Welcome to my first ever blog series!! I’m pretty excited about it. Part of me really wants to doubt myself and believe that I won’t follow through with it, but heck, I’ve been blogging for just shy of five years and haven’t missed one yet, so I’m hopeful it’ll be fine 😉 I went back and forth on names for the series, trying to play off the names of the days of the week. Fertile Friday. Sunday Bun-day. Stuff like that. While those were witty, I like the title I settled on better. Expecting the Best. Because I really am. I desire very much to stay positive as I go forward into another pregnancy.

Each Saturday, I’ll post about the past week, and likely answer the same questions. There will obviously be some flow and change in that, as some weeks will likely be more eventful than others. I’m also thinking that I might do a full week of gender predicting wive’s tales later on, just for fun. I always love those videos on YouTube, sod hopefully a photo blog post is almost as fun.

Without further ado, I’ll kick off with the questions for my seventh week of pregnancy!

Comparison/size: Being 8 weeks on the money, baby’s size is compared to a little square Lego brick. As in the one with four nubbins. Though apparently my uterus is the size of a grapefruit!! I have no bump to show for it (save for the super bloating that just kicked off this week) so I’m not sure where that grapefruit is tucked, but I’m glad its in there!

How am I feeling mentally: I feel ok. Better than I thought I would, honestly. I’ll go for another ultrasound soon, though. We didn’t find out Theo had passed away until around 11 weeks, but he passed at 8 weeks. I can’t help but wonder if I would’ve seen his heartbeat had we had an early ultrasound that time around. So call me crazy, but I feel a very real need to see his beating heart again after that 8 week mark. I have the most understanding doctor. She gets it. I’ll say again, though, my mental health is in better shape than I thought it would be. I don’t spend all day expecting my baby to die. I’m happy and excited, and while anxiety is present, its decent far back in there, and peace is further ahead.

How am I feeling physically: I feel sicker than I’ve ever felt in pregnancy! For the first time, I am actively taking the full doses of nausea medication that was offered to me. Could I get by without it? Sure. But the constant sick feeling is so so hard, and even on medication, I gag and dry heave often. There. I just did it, because I’m talking about it. It doesn’t take much. Not too much specifically sets it off, thankfully. Brewing coffee is probably the worst. Eggs are a close second. But everything else is fine. I’m a picky eater at the moment, but haven’t barfed yet! *knocks on wood* Beyond nausea, I’m pretty sure my boobs are trying to kill me. If they’re going to grow, I wish they just would, and then be done with it! But I’ll leave it at that. Oh, and I have the shakes. It comes and goes, and I don’t much care for it. That one is completely new to me. I’ve never been so shaky in any other pregnancy.

Any appointments recently?: I had one prenatal a while back. It was pretty uneventful. My doctor wasn’t available, but we actually were able to see the student doctor that had been through our pregnancy with Solly with us! It was a reassuring appointment. I’m really looking forward to more along the way. I know that sounds silly. Most people hate going to the doctor, especially so regularly during a pregnancy, but I really like it. I like my doctor, I like being able to ask my questions and talk about my emotions with her. I always leave feeling excited and uplifted. Another three weeks or so until my next appt.

Buys/Wish List: I have practiced restraint so far! No baby buys yet at all!! Though I could, easily!! Haha! If we’re being real here, I pretty much exclusively wear maternity clothes all the time now. I never even really try between pregnancies to get into regular clothes. Maternity clothes, specifically jeans, are WAY comfier. But my nicest pair of dark jeans got a snag in them 🙁 So I’m keeping my eyes open for a good sale at the Gap, because I have my eye on a pair there that will replace those ones and feel oh so nice! So thats probably at the top of the list, but I’m not in any rush, being that its summer…

How are the other kids feeling about the whole thing?: The kids are stoked 🙂 They talk a lot about the baby in my tummy. They often speculate whether its a boy or a girl, and the most common conversation they start is about naming the baby. Their top contender is “Lovey.” Which is just about the most adorable idea ever. I’m totally on board. Their second option is “Rowan.” I tell them we already have a Rowan, but they argue back that they like Rowan, so they want another. I get where they’re coming from.

The BEST thing about being pregnant this week: I can safely say that my favourite part of being pregnant this week was getting to share the news with you guys!!! If you didn’t notice, I didn’t put an actual announcement on Facebook, but just on the blog. I’m 100% comfortable with people finding out; I’m not at all hoping to keep it a secret. But this way, you loyal blog readers found out first, and other people are finding out gradually, which I’m kind of enjoying! Almost every day, someone has either commented or messaged me excitedly about it, and I’ve gotten to gush and celebrate all over again. Its so nice 🙂 I’ve enjoyed SO MUCH the support you’ve all offered our family as we navigate through all of the emotions of another journey through pregnancy! We are SO fortunate and happy and blessed, but also very nervous and anxious. There is a lot to process and take in, and I haven’t been made to feel silly or petty or judged. Not even once. THAT has felt like the best part of this last week for me, hands down.

Anything else?: Mmmmm…not off the top of my head. Anything else you guys want to know?

Pictures: Bear with me here, haha! I took a “belly picture” quite quickly after getting a positive test. Its not great, but it was an attempt at being positive, anticipating a successful pregnancy, and wanting to track my size from the very beginning. It was a bit of a shocker to see my body this way, since I had showed by 8 weeks with Theo, and in this picture right around 4 weeks, there was no bump to see. It was a bit sad. But, nonetheless, here is my freshly pregnant picture.

And now, four weeks later, its not a lot different, but I am definitely bloated! Haha! Its not as though anyone would see me and guess I’m pregnant, but something is definitely brewing in there!

Hahaha! Looking at them like this now, I just look a little thicker. Lol! I’m happy with it 🙂 I just hope I keep growing and changing because the baby keeps growing. This is some weird deja vu that I don’t much care for, but I’m trying to embrace it and keep rolling. I’m thankful for every moment I get to be pregnant.

Alright, guys, I think thats it for my first chapter of my first series! Did I miss anything? Do you have any other questions? Anything you’d like to hear about in the future? Feel free to ask, public or private doesn’t matter. I’m really excited to keep record of this pregnancy this way 🙂 I know there will be some repetition because inevitably I’ll talk about at least some of these things during the other days of the week, but I’ll try to keep the overlap to a minimum.

Enjoy your Saturday! I’m looking forward to hopefully a bit more sun and a bit less wind than usual. We can trust the Saskatchewan weather forecast. I mean, they’re basically always right!! 😉

A strange thing happened this morning.

While the kids were eating breakfast, Rowan managed to drop his cup into his cereal. Being that it was the end of the box, all of the pieces were tiny, and it made a HUGE mess. I managed to scoop up what fell on his high chair tray and his lap, but the floor was a disaster. Whatever. Small people eating often results in a mess on the floor. Nothing new. But it happened twice. Twice. So it was impossible to save.

Floors are my least favorite thing to clean. No matter how much you sweep and sweep and sweep, there is always more to find. I can never stand back and feel like its perfect. Its always still messy and dirty. I just hate sweeping the floor. However, lots of you have seen in the past that we bought a cheap little vacuum that Dekker loves to use! So he often offers to vacuum the floor for me, and again, while he doesn’t usually get everything, any amount of clean is better than none, and I’m SO grateful for him and his love of helping!

This morning, seeing SO much cereal on the floor, I got a very real itch to clean it. Not because the mess was bugging me, but I just neeeeeded to clean it. Once I came to that realization, I looked around and saw so much more work that neeeeeded to be done. Our dishes were stacked tall. The stovetop was a mess from something or other boiling over the other day. The high chairs were loaded down with cereal. The island was so so sticky. There was so much to do, and for some reason, I was hit with a serious cleaning bug.

When the little boys were done breakfast, I tipped their chairs over and cereal poured all over the floor. I didn’t even care. I swept the rest of the mess off the table and began pulling the chairs out from under the table. Dekker instantly jumped up in excitement and asked to vacuum. I told him he could, and he rushed off to the closet to get it. I got all of the chairs out and Dekker began his task. I started doing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen up. He and I worked together, and it felt great. He’d peek at me from under the table and I’d smooch him when he’s come to the side of dining room that was closer to me. It was such good teamwork. We were both happy and working.

I realized as we were working that what I was feeling felt very much like nesting. Cleaning and preparing for a baby. And then I felt silly, because I’m not even very far along. Nesting at this stage of the game doesn’t make any sense. And then I felt even more silly, and maybe even just dumb.

I was due with Theo at the very end of July/beginning of August. I never nested for him. I didn’t have the chance.

I wonder if my body is confused. My hormones are in baby mode. My heart and emotions are SO ready for a baby. But obviously, my body isn’t ready to have a baby. At least I really, really hope it isn’t.

I have no idea if thats whats happening; that I’m nesting late for Theo, or early for the little papoose. Maybe I’m just not feeling as sick today so I’m more energetic. Maybe there is zero explanation beyond stuff needed doing and I’m an adult so I decided to do it. But it was a strange reminder.

I admit that thinking about Theo kind of halted my motivation. I finished the load of dishes I was doing, and put the chairs back under the table. Dekker finished vacuuming and put it away for me. I stacked up the rest of the dishes beside the sink and wiped down what I could. Then I snuck Dekker away and he and I sat in the pantry and ate Bear Paws together.

I’m still calling it a positive, successful, enjoyable morning. Some things got done. I got to once again witness my son’s amazing, generous heart, and reward him for it with a little secret date. I felt productive for the first time in a few weeks. And I was reminded that I can successfully miss my precious Theo while anticipating the little papoose, with neither being overshadowed by the other. I wondered how that would feel, and I’m actually relieved at how its turned out.

Today will continue to be great.

I don’t know about you guys, but my kids sleep so much longer in weather like this. Its grey, and windy, and sort of spitting/threatening to rain all day long. The sounds are very effective white noise, and that paired with the absence of the sun beaming through the cracks between their curtains let’s them soak up the slumber just that much longer. I got Laela up shortly before 10:00am and the boys were closer to 11:00am!! It was such a beautiful, quiet morning.

I was fortunate to be able to spend it with my mom. We sat in the living room with our feet up, chatting our alone time away. She is such an encourager, and we feel the same about SO many things. It is so easy to talk with my mom and lose track of time. We have a pretty special thing, she and I.

Eventually, the kids began to lull. Laela ate breakfast for what felt like forever at the table, and Solly was next, eating Cheerios like a ravenous little beast who had never ever been fed. Rowan was the last to wake up and was MUCH more interested in playing toys that he was in eating. I figured it was close enough to lunchtime that he would survive, so I let him. Grandma read story after story to them, and I took a quick phone call and chatted with Brady while he took a quick lunch break.

Brady’s day got a bit disjointed, and while he got lots done, he ended up figuring out that he’d be leaving nice and early. So he’s currently on his way home, and we’re going to load the kids up, pick up Dekker from school, and do a family grocery shop. I know its strange how much they love a good grocery shop, but they all really do! Haha! So thats a winning outing for our family 🙂

Once we made this plan, I got a bit worried about naps. Our little boys are SO dependant on their sleep still. Even Rowan, at age 2.5, cannot miss a nap without being a pretty hot mess by the end of the day. As in he’ll cry and cry “Naaaaap!” He knows what he needs. Yet I was in a bind, because he only woke up around 11:00! What could I do?! So I just waited to see what would happen, and I prepared him lunch for around 12:30. He ate it happily, and asked for more. Once I had him all the way done, he asked to get down from his high chairs. I said he could, and suggested a nap.

“Ummmmm…yup. Nap.” And he reached out for me.

Don’t ask me why, but he was ready for a nap after being up only two hours. Not in the way that he was melting down and neeeeeded a nap, but right in that sweet spot where he was happy to go down.

So I put him down in bed, and he didn’t make a sound. He often messes around in there for a bit, sings to himself, he usually takes that as his opportunity to poop, etc. Lol! But not today. He just lay quietly and fell asleep. And I’m pretty sure I can thank the wind for that. Not in the mystical, Pocahontas “paint with all the colors of the wind” kind of way. But I’m POSITIVE its playing a role in him sleeping so well! Solly also went with after his lunch without any real effort.

The only thing that could mess up nap time would be if the deck chairs and such blows around too much more. They’re SO loud, sliding around out there, but even when they’re all plastered to one side of the deck, they still manage to move around with the wind. I have no idea how else to move them so they don’t, and I’m not willing to make a bunch of trips to and from my garage to store them inside. So hopefully, for the next half hour or so, they don’t move too much, and Ro and Solly can keep sleeping. They’re got to be rested in order to enjoy our little outing this afternoon!

I hope you’re all enjoying this windy day like I am 🙂 I don’t usually feel this optimistic on grey days.

Before you even go there, I want to clarify that I’m not going there. This post is not about sex. Not even at all. I want to focus on a completely separate part of trying to conceive. So don’t be afraid to read on.

I want to share a bit of backstory first.

When we decided to try for a baby the very first time, it was all so new and exciting! Being totally ignorant to the process, I bought tons of pregnancy tests and tested as soon as the test said I could maaaybe get a positive result. Six days before my expected period. So I tested for six days and got my period. Even though that was the first month we had ever intentionally tried to conceive, I was very sad that it didn’t work. Its a bit of a mind game, honestly. I told myself “We did the right things at the right time. What could we possibly have done differently?” We were SO fortunate to conceive on the very next cycle, and suffered zero heartache in the process. What did we know.

We decided only a few months after Dekker was born that we wanted to try again. I don’t think too many of you know that. We tried for Laela for over a year. Now I KNOW that people try longer, and I don’t claim to understand that exact feeling, but it was an enormous whirlwind of emotions. From frustration to devastation to confusion to screaming to total and utter indifference. By the end of it, I was completely numb to the process. All the anticipation was gone. All the romance was gone. It was a pretty awful year, if I’m being honest. After about eight months of trying, I quit testing. I couldn’t put myself through the emotional wringer anymore. And then we conceived our little Laela! And life kept moving.

A lot changed in that year we spent trying to conceive Laela. A lot. I changed a lot as a person, and that was probably the point in my life where my anxiety kicked off. It was a very very difficult year. My heart aches for you, my dear friends, who have been trying to conceive for years. I can only imagine how much your life has changed. For that, I am SO sorry. I don’t even know what to say, really.

With our experience trying to conceive Laela, I lost my excitement in the process. While I very much desired more kids, and was happy to be trying to conceive, there was very little positivity or anticipation. I was quite pessimistic. Though I was merely trying to be realistic, and to be prepared, I was just waiting to be shot down. It wasn’t a fun way to live. We conceived Rowan, and Solly, and Theo.

As you know, we lost Theo in my first trimester. We then waited a couple of cycles for my body and our hearts to do some healing, and felt ready to try and conceive again once the cycles has passed. But as you can assume, I was a downer. I was negative and not very hopeful. Even more so this time, having just lost a baby. What if some freak thing had happened, and I couldn’t conceive again? What if we had another year of struggle? What about all of the time we lost?!

With all of this in mind, I did something a bit crazy. Crazy for me, anyway. I decided to risk the emotional rollercoaster, and open myself back up to the innocence of a first time TTC-er. I bought a ton of tests and tested early in the month. I let myself think every little feeling was a symptom, and to work myself up about maaaybe being pregnant. And then, when I’d get my period, I would get hit hard. Because I had anticipated and gotten excited and treated myself like I was already pregnant. I let myself get attached to the idea each month, and in all honesty, it hurt so badly on the months where it didn’t happen for us.

BUT! It did happen. And when it did, I felt more excited than I had when I had conceived the last time. I cried, and squealed, and took pictures of my test as it got darker and darker and darker. I took more tests to back it up. I did all of the things I did when I was new and naive and completely unaware of the heartache of how hard it can be to try to conceive. It felt amazing.

I hate to always have to have a disclaimer, but as always, I am NOT suggesting everyone do what I did. I very much understand the need to protect your own heart and try to forget about things and let life keep moving. But I had done enough of that. This change was GOOD for me! I’m SO glad I opened myself back up to the risk of being hurt, because the excitement I felt from taking that risk was completely worth the hard fall I took on the months that we didn’t conceive.

This all being said, I found a couple of fun resources along the way that are completely new to me, and I thought they would be fun to share for those of you who are trying to conceive!

The first one is an app called Pregnancy Test Checker. Now I’m not sure why or how, but I got this app so recently and it was free, but now it costs :/ But its a cheapie. Anyway, it is SO good for those of us who take pictures of pregnancy tests and want to invert the colors, lighten or darker, etc. I don’t know how to mess around with my iPhoto settings to make it happen, but this app does it with the click of a button, so to speak. I loved it!! If you’re actively TTC or are taking regular pregnancy tests, I’d recommend it!

The second resource I found that makes testing fun is a website called Countdown to Pregnancy. I know, there are SO MANY websites that you can sign up, and I don’t really like making different accounts all over the place. However, this site has a pregnancy test gallery where people post pictures of their tests, and other members can weigh in with their opinions of the result. When I found that, I was just thrilled. Not because their opinions had any science behind them, but because I wasn’t the only person wishing to have other people’s guesses without telling everyone that they’re trying to conceive! It was a really fun resource for me.

I feel like this is a strange post, but I’ve been feeling like its important for me to write. I wanted to put some excitement and joy back into trying to conceive, and at least for me, it worked. I hope I made sense. I hope I didn’t say anything wrong. I hope you check out the app and site, if they’re at all relevant to you.

And I hope you have a lovely, albeit windy Wednesday afternoon.

In my quest to figure out what my family is going to look like and how we’re going to build it and raise our children, I’ve learned that other peoples opinions shouldn’t matter. More and more, I’ve been told not to worry about what other people think or say, but to do as we feel we’re meant to. Whether popular or unpopular, our choices are our own.

I thought I’d have to learn to let things go more, or to let rude comments roll off my back, and sure, there is some of that. But mostly, through my searching and figuring, I’ve more learned to be confident in my choices. I hold no bitterness towards people who wouldn’t do as we do, or who think we’re just nuts. I honestly don’t! There are the occasional comments thrown my way that could be taken as rude, but I think its often just a miscommunication, or people saying something wrong. We don’t always ace everything. I know I sure don’t. I’m sure I’ve been offensive when I’m actually just interested or uneducated. So when people approach me with “So…why did you have so many kids?” I respond with something along the lines of “We’re trying to take over the world.” We have a good laugh and keep on moving. “You’ve got your hands full!” I do, indeed, but I love it! They’re truly amazing kids. “Do these kids all have the same mama??” YES! Its SO much fun! People have a harder time being rude when you approach those comments positively 🙂 I have yet to have someone reply to my answer with “Well, I think you made a huge mistake.”

Aaaaall of this aside, its really true that other people’s opinions shouldn’t matter. But in reality, sometimes, they just do. Even if you don’t want to care, when you know someone isn’t directly FOR you, it quickly feels like they are AGAINST you, and its easy to jump on the defence. Trust me, I know this, too. That mama bear (or papa bear) mentality is all too real, and its ok to feel protective of your family!

I ended up on a tangent I wasn’t expecting, so I’ll stop that here. But I’ll get to the point of what I actually wanted to boil this down to.

Your loving comments over the last two days have been beautiful and encouraging and warm. You’ve all expressed excitement, support, love, understanding, and that we should keep doing what we’re doing 🙂 You can’t know how this makes me feel. While I’m sure there are people out there, even in my very own personal Facebook land, who don’t agree with our choices, they’ve kept it to themselves, which I am truly grateful for. To ONLY have supportive friends speak up has been an immense gift. While your opinions shouldn’t matter too much to me, they do, and I’m so thankful for everyone who is rooting for us.

A little sideways lesson I’m learning through this is to remember to really really NOT judge other people. Even though it shouldn’t matter what I think of really anyone, it might matter to them. I don’t want to be a sore spot for anyone. I don’t know. Just something to think more about, I suppose.

Seriously, thank you all for your love and support as we take the plunge into growing our family further still. I’m so thankful to have so many amaaazing people in our corner through these times.

Since I’ve finally come to believe that I am in fact pregnant, its like the symptoms are laying on me like a ton of bricks. I won’t get into all of the gory details, but I have felt SO nauseous for probably 3-4 days. Not much before then, but quite gross recently. Yesterday, I heaved like craaazy over a pail, but it resorted in a disgusting taste in my mouth and sore throat only. Which is good, I guess. Its good to not vomit constantly. But my gag reflex is on HIGH alert. Standing makes it all SO much worse. Which is fine, because who stands?? Oh right. I do.

With that, as is my usual, I’m not nauseous at the thought of food, specifically, but I am VERY picky. I’m not a picky eater on a regular day. I’m an adult. We eat what we’re given, haha! But these days, I don’t want to risk eating something I’m not hungry for, because forcing it is what makes my body angry. So far, the only smell that really bothers me is brewing coffee 🙁 Isn’t that sad? But ready-made coffee is ok. So Brady leaves me some in the pot in the morning, and I heat it up and drink it that way. It actually works, though I look forward to being able to be around the smell of coffee again. I’m feeling very fortunate, though, that this is my only aversion so far.

So naturally, because I’m feeling this sick, my little boys spent the morning pooping, over and over and over again. Laela spent the morning arguing with me and teasing. Dekker, by default, spent the morning crying. Partaaaaay!

Doesn’t everyone want to come hang at our house?? If you do, I may pass off one of the poopy diapers your way, though. So. Much. Poop.

💩

That’s very literally all I have to share for today. I feel like poop, my kids feel like pooping, and I can’t stand up without gagging or getting dizzy and sitting right back down. If its any consolation to anyone, though, everyone is freshly diapered and in bed, everyone is fed, and the big kids are playing lego in front of a show. So we’re all alive and well. But this is as high as we’re aiming today, and I’m more than ok with it.

When Brady and I got married, we were kids. We were SO unprepared for spending our lives together. We knew we wanted to, don’t get me wrong, but the topic of children was barely discussed. What did we know? Nothing. I believe the first time the topic came up, Brady said he wanted two kids, and I said I wanted four. That was where the conversation started and ended. We never considered that the family plans we had in mind could possible differ from one another.

I couldn’t be happier with how our life has turned out in this area. Truly, I couldn’t. The day we had Dekker, we looked at each other and both said “We have to do this so many more times!” We just knew. And I thank the Lord that we have the same feelings and goals in the matter. How different our life would look if we didn’t agree, or if we couldn’t conceive. What a life changer either of those would have been.

Not only am I blessed with a man who shares my desire to grow our family, but he is a better dad than I could’ve asked for. He is hands on, involved, and sacrificial. Brady is at work at (or before) 6:00am every morning, just so he can come home a couple of hours early and actually spend quality time with our kids. While I am obviously home with the kids more than he is, he works HARD to continue along with our routine of the day, keep things consistent, and parent alongside me, rather than just playing his way through the evening. He never takes the easy way out, ever.

Even on the sucky, angry, “we just can’t get it together” days, he displays an unconditional love for his family. We all feel it.

Brady, I hope you know how much we love and appreciate you. You know I love you, and that they love you, and that I like you, and that they like you. I knew you’d be a fun dad, but I could never have pictured you like this. You have taken your title of “head of the house” and embraced it with a servant, sacrificial heart. What an amazing man you are!! I’m so happy to call you mine.

 

We love you!!
Hailey, Dekker, Laela, Rowan, Solly, & little papoose ❤️

Our lives have been so busy in the last month. I feel like we’ve been going non-stop, though I know its not true. Just busy for us. From Mother’s Day weekend busyness, to family visiting, to school events, to all the work up leading to our music set at the car show, to appointments, to makeup jobs, to our lake trip, and a whole bunch of other things in between. We have felt SO busy. Yet, on another hand, time has stood still.

About a month ago, our prayers were answered. I am SO happy and relieved and overwhelmed to share with you all that we are, once again, expecting a baby!! So many emotions have come along for the ride this time, both thanks to hormones, and also our past experience, losing Theo.

Getting my positive pregnancy test at a strange time in my cycle, amidst unusual spotting, brought on a lot of nervousness, as one would expect. We had an ultrasound shortly thereafter, and there was almost nothing to see. Even less than we were expecting to see. All that could be seen was the gestational sac, and I measured five days behind. I spent the next week and a half expecting the worst. Waiting to miscarry. Measuring small is often your first indication that things aren’t going smoothly. Not always, of course, but sometimes.

My doctor gifted me a second ultrasound soon thereafter, and God covered us in it. He knew what we needed. We were THRILLED to see that beautiful little flicker of a heartbeat in our teeeeeny tiny little baby’s body!! While we know there is no guarantee with that, it brought significant relief to our hearts. We finally believed I was ACTUALLY PREGNANT!

Guys. I’m pregnant. It feels so surreal now that I can breathe a little bit easier. I’m still nervous, but I don’t anticipate feeling 100% confident for a very long time still, and I wanted to keep you all in the loop 🙂

I used to think, as I had more kids, I’d keep my pregnancies private longer, for fear of judgement. But through our miscarriage, I learned that we have amazing people in our corner who are rooting for us, and I appreciate that SO much! I’m not sure why you’ve all taken such a loving interest in our lives, but I love that you have. I’m so thankful for the support we’ve felt and received.

I am seven weeks along today. I know. Its still very early. But I wanted to share early this time 🙂 We are praying SO hard for our baby to be comfy and sticky in my womb, and that he or she grows strong and healthy and humungous, haha! Please join us in prayer for our little papoose ❤️

And be ready for a blog series!! A very intentional pregnancy blog series, I think on Saturdays. I want so badly to focus on the positives, and I’m hoping this will remind me to expect the best ☺️ I am beyond thrilled!

PREGNAAAAANT!!! 🤰

After being completely and utterly bushed yesterday, the kids are considerably more rested and functional. Which is perfectly timed, because Dekker had a field trip today! He assured me at breakfast that he was feeling much better than yesterday, and he even told me he was excited to try some new things. His field trip was compiled of things that he had never done before, so I was wondering how it would go.

He was excited to go to school, and rushed right into his classroom after giving me a kiss goodbye. I wasn’t able to be a parent helper this time around but lucky for me, I had a few friends on the inside who lovingly sent pictures and videos of him playing and having fun. I got lots of updates and people telling me how silly and funny and happy he was. Apparently he’s actually decent at bowling, which is exciting! He really enjoyed that part, and even got a strike! Thats more than I can say for myself!! The second part of his day was spent doing gymnastics, which he will tell you “was the hard part of the day.” But he tried some new things, like he promised he would, and he concurred some fears. Wins for Dekker!

The kids made it back to school in time for last recess, and ended up just spending the remainder of the afternoon outside on the playground. He was happy and sweaty. One of the parents came up to me and pointed him out, saying that they had danced and been silly together and had a lot of fun. It is SO wonderful to see Dekker finding his groove and his feet and his confidence. He genuinely like school, which I am so happy to see. He does still like home more, but I truly think he’ll miss school during the summer.

While he solidly enjoyed today, he is once again, pretty wiped out. And that is just fine 🙂 We have a yummy supper ready and waiting, making our house smell delicious, so I’m going to choose my priorities and go eat. And then snuggle in for some laziness before tucking everyone away for the night. Sounds like a pretty great Friday night to me!!

As promised, I have WAY too many pictures to share from our trip to the lake yesterday! Like an obscene amount. I may whittle them down as I go, but I’m not promising anything 🙂 I love a good photo post, and I think at least a handful of others do, too, so here goes!

Jerilee and Brady sat in the front, and I sat in the first row of seats. With the open console area, it felt very much like we were just all sitting beside each other 🙂 It was a great set up. Plus, I had these two monkeys beside me the whole time.

They were cute, and patient as we drove the 2.5 ish hours to the lake. Once we arrived, we unloaded the kids into the parking lot and grabbed the beach stuff. Dekker and Laela were amped!

I love when they hold hands <3 We didn’t ask them to or anything. They were just ready to go!

Once we set up our blankets and such, the sand castling begun!

Yup, that’s sand in his teeth. He had to try it, I suppose. Just the once.

Bubbles also came out, because whats the beach without bubbles?

We managed to convince a couple of the kids to wade into the water but it was pretty frigid, haha!

Our beach has always had a pretty great little play structure on it, but in the last few years, its put up another one that is for older kids, and its SO much fun! They’ve also gotten baby swings, teeter totters, and all kinds of other things. The kids were THRILLED with the playground. Its definitely where we spent the most time.

The playground was feeling a bit crazy with a handful of school groups on it as well, so we decided to break for lunch. We were heading back to the van to get the snacks we’d brought, and Dekker suggested we picnic on some grass in the parking lot rather than hunting for a picnic table. It was completely quiet and seemed like a good idea 🙂 So we plunked down on a grassy little hill in the parking lot and ate out snacks.

I tried to get a good picture of my best girls and best boys. One picture turned out and the other didn’t, even after MANY tries. Care to wager some guesses?

No lie, this was the very best one I got. Aaaaanyway…

As the kids tummies got full, so did their energy levels. They raced back and forth across the grass along the parking lot while the rest of us sat and chatted and fed Solly a bit more.

Poor baby was pretty wiped out by this point in the day.

We decided to give him the best chance at a nap, so I strapped him into the ergo (which he only tolerates now if he’s tired enough to sleep) and we walked around the little town, showing the kids the shops and restaurants and little places to hike a bit. They loved it 🙂

After we did a solid lap around town, we headed back to the playground so the big kids could play a little bit longer while Solly slept. He woke up halfway through and joined the kids on the playground 🙂 It was a good wrap up to a wonderful lake day!

Dekker was SO good at getting on and off the seesaw carefully so not to drop Laela.

Look at his happy face!!! <3 He LOVED the swings!

And this was one of my favorite things! Teeter totters are tricky when the people on them are the exact same size!! Laela and Rowan would level out so easily if they didn’t really kick off. Ro didn’t have quite enough strength for it. He’d kick and kick and they’re just float there 🙂 It was hilarious.

This was our last stop before we decided to head out for the day. We were planning on taking them to one of the restaurants for supper but I didn’t think ahead, and the one we wanted to hit was closed still. But really, it would’ve been a bit of a wait, and the kids were quite overtired at this point. No one had melted down, but I knew it wasn’t far off. The promise of McDonalds for supper made them happy, and we left the lake without any devastation.

The drive to supper was VERY quiet.

Not flawlessly quiet, though. I fed the littlest monkey Cheerios and he stayed quiet 🙂

Everyone had a GOOD long sleep, but at least some of them were still pretty bushed by the time we stopped for food.

Tired and SO dirty!

Food perked the kids up a bit, and thankfully, no one slept the last stretch of driving home, so they still fell asleep quite well 🙂 We were smart and planned ahead, and got all of the kids in sweats, fresh shirts, and fresh socks for that last leg. Then, we loaded them from the van into the house and right into bed. It was seamless and good.

What a FABULOUS day! Rowan and Solly both just woke up for the day, around 11:30-ish, and Laela is dragging pretty noticeably. But she keeps asking to go back to the lake 🙂 I’m right there with her. I can’t wait to go again!