So, be honest....how many of you were surprised? Like really surprised? It's no secret that I've always wanted a big family, but I never truly thought we'd have 6 kids. Mike and I were talking to my brother recently and we said how we were feeling half excited and half holy crap. Zack assured us anyone in our shoes would be feeling the exact same way. Most of all we are feeling extremely blessed. We love our family more than anything in the world and truly live by the motto "the more the merrier". What's one more?! Bring it on!! Also, how cool it's a boy! 3 and 3! I absolutely thought it was a girl, so I was shocked!! But as usual, God knows best. Mike and I found out it was a boy via email from my doctor's office and did a little gender reveal with the kids when they got home from school. It was so sweet and intimate, and I loved every single second of doing it just me, Mike and our kids. Now that I know it's a boy, I find myself getting more and more excited about it. Picturing what our family will look like, picking out stuff for Smith and the baby's room, and checking out all the new baby gear that's out there. A lot of it is so aesthetically pleasing and I'm loving it!! I can't believe we get to do this again. We are all so excited to welcome this baby boy into our family this July!!
I had all intentions of writing on the blog more and then I found out I was pregnant. That quickly was followed by very intense morning sickness (more like all day sickness). Unfortunately, I spent majority of my time between weeks 6 and 13 on the couch, in bed or hanging over the toilet. I literally did not leave the house for weeks. I don't think I've ever done that in my life. I had to fake feeling well pretty hard over Christmas, which was interesting. This time around felt different than the others and the only reasons I can think it is either my age or simply with 5 kids my life is pretty hectic and busy, so I can't rest as much as was needed? Probably a combination of both but I think God knew the only way I was going to rest was to knock me down and out. It was pretty brutal. I won't go into too much detail, but I do think this would fall into the hyperemesis gravidarum category. They prescribed me multiple medications, I tried acupuncture, all the tricks that usually gave me some relief and nothing helped. I have to say, Mike and the kids were incredible. Mike was very much super dad. We usually work as a team on everything we do but with how sick I was I could only do the bare bare bare minimum, if anything at all. I thanked him multiple times every single day for doing both our jobs. Every day he was at 4am to go to work, would come home just before the kids got home from school and would do it all. Driving kids to and from sports, making dinner, homework help, bedtime, baths, laundry, cleaning, etc etc, I could go on and on but just know he did all of it. All while I was in bed, and I listened in smiling because it was so sweet to listen to but also feeling so incredibly sad, I wasn't involved. I love my everyday life with our family. My sister came up to help me out a few days as well, which we were so grateful for. The guilt is real. Not only was I feeling close to death but all I wanted to do was live my normal life and take care of my family. I felt so beyond guilty for not being able to do so but kept reminding myself it was temporary, and I needed to do this to take care of our baby. Needless to say, I'm so happy those days seem to be behind me for the most part. I still get some nausea here and there and dinner is still hard to eat but that I can deal with. I'm in bed every single night by 7:30 immediately after Kensington, Tenley and Smith get settled down for the night. I really hope I can get some energy back at some point, but we will see. I keep calling myself an old lady being 37 and pregnant. My doctor keeps telling me even though I'm 37 and this is labeled a "geriatric pregnancy" that I'm not old, but I sure feel it. LOL! She told me majority of her patients are starting their families at my age and she has A LOT of patients that are well over 40.
I go back and forth about how much I want to document this pregnancy and my thoughts. I know some people think I "put my whole life on the internet" but the truth is, I very much enjoy looking back on posts from the kids growing up. I guess this is one of those situations where you can't win. I have people who tell me how much they love reading the blog and I have people who think its dumb. Ah well, you can't please everyone. I think I'll just go by how I'm feeling that day and go from there. I want to take a minute and thank all of you for your congratulations and kind words. I have had some of the most wonderful conversations over the past few days. Both Mike and I were a little nervous about telling everyone we were pregnant, but we were pleasantly surprised by how receptive and happy everyone was for us. Of course, we know behind the scenes there are people who think we are crazy blah blah blah, we get it. It's fine. Everyone is allowed their opinion. But at the end of the day there is so much more positivity and love than anything else surrounding this baby. It gives me a great deal of peace and I am so grateful for it.