We just keep getting larger...

Well, I think by now the "cat should be out of the bag" and just about everyone knows we are being blessed yet again with another baby in May. As the calls and emails have been coming in over the last weeks there has been some mixed emotions mostly happiness but some feeling out of the loop which was certainly not our intentions. We weren't exactly sure how we wanted to approach the issue at first... we were planning to wait even longer but it gets harder to hide the fact you are pregnant by the time you get to your fifth. We are so happy to be expecting another baby, anyone that has more than one child knows that the love you feel for one simply belongs all to them, it is like when you welcome another life into the world you create new love (from who knows where because before them you were sure the others had tapped all you had) that is tailor made just for them. However the utter shock that you see one some peoples faces when you tell them that you are expecting your 5th child is sometimes hard to take. Followed by the top 3 comments; Wow, another one!, did you plan this?, and my personal favorite boy you are going to have your hands full. Well, anyone that has parented knows your hands end up full as soon as that baby is born no matter how many you have and after 3 Dave and I really reached a point where it was like what is one more. I think it is hard for someone that struggles with their 3 kids to even think of adding one more to the mix but honestly I think 3 is where you reach the turning point of it going up hill to back down, I must say the trip down although easier sometimes is much faster. I thought having two kids was far and away the easiest. When you just have one you have to be everything, mommy/daddy, friend, brother/sister, entertainer you name it, if they are bored you are not just going to hear about it but you are going to WANT to do something about it. After Gage came along about one year later Dave and I were introduced to the bliss (and sometimes pains) of siblings but more often than not Kain and Gage found a best friend in one another and luckily for us continue to which made our job so much easier... then Aubriel came. That was when Kain and Gage found they could use this to their advantage and we found ourselves completely out numbered. There were many days with Brody's pregnancy that we wondered what we were doing but after he came we knew it fit our family perfectly. Aubriel found out that she was a "little mama" inside and that I had given birth to her very own live baby... aside from nursing and changing Brody's diaper and I am really not even sure who in the last two years of his life has mothered him more. He has proven to be mischievous of a child than any of the others but luckily we have done well enough raising the first 3 that they help to look after him. I think after surviving 3 children and Brody (which has been a feet all in itself) # 5 should not even faze us... or it will completely push us over the edge and Dave and I will end up crazy but if that is to happen we will be leaving them in the loving arms of their amazing, wonderful, brothers and sister.

The kids were thrilled when they heard the news, even on the days that Brody drives them nuts they can't go too long without saying how much they love having a baby brother. Family is such an important part of life and I always want my children to be surrounded by it. It is true we can not pick our families, nor do we always like them even but if I give my children many siblings I can hope that at least some of them can create bonds that will never be broken and if some choose not to maintain those at least they will know they have someone there for them if they need/want it!

I am 9 weeks today and "due" on May 16th but I am just saying mid May. I have had late babies and early babies so one never knows when this baby will choose their birth day and we would not want to prevent that in any way. I will keep you up to date on the progression of the pregnancy as I have news... probably not a lot to start with. We will be having another home birth and most likely a water birth as well.

Thank you to all who wished us well in our up coming adventure it means so much to us!