An Announcement!

An Announcement!

I don’t like making announcements. Steve says it’s because I don’t like the attention, and there might be some truth to that. But because I’m so announcement adverse, I’ve been sitting on a pretty big announcement for awhile now. Aaaand, it’s time! Partly because it’s been awhile, partly because we’ve been letting our families know, and partly because this kind of announcement is becoming more and more obvious on its own. So, this is now blog-official…we will be having our 4th child sometime in June!

And despite my reluctance to share the news, I promise that I’m very excited. It really is that I don’t like the attention – I don’t mind other people announcing it for me, I just don’t want to be the one to do it! Fortunately, Gabe has been happy to help out in that department, and every time we see someone who doesn’t know the news, he leans over to whisper “Can I tell them about the baby?”

Let me tell you, morning sickness does not go well with the aromas of a homestead.  The warm curds and whey from cheesemaking, the horribly stinky buck goats that bred our does, and the odorous accoutrements Steve likes with his foods. Garlic? Onions? Hot cherry peppers? Bleaugh!

Normally, I love fresh cheese. These days, Steve has to make it with the vent on and windows open, and I have to leave the house for at least two hours.

The boys have all said that they want a sister. Because, in Luke’s words, “Then there’d be four boys, and that’s a lot of boys!” (Actually, they originally suggested that it might be efficent to have triplet girls, so there would be an even ratio of boys to girls.  Heaven forbid!)  We’ve been trying to downplay that with them, as we’re not entirely sure they’re old enough to understand and not be disappointed if we have another boy.

As I like to say to strangers when they raise an eyebrow at three boys, “We have fun and stay busy!”

Having a girl would be exciting, and it would certainly be different! But no matter how many strangers in the grocery store ask if that’s the reason, we did not decide to have another child to ‘try for’ a girl. If I’m honest, I decided that maybe having another baby would get Steve to stop hounding me about getting sheep. (Kidding, sort of.)  Our family wasn’t ‘incomplete’ because we have 3 sons and no daughters. For us, part of being a faithful Christian family means being open to any number and gender of children we are blessed with! That said…. we ARE running out of boy’s names. Yes, we’ve only used 3 so far, but it has to a) be a name we both like, b) not be the name of one of our animals and c) sound good in conjuncture with our other kid’s names. With all those qualifications, it’s extremely fortunate we have 6 months to think about it!

Cloth diapers are the only kind of laundry I actually enjoy.

In the meantime, I’m rather enjoying seeing all the new baby gear they’ve come out with since Daniel was a baby, and having a blast planning what adorable styles and brands of cloth diapers this little one will be wearing!

7 thoughts on “An Announcement!

  1. Congratulations to all! I’m sure all the boys will be great role models for this new sibling. God bless you with a healthy pregnancy!

    1. We haven’t seen her, though we do follow quite a few blogs.

      It’s tough when you both come from Catholic Christian families. After awhile it becomes difficult to find a unique name that’s not something like Barnabas, especially when there are so many male relatives!

  2. Congratulations!!! Having two girls at home, I can tell you they are fun to dress up, but I can do without the mood swings of the 5.5 year old! I am already dreading the teen years! If you do have a girl, I am sure you can get advice from Erin on what it was like to grow up in a family of boys.

    I feel your pain when it comes to smell! With my 1st baby I had a heightened sense of smell…and I was working as a nurse. One night, I heard a “splash”. I thought…water pitcher…maybe a urinal….nope a colostomy bag!!! needless to say, I ran far from that one! I hope your morning sickness/smell issues do not last long!

    Now for Boys names….I am of course quite fond of Alexander. He was also born in June =)

    1. Hi Nancy! Great to hear from you! The colostomy bag thing is so nasty – I can’t even imagine.

      I actually have always liked the name Alexander – but, we have a good friend named Alex, and though we try to give our kids middle names after somebody we love and admire we try to make their first names unique to them. I hope you and your family is well – I enjoy seeing all your posts online!

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