About our bonus baby, that is.
This summer, Jordan and I started feeling a sense of completeness, like our precious family of four was everything we could've asked for. The decision to be done having kids is a huge one, so we began praying that we'd know what to do, and specifically, that God would protect us from making a decision that was outside of His will for us.
We became completely settled in the idea of calling it quits, and even started planning our future around a family of four. But, God is gracious to us and answered our prayers. In November, to our absolute shock, we found out we are expecting our third baby (due July 21st). What a blessing to know without a doubt that this baby belongs in our family, and that nothing - not even us making up our minds to the contrary - would've stopped her (or him) from joining us. Praise the Lord for His wisdom in our lives!
In about two years, I am likely going to sit down and attempt to make this baby a scrapbook. I won't remember anything, though, so this is my attempt at chronicling the first trimester memories I am sure to lose.
This first trimester has been blessedly less intense than the other two. I still struggle with illness, but it is not nearly as all-encompassing as it was with Avery and Kate. The flip side to that, though, is that it lingered about double the time. Less intense for longer is still a win in my book, so I can barely complain.
I was worried a little about being sick during the holidays, but as it turns out, the timing was an immense blessing. I have been able to lean heavily - and I mean heavily - on my family - my sister, parents, grandparents, and of course, husband - during this time. It worked out beautifully for me to be too ill to manage a meal when my kids were well loved, cared for, and distracted by my amazing family. I kept telling my sister I hope to pay her back someday...
We'll go in to meet the baby via ultrasound this upcoming Friday. Now that first trimester exhaustion has begun to wane, I am all abuzz about rearranging the upstairs, combining the girls' room and redecorating, and preparing the way for all things baby to come out of the attic.
The most common comment we receive when people find out that we're pregnant again is something along the lines of, "Fingers crossed for your boy this time!" We feel pretty strongly that if God has given us this baby, He knows much better than we do what gender our baby should be. If every good and perfect gift is from the Father of Lights (which it is), then who are we to hope for one gender over another? And how could we look at the beauty He has given us in our first two children and not delight in the thought of another one of them? Which is to say, we are excited to know the gender (hopefully by February) and plan to walk whatever road God has called us to with excitement, joy, and His full equipping.
This weekend, Mom and Dad gave me four choices for activities: go to the zoo, the Children's Museum, Nana and DD's house, or have Hannah over for a playdate. 
