Another Addition

We are happy to share that we will be adding another little one to our family in May!  Our families have known for about 6 weeks now, as we decided to share with them in November before Steve left to go to Mississippi for a long, work-related trip.  Both of our families were obviously thrilled, but I think that the person that was the MOST excited would have to be Samantha.

One morning, we sat her down and shared the news with her.  We explained that she was such a great big sister to Sophia (and then we listed some of the wonderful things that she does) that we thought that she would like to be a big sister again.  She looked a little confused and told us that she was already a big sister.  We then told her that I had a baby in my belly and that we would get to meet the baby after Mother's Day.  She finally understood and couldn't wait to tell Sophia.

When Sophia woke up, she ran to her, put her hands on both of Sophia's cheeks and said, "Sophia, I have something very important to tell you.  Momma has a baby in her belly and it's only this big, but Momma's belly is going to get really big.  And when the baby is born, you can go with me to the hospital to see it, ok?"

Later that day, we were riding in the car and Samantha must have been digesting the brevity of the news for several hours because she loudly announced, "Momma, Daddy ... I don't know if I can be a big sister to TWO babies because that is A LOT of work!"  (She was referring to Sophia and the new little one, of course).  Steve and I just exchanged a grin before I replied, "Honey, that's ok.  You don't have to do any of the work.  You can do the fun things like choosing clothes for the baby to wear and giving the baby a bath."  Now, that is what she tells everyone -- she's going to give the baby a bath.

I am now 16 weeks along and feeling much better.  While I experienced morning sickness with each of the other pregnancies, this one was the worst.  In fact, the nausea only started to finally fade away about 2 weeks ago.  I now have some energy back too ...

I am officially due on May 30th, but I will have a scheduled c-section sometime the week before that.  The timing seems to be perfect, as I will be done teaching the Spring semester at the beginning of May.  I plan to take the summer off so that I can be home for a while before going back to teaching a couple nights a week in the Fall. 

There isn't a day that goes by that Samantha doesn't ask about the baby -- how it is doing, whether I can feel it move, etc.  While I am clearly excited about this pregnancy myself, I am even more excited to be sharing this experience with her ...

Last week, she came home from school with this picture for me:

Customarily, she always draws a picture of me on the back of one of her school papers.  She is always so proud to show me the extra details that she has added (the curly hair, the nostrils, etc).  Well this time, there was a different detail -- she drew the baby inside my belly!  It just warms my heart to know how much she has already considered this baby to be a part of our lives.  She is so focused on the baby's growth, the baby's feelings and the baby's general well-being, that I know that she will just be the most remarkable big sister ... just like she was from the second that she first laid eyes on Sophia at the hospital.