The blessing I didn't see coming

Truth. I've been keeping a little secret off my blog for ...... well, 25 weeks to be exact. Outside of immediate family and a few close friends, few people know about this joy that has been gifted to us. For whatever reason, this time around, we've kept the news to ourselves. Until now that is :-)

I'm putting it out there!

I'm pregnant!

Yup, in a few months, when the snow melts and the flowers begin to bloom, when the days get warmer and longer, I will give birth to our fifth son.

And if you're out there keeping count.... that's five sons, in just over four years!

Five sons in four years. I still can hardly believe it.

I can't even think about cooking for five teenage boys or having five sons in college at the same time..... our grocery bill is already outrageous. In the short term we're trying to figure out how to fit a fifth car seat into our Honda Odyssey :-). I'm just going to continue to take this whole parenting thing one day at a time and pray that these brothers develop a tight bond that will last their lifetime. If that happens, Chris and I will feel we have been successful.

So remember last fall when I was so bad about blogging?? Well, it was because I spent the majority of the first trimester either trying not to puke or thinking about when I could sleep next. I'm feeling great now though. It's amazing how different carrying one baby feels as opposed to three. There's a lot less belly and fewer doctor visits!

Last weekend, Chris and I snuck away for a much needed date night. Before we left I snapped a few pictures, realizing that I'm already over half way through this pregnancy without many pictures of the growing bean.

So here he is!

Our fifth little man.

No doubt this baby is an amazing blessing and we are thrilled to welcome another child into our family. I can hardly wait to smell his newborn smell, hold him in my arms and glimpse his little features for the first time. But we were also surprised by this blessing, and with that surprise came needed time to process the news. After all we'd been through, we just didn't expect this! Some days I'm still worried about the challenges that will come with parenting five boys, including triplets and not a lot of age spacing..... but I'm certain that we'll figure it out as we go.

God has a beautiful plan for our family, I just know it.

Pure Joy

This month, I made a promise to myself not to take a pregnancy test until at least 12 days had past, for my own sanity. That way, if it's not what I want to see, I only have to deal with one disappointment rather than viewing negative test after negative test. It's just gotten too hard.

But this morning I broke that promise with myself. It's only been 9 days since my IUI but I just couldn't resist.

AND IT WAS POSITIVE. (envision: jaw dropping to floor, eyes bugging out of head). Whhhhhaaaaattttt?!?!?!?! Is this for real?!

I'm PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I ran down the hall calling little c's name (Chris was at work). "Colin, you're going to be a big brother!" He hugged me. Although he's too young to understand what I was telling him, he knows happiness when he sees it- and he felt it too. (Either that or he just thinks I'm nuts)

We took this picture:

After the initial excitement had subsided a bit, the news sunk in more and more. I couldn't stop staring at the stick with two lines. This is real....

I literally dropped to my knees, right there on the bathroom floor and with tears in my eyes thanked God for this this gift.

We went downstairs and on my computer was an e-mail from Chris asking if Colin and I wanted to come get him for lunch.

Hell yes we would!

We pulled up, Chris got in the car and I told him how I'd broken my promise to myself and tested early. Then I told him that the result was positive. Pretty darn positive. And I showed him the stick. Here was his reaction:

I'm pregnant. I love saying that!