So it Begins

June 2006

After almost 10 years together, Tim and I decided to start a family. Actually, we were going to wait until the end of the year to start trying, but I had a very convincing Dad. On Father's Day, my Dad was taking me to the airport when we discussed when I was going to give him a grandson - this was one of my Dad's favorite topics of discussion with me! When I told him we were going to wait, he convinced me that now was as good of a time as any...why wait for 6 months. Start now and you can have all summer with him (he was convinced I'd have a boy). So when I came home I talked with Tim about it (poor guy, never saw it coming) and we decided the time was right. I told all our family that we were FINALLY going to start our family. They were all thrilled, especially my dad. Every time I talked to him on the phone he asked if I had any news to share - at the time it was annoying, now I love that I have that memory.

Fast forward three months to September. We got word that my dad had died in a car accident. I was devasted to say the least. He'd never meet any of my children. When Tim and I returned from the funeral, I told him that I thought I wanted to put trying on hold - there were just too many emotions and I didn't know how I would do with everything. In fact, on Thursday, September 28th, I was sharing my concerns with my step-mom and told her that we were going to wait, just for a little while. Imagine her surprise when I called her at work the next day to tell her I was pregnant!!! Guess God had a different plan for us. I remember telling Laurie that if I had to guess right then whether we'd have a boy or girl, I told her that I would guess boy, after all, Dad was probably lobbying as soon as he got to heaven!

We found out in January that we were having a boy! Christopher John had been the plan for a number of years. I always wanted our first children to have our middle names. It was a few days after we found out that we were having a boy that I asked Tim if we could change Christopher's middle name to Dean in my Dad's memory (his name was Chester Dean). So it was set. Our first child, and my parents first surviving grandson, would be named Christopher Dean Farren. Now we just had to wait for him to get her. And wait we did!!