What's Next

I FINALLY made it to the second trimester! Let me tell you, that first trimester was a doozy! It was by far the scariest first trimester of all three of my pregnancies. On the upside, because I am considered "AMA" (Advanced Maternal Age), I was given the option to DNA testing at our NT scan a couple of weeks ago. Of course I jumped at the opperchancity! I wasn't worried about the baby having any chromosomal issues, but getting to know the sex of your baby with 100% certainty at 13 weeks is pretty stinking awesome.

As it turns out,

Everyone feels bad for Hubs, being stuck in a house full of girls. But he actually preferred another girl. We already have two so he knows how to parent girls, and we already have everything for a girl. He's a very logical man.

Little Bean was very excited of course, and Sweet Pea couldn't care less yet. Hubs and Little Bean already picked out Baby Jackpot's name, and I was outvoted. Why should I have any say, right? I mean, I AM just the gestational carrier making a person out of food here.

So what else has been happening lately? Well, a couple of months back, I got my little brother a job where I work and he was relocated here to Texas! Of course it was a good thing for me, but not so much for the rest of my family. They all miss him very much, especially my parents. For the last few years, he has been a HUGE help to my parents. But everyone knew he needed to move on and start a life of his own.

So far his transition hasn't been easy. He's homesick. He misses the my family, the mountains, and his friends. I keep telling him it will get better. Right now he's still in a holding pattern. That will all change later this week when he closes on his first house! Of course he's pretty apprehensive about that too. Who wouldn't be? Once he moves in and makes the house his own, I feel like he'll start to feel a little more settled. Over time, he will make friends, and he'll start to feel more at home here. I know first hand how hard it is to pack up your life and leave everything and everyone you've ever known. Even if you really want it, like I did, its still hard at first.

My husband sure loves having my brother here. Hubs likes very few people. There are even fewer people who he likes to hang out with. My brother is a definite exception. Since my bro moved here, those two go to the gym together 3-4 times a week. They go rock climbing with Little Bean. My husband has said that even though my brother is only going to live a couple of miles away, he wish he was closer, for selfish reasons. I love how well those two get along, and I love how much my husband likes my brother. Now he has someone to go hang out with, someone to go do things with, somewhere to go to get out of the house every now and then. My girls and dogs really love having him here too.

Something else that was exciting about my brother moving here is I got a referral bonus. I used it to finally replace our old couch and love seat that I hated. (We gave them to my brother [he he]). I bought us some sweet leather reclining sofas, cause I'm awesome like that!

Next up, a new car! My sedan just isn't big enough to accommodate another car seat and other people, such as my brother. I already know what I want, I'm just waiting for my annual bonus from work. That and I want to enjoy the car I have right now for as long as I can. I really love my car. I'm going to have a hard time trading it in. If only it had one more row of seats!

Well, I suppose that is it for me tonight. Everyone should be home from the gym soon, and then the bedtime routing kicks into full gear.

Look Who's Back!

It may be temporary, but I have been thinking about getting back into blogging for a long time. Why would it be temporary, you ask? We'll get to that in a bit.

Obviously a LOT has happened since I last blogged. Sweet Pea has grown so much. She is still the amazing little joy she has always been. She is so happy and laid back. Everyone who meets her, loves her. She has switched daycares, which was a rough transition for her, her old sitter, and me. We LOVED her old sitter, but the plan was always to move her over to the same daycare as her sister once Little Bean started Kindergarten (ahhhh!). The teachers at her current daycare just LOVE her. They send home notes regularly to tell me how much they love having her in their class and what a joy she is. She is a little snuggle bug, she still giggles when she pets the animals, and she loves to play chase. We were so blessed with such an easy-going little girl.

Little Bean started Kindergarten in the fall. In fact, she will be 6 next month already! Where has the time gone?! I can't believe it. She is growing up so fast. She lost her first tooth a couple of weeks ago and is getting ready to lose another here pretty soon. She still loves being a big sister. She is a huge help with Sweet Pea and around the house. She is learning to cook, and loves to learn new skills. She can be a little dramatic, but she balances it out with her great big heart.

But do you want to know our most exciting news? Remember over a year ago when Sweet Pea was born my OB asked what we wanted to do for birth control and I laughed at her and told her Hubs and I were both infertile, and that if we got pregnant God must really want us to have that baby, and that our chances of getting pregnant were as good as winning the lottery?

Well, I guess God really wanted us to add another member to our family! Baby, we hit the jackpot!

Hubs and I were completely shocked. We honestly never thought we would get pregnant on our own. I was perfectly happy and content with our family of four. After Sweet Pea was born, I no longer had the crazy urge to add to my family anymore. When I would ask the girls if they wanted another sibling, both of them would say no. I thought we were done.

Then one night I had a sneaking suspicion.... I wasn't sure, but I knew anything was possible. The next morning, I took a dollar store test and got this:

I was in total shock! I didn't know how to tell Hubs, especially because the night before he had told me he was burned out on all of us. The girls had been super fussy all day and I had been really b****y for the past couple of weeks (now I knew why!). I didn't blame him at all. But this was the first time I didn't immediately tell him we were expecting. Instead, I sat on it all day and decided to write him a letter telling him how much I love and appreciate him and what a wonderful father he is. Then I followed it up with pictures saying we would need another chair at our table and we'd need to get the baby carseat carrier out of the attic because our family was about to grow  by two feet. His reaction was the best one yet! He read the letter, smiled, looked at me and said, "Oh yeah?!" I just cried and nodded.

The next few weeks were scary. There were a few times I thought for sure we had lost the baby. I had bright red bleeding, I had period-like bleeding, and I passed clots. Yet somehow, this little miracle was unaffected by it all. We had our first sono at 6 weeks and I got to see my baby and hear the heartbeat. I just cried. I had bleeding again at 7 weeks, again, a sono showed the baby was fine. At 9 weeks we went to the ER with bleeding and then went to the OB two days later with more bleeding. At the OB, I got to see my sweet little Jackpot move. After that visit, the bleeding and spotting stopped.

The last two weeks have been so uneventful that that worried me. But yesterday, Sweet Pea got to go to the doctor with me, and while she sat on my chest, the doctor did a sono and we got to see baby Jackpot. For some reason, it was at yesterday's visit that the reality of this baby finally hit me.

I'M PREGNANT!!!!

I am really, truly pregnant!

They say parents are excited with their first two babies, but after #2, the magic wears off. Not for this mama. This pregnancy is every bit as exciting and miraculous as the first two. I am so blissfully happy and excited. I thank God every day for this little miracle. Like the first two, I am not taking one second for granted.

This pregnancy is a little bittersweet though, because it will be our last. I have decided we will prevent after this one is born. Its kind of sad to think that our family building days are almost done, but Hubs and I are getting too old to keep making more, and you don't even want to know what our daycare bill is going to look like! Honestly, I always wanted three kids. I was okay with one, totally content with two, but secretly wished for three.

My sweet little family is about to grow by two feet. We are so blessed. The miracle is not lost on us. We look forward to welcoming little Baby Jackpot.