The Cat's Out of the Bag!

Haha...get it? "the cat out of the bag"?!
(image borrowed from Google images)

   

        I was walking out of church on Sunday with my long mauve scarf just covering my bulging belly (my husband had asked me in church if I had worn the scarf to try to hide my belly...I hadn't, but it was a good idea and funny that he thought of it!) when I saw a good friend of mine from MOPS. She just had her third baby a couple of months ago and I told her several weeks ago (when I was ready to barf at the thought of all of the kale my crop share kept pushing my way) that I was expecting and that I needed to pawn my kale and cabbage off on her because I couldn't stomach it...(she's a HUGE veggie lover!).

So today when I saw her after church she said, "Is the cat out of the bag?"

Her 3 year old was standing at her side, "What cat out of the bag mommy?"

So cute.

"You can tell her," I said. "The cat's mostly out of the bag!"

"Miss Lisa has a baby in her belly," she said to her daughter who looked very confused as she looked back at me. "It's still very, very small so her belly isn't very big yet."

Oh, but it will be...don't worry about that. This poor 5'1 momma is notoriously big (isn't that the name of a rapper?!) at the end of her pregnancies!

So, the news is  pretty much fully out there after posting it on Facebook Sunday night.

So, yes...Scott and I are expecting #3.

Oh boy. Oh boy! Oh boy...

I'm 11 weeks 5 days...almost through the stereotypically not so fun 1st trimester. I always find it kind of funny that you spend 2 months being nauseous and bloated and tired and telling everyone you're fine  because you don't want anyone to know you're preggo yet!

So we're having #3 and of course the second question I get asked (by my mommy girlfriends at MOPS anyways)  is Was it planned?

Haha, I say. Kind of. 

The truth is we have gone back and forth and back and forth, for MONTHS on the topic....we'd have a good month with life balance and the kids and say "Yes, we should have a third."  Two weeks later we'd be inevitably swearing off the idea as pure craziness..."We can hardly keep up with these two and the mess in the house now...how on earth do we think we can take care of a 3rd child!"

I still stare at Scott some nights, bleary eyed and tired and totally unmotivated to pick up one more thing (even though I think guiltily that my friends with more energy and cleaner houses would TOTALLY pick up those toys staring them down) and say, "What were we thinking?!"

Oh boy. Oh boy! Oh boy... (for the record, I have no idea if it is a girl or boy, I just like the saying!).

But what I do know is that God is not done with our family just yet...no matter how tired I feel, or how crazy life feels, Scott and I both had this gut feeling about having a third.

I tried to push it away...many times. Telling myself that all parents go through this. They think they're going to have a family with X number of kids and then the reality comes to fruition and they realize that maybe that it is not the best plan after all...So I told myself that two was a good number. That we were even. That things were getting easier. That I was going to be able to start writing and blogging more.

But the idea kept pecking at my mommy soul...15 years from now you won't regret having a 3rd, but you might regret not...

That's the one that got me. I know enough to know that my perspective at this stage of life is narrow, and somewhat small...it's about preschool and ABC's and chicken fingers and small toy parts strewn about the house.  I felt that if we stopped at #2 we would be foregoing  whatever texture, detail, and blessing #3 will add to the fabric of our lives...

I like texture and details and didn't want to pass that up.

So here we go....into our kind of planned venture towards a larger family.

Looking forward to sharing the details...and craziness...with you all!

Here is our first photo of Baby #3. The doctor could not get the heartbeat via doppler at my 9 week appointment (which is typical, but not what you hope for!) so to assuage my fears she decided we could play "dumb" about my dates (a.k.a. pretend I had NO idea when I conceived) and ordered an ultrasound for me (:  Notice the little "Hi Ava" note below...Ella was actually with me, but Ava was in school so the technician thought she'd be cute and type a little note for Ava.