentioned that the Cullens were a welcome distraction from obsessing over having a baby. I even said that everyone kept telling me all I had to do to have a baby was stop thinking about it, so I was going to focus all my energy on getting into the next Twilight movie. Well, I am now going to be 9 months pregnant when they start filming Eclipse. I'm not sad, because the part I really want is in Breaking Dawn anyway and to show my appreciation to the Cullens for their magical powers of distraction, I will be naming my babies, yes, I said babies, because I am an overachiever...

Edward Emmet Bear

&

Bella Rosalie Bear

Edward and Bella for obvious reasons. Emmet, because they always describe him as a bear and my last name happens to be Bear and Rosalie, because she was as obsessed about having a baby as I was. You think I'm joking, but part of you hopes I'm serious, because the names are so darn cute. I guess we'll have to wait and see...

Here She Is...

The little girl whose early arrival nearly kept me from reading the rest of the Twilight Series...

Sofia Grace Estrada

(By the way, she was this close to being Sofia Bella Estrada, but I lost the vote. Apparently some people think it had too many vowels.)

She is lovely and very tiny. She weighs a 1/3 of what my cat weighs. She was born March 20th, 2009, the first day of Spring... quite possibly the best day for a new baby to arrive.

Here's the family... Bert, Marnie and Sofia.

My cute husband, who did not even come close to dropping her.

Me and Sofia... She whispered secrets in my ear, but I promised not to tell.

Her parents thought it would be fun if all their close friends and family painted a flower in Sofia's nursery. Mine is the purple lily. Bear's is the giant mutant rose with the tiger killer bug and the green smudge from their cat Pixie. Needless to say, we are better actors than painters and we won't be offended if we get painted over.

Many Thanks

I'm so grateful for all the book suggestions. They will keep me busy for awhile. I headed to my local county library, armed with a very long list, signed up for a card and then was stunned, STUNNED, when they didn't have any of the books I wanted. This just does not happen when I go to Barnes and Noble. Did I mention it was a very long list, with many choices. I jumped in my car and was headed to the nearest B&N, when a recent conversation with my husband popped into my head. It went something like this...

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Bear

You buy too many books. You should get a library card.

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Me
Okay (said guiltily, as I glance at the piles of books stacked on the floor of our tiny one bedroom apartment)
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Bear
No really, you should.
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Me
I SAID I WILL!!!
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Short story shorter, I did the responsible thing. I went home and requested the books on the library website. Now it will be like Christmas when I am notified of their arrival... well if you had to give all your Christmas presents back after you played with them once.

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The good news is, the suggestion to read Gone With the Wind reminded me that I happen to own a copy. Right after I bought it, a peg on my TV stand came off and it happened to be the perfect size to stabilize it. I was bummed, because I had started reading the first couple of chapters and was already madly in love with it, but it was an emergency. Luckily, my Emily Post: Wedding Etiquette book is the same size. Sorry for this Emily... and for for breaking most of your rules at my wedding.

Fact or Fiction

For the last several years, I've fallen into a pattern of reading nothing but non-fiction books. It wasn't a conscious decision. In LA I began reading books about acting, auditioning, what casting directors like and dislike, blah, blah, blah. Then came the politic books. When I moved to Salt Lake and began working for Dave's health and Nutrition, I plunged into the world of herb books, meditation books, motivation and self-books. Then it was on to the fertility books. Oh... the endless fertility books.
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Since reading Twilight in March, I've realized how much I've missed the world of fiction. I've read the Twilight series twice, moved on to Hunger Games and then just finished The Host. I have been completely sucked into every world I've visited and I can't get enough. It will be some time before I pick up another non-fiction book. I'm giving my brain a break and exercising my imagination for awhile.
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After working out my stiff and under used imagination muscles for the last month, I've noticed an improvement in my own creativity as well. My excitement for acting has returned and my happiness and hope meter has cranked up a few notches. If my name was Stella, you might just say I got my groove back.
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I'm out of books to read at my house and a trip to the library is on the agenda. I need recommendations. Should I finally take the leap into Jane Austen and if so, where to start. I've only ever seen Emma and I think I had been ruined by excessive viewings of Clueless, because I kept singing Rollin With the Homeys. I've read some classics, but I went to a mostly African American high school and read A Raisin in The Sun every year, instead of once breaking open Great Expectations. Which are the must reads and which ones should I pass by. Please don't let the well run dry.