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!

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.

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!

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!