The other day, Ryan and I set up a little after-school picnic for the girls stocked with donuts and Olipops and big smiles, because we were finally going to tell our four dolls a little secret…
We’re having a baby!! And the joke was basically on us because both Olivia and Claire called out, “KNEW IT,” and Chloe and Emmy screamed and then hardly batted an eye. Hahah! These girls! They really did know, though…
Over the last six months, all four of our girls have dropped comments – so completely randomly – that our family was/is going to have another baby. I’m four-months along, but last Fall – six months ago – Emmy came bouncing into my bathroom one morning and said, “Mom? I gotta tell you something. I really miss my baby. I mean, you know, our family’s baby. I’m so ready for our baby, Mom!!” And then she bounced away. She stopped me in my tracks just a little, because I had just barely had my characteristic, big boost of energy and excitement to have another baby (feeling excited and totally confident > not fearful about anything over growing our family is how I’ve always known someone’s ready to join the party). Before then, though, I had been so on the fence…so unsure if we were really going to have one more baby. Ryan and I both always thought we’d have five (we both just had a gut feeling there!), but we felt really content with our four girls, too…so content, we wondered if we’d really get to five? But we started checking in with each other over the last year – “Are you ready to have a baby? Do you want to have a baby?” And 100% of the time we’d both respond, “Mmmm, no.” Then one day – almost of out of the blue, considering how long we’d both been feeling “no” so strongly – we both felt that characteristic, big boost of excitement to have a baby, regardless of all the change that comes with it, and oh how grateful and lucky we are so say this (truly, we know how what a privilege it is to welcome a baby to your family when you want to!) — baby is on its way.
And we’re all just a little excited. 😉
The second, we’re-having-another-baby comment was dropped by Miss Claire in February. We were in Hawaii (still need to post about that trip!), standing outside the hotel door waiting for Ryan to find our key and let us in when out of nowhere Claire said, “Mom, someone is missing in our family,” her face a little consternated. “We’re really missing someone.” The other girls didn’t catch it, but Ryan and I sure did. We smiled at each other and I gave Claire a little hug. At the time, I was three-months along.
Then one Sunday evening, Chloe turned to me and said, “Mom? You have a baby in your tummy.” “I do??” I responded, totally shocked by her saying something. “Yep!” She said smiling. “You do!” Again, Ryan and I totally smiled. Her comment came only two afters Claire’s, and just one week before Olivia’s. Miss Olivia full-on guessed and confirmed – to herself, in her journey entry from 2/27/2022 – that “Mom is pregnant.” Ha! We found out about her journal entry because she shared it us with, actually, just the day before we told the girls here that baby is on its way. We were reading books at bedtime when Olivia pulled out her journal and sneakily (wink wink) showed us that entry…and burst into huge laughter. And so did we. She had three reasons as to why “I know Mom is pregnant. Number one: she’s tired. Number two: her belly button is poking out. Number three: she threw up.” Again, Ryan and I snuck a smile at each other, because 2/3 were dead on (I threw up once from the stomach bug a couple weeks ago; somehow, only Claire and I caught the germ). Thank goodness I had gone to the OB that day, and we were ready to tell our girls the next day — it was high-time these girls finally got to hear the news! Because seriously, it turns out that Ryan and I can’t keep a secret from these girls after all. 😉
We find out just next week if we’re having another girl or our first little boy, and we’re so excited for that, too. On that note – since I know you may be wondering – we’re all pretty dang thrilled to have either a girl or a boy. And since I know you may be wondering this one, too – no, we aren’t “trying to have a boy” with this baby, just like we didn’t try to have four girls with our other four babies. It’s not uncommon for us to get this comment from well-meaning people, “Oh you just can’t get your boy! Keep trying. If you’re lucky, a boy will be next!” as if we don’t have a normal family without a boy. I imagine that all-boy families get the same comment about having a girl, and man, it’s just a silly one. Pro tip: if you ever come across an all-gender family, don’t disregard their living children and hone in on the gender they don’t have. I think it goes without saying, but just in case someone out there needs to hear it, all-gender families are just like every other family — so so grateful for their sweet kids. Come girl or boy, we are so grateful to have our family.
T-9 days till we know if it’s a brother or a sister! I’ll keep you posted!
XO
