Because it’s true.

Back in February, I took a pregnancy test fully expecting to see just one line.  Well, wouldn’t you know, that second line showed up.  So I took another, and there was that second pink line again.  I panicked just a bit (just ask my friends RyAnn and Laura!).  I did what any logical person would do and continued to take multiple pregnancy tests over the next week.  Each one showed that line darker and faster.  This is really happening. Having a 4th baby is something we had talked about over the past couple of years.  And by “we had talked about” I definitely mean that I couldn’t make up my mind if I wanted to have another baby or not while Derek patiently waited for me to get to not-so-much camp.  Around December, I arrived at that camp.  I love our three kids.  Our family felt just right.  We fit perfectly into our house, everyone is getting older, diapers are a distant memory, going out to eat is enjoyable most of the time, vacations are fun and pretty easy, and so on.  So many reasons to just call it a done deal.

And just like that, in the matter of a few months, it was a done deal, but not in the way we expected.  What an incredible blessing!  (Even if it does cause some panic still.)

So here I am, well into the second trimester.  I’m halfway done with this pregnancy.  The first trimester was rough.  Isn’t it always?  It’s been long enough since I’ve been pregnant that I think I had forgotten what it’s like.  The utter and complete exhaustion, the crazy sense of smell, the nausea, the food aversions, the acne that rivals that of a teenager, and the mood swings all showed up and some are still hanging around today.  I fall asleep most nights on the couch before 9:00.  Where is my second trimester burst of energy?  I think I’m coming to grips with the fact that it isn’t coming this time.  There are too many other people to take care of and too many activities.  I think back to my pregnancy with Connor (10 years ago!), and I don’t even think I realized how easy I had it.  I worked part time, napped whenever I felt like it, and had no other little people counting on me.  This pregnancy is definitely different and harder.  I’m trying so hard to enjoy it as much as I can.  The little kicks and flutters are just as amazing this time as they were the three times before.

About two weeks ago, we went in for a big ultrasound.  We had planned on not finding out if it was a boy or a girl this time (and by we, I mean I.  Derek always wanted to find out.) But, I caved.  Honestly, no one was surprised at my lack of surprise willpower.  I had all these cute ideas for ways to reveal if it was a boy or a girl.  But those all take time and energy, both of which are seriously lacking these days.  So this is the best I could come up with.  She loves to play with cars and build with blocks, and I think her newest brother will really love this about her.  She was made to have 3 brothers.  The only girl, the princess of the family.  Just as it should be.

Here’s a pretty classic video of us telling the kids the big news about their baby brother.  It makes me laugh so hard!  We actually had them re-enact it for the video, but this is pretty much how it went down when we told them.  I didn’t think their reactions would be so great, so I didn’t even think of videoing it until after the fact.  And please don’t be concerned about the wailing at the end of the movie.  There was a slight rug burn, but it’s all good.  Logan tends to be a little over-the-top at times.

So there you have it!  There’s been lots of excitement in our family this spring, and it looks like things won’t be slowing down for us any time soon!

It is so hard for me to keep up with this thing now!  We are busy as usual, and I guess blogging just not as much of a priority right now.  Baseball and soccer are in full swing.  Summer swim team starts up this week.  My to-do list is forever long, and growing daily it seems.  It’s been so long since I blogged regularly I really don’t even know where to start!  I never finished writing about spring break, and then Logan celebrated a birthday, which I have also not written about.  I’m so behind, and I don’t think I will ever be able to catch up.

I rolled out of bed this morning, feeling the Monday-ness of the day to my very core.  I stumbled bleary-eyed into the living room and saw Connor sitting lazily on our big armchair.  It’s just big enough for two, so I curled up next to him.  Connor isn’t a very cuddly kid–he never has been, and now that he’s nine, the moments where he wants to sit and snuggle with mom are few and far between.  It was a wonderful 10 minutes, even if I did have to spend much of it trying to convince him that swim team will be fun this year even though he has moved up to the next age division which means longer practices and distances.  He’s not a fan of change.

About 20 minutes later, I heard the creak of Camryn’s door and the pitter patter of her little feet.  She stood in front of me, wiping sleep from her eyes, clutching her purple blanket and stretched her arms up to me.  I scooped her up and we sat on the couch.  After a few minutes, I asked her to go wake up Logan.  He loves nothing more than for Camryn to be the one to wake him up.  I sat on the couch and listened to them giggle and talk.  When they emerged a few minutes later, they curled up on the couch next to me.  It really was wonderful.

Then reality set in.  It’s Monday morning and we need to leave for school in 10 minutes.  We all ate a quick bowl of cereal, threw together the backpacks, and scurried out the door with a screaming Camryn trailing behind us because I wouldn’t let her play with my engagement ring.  She proceeded to scream for several minutes until I threatened to “pull this car over!”  Ah, peace.

Once we got back home, I was faced with the task of weekend damage control.  There is laundry to be done, bills to be paid, meals to be planned, calendars to be organized, clutter to be put away, and a huge puddle of pee to be cleaned up off the bathroom floor.  For the love, aim, son!  Aim!

But first things first, I need to dig through the dress up bin and see if I can find Camryn her very own ring to play with.  Couldn’t find one, but isn’t this dress up stuff fun?!  I spent a few minutes helping Camryn put together her dream outfit.  Which of course means I had to take her outside and snap a few pictures.  She is the perfect mix of tomboy and girly-girl, as evidenced by her choice of the cowboy outfit over all her princess dresses, but with the perfect pink touch of the butterfly wings.

Now she is sitting, happily watching Caillou, and it’s time for me to crack down on this list of things to do today.  But this morning made me smile, and I’m glad I took a few minutes to blog about, snuggles, tears, costumes and all.

Monday in Destin was pretty cloudy and rainy.  We spent the majority of the day shopping at a great outlet mall.  (I am trying to write this quickly and I can’t think of anything more creative or witty to say about Monday.  Plus it’s been a solid two weeks, so remembering what we did is going to be a challenge!)

Tuesday morning it was cloudy again, so we took a nice walk down to the beach.  By the time I got there with Camryn (Noel, Patrick, and Logan had gone ahead of us), the sun was starting to peek out from behind the clouds.  We were all so happy!  I love this picture of Camryn from our walk to the beach.

And this one taken on the beach is equally as cute (in my very unbiased opinion, of course.)

We all stuck our toes in the water…

And before long, Logan was in the water, clothes on and all.  I called my mom and Derek and they started organizing and packing stuff up to spend the morning at the beach.  For some reason, I only have pictures of Logan from the rest of our day.  I remember Camryn played in the sand, and Derek dug a giant hole for her.  Connor and Logan played in the water tons, and I mostly sat and enjoyed the beautiful day, watching the kids, and reading my book.

Logan the boogy boarder.  He was really good at catching the waves!  He would stay in the water until he was turning blue and shivering.  Then he would come out and warm up for a few minutes, and then run right back into the water.  I can say confidently he loved the beach most of all.

I love this picture of him.  You can see the joy all over his face.

He had a couple of good wipeouts (like any good ocean loving boy.)

But it never stopped him for long.

We left the beach in the early afternoon, just as it was getting packed beyond belief.  Destin+spring break=major crowds.  But it didn’t stop us from having a ton of fun!

We were up and and ‘em bright and early on Saturday morning for the drive to Florida.  I’m always pleasantly surprised by my kids on long car trips.  I mean, they really do have it made with the dvd player, iphones/itouch, dsi, etc.  We also stop every few hours to stretch, pee, eat, and play.  That means it takes us a little longer overall, but happy kids=happy traveling.

We stopped for lunch at the Louisiana/Mississippi border (sidenote: it has become clear to me that I do not know how to spell Louisiana.  I spell it Louisana every time.  Two i’s, Megan.  Two i’s.)  Anyway, they had the most amazing azalea bush in full bloom, which means I had to get out my camera and take pictures.

I also attempted to get a picture of the kids in front of the flowers.  I had my expectations set pretty low seeing as we had been in the car for about 6 hours already.  So what ensued was no surprise to me.

And finally, one good one where it looks like we are raising a bunch of super athletes or something.  We did play a little ball the moment I released them from the picture taking torture.

Cami wanted to play hide and seek and find all the cool hiding spots.

Soon enough we were back on the road.  The next stop is my very favorite.  It’s cloaked in childhood memories.  We drove to Florida every year at spring break to visit my grandma.  It’s only as an adult that I realize how lucky we were that she lived about 20 minutes inland from Destin in the cutest little town called Niceville.  Every year we would stop at the battleship, eat, run, play, and feed the seagulls.  And before the battleship is the Mobile tunnel which I also love.  As a kid, the battleship was the highlight of the drive every year.  Because honestly, there really wasn’t any other good part of that drive back in the 80s except playing Mad Libs.

One of my lovely children was having a…shall we say…moment while at the battleship.

The other two, however, took a picture with me.

And Camryn took one of Derek and I.  I look totally road-trip scrubby, but it seems like pictures of the two of us are few and far between these days, so I’m posting it.

Just a few hours later, we arrived in beautiful Destin (okay, it was dark and cloudy when we arrived, but I just know it’s beautiful.)

I know that there are about a million things I’ve missed blogging about in the last month.  Things like the staples Logan had to get in his head after a trampoline accident followed by strep throat and a cold making it’s way through our family.  Soccer and baseball season have started, and we got a new car kind of on a whim even though we’ve talked about it off and on for awhile.  Maybe I’ll come back and blog about that stuff, but for now, I want to share these pics of the kids.  We got back late Saturday night from a week in Florida.  We spent 5 days in Destin and 2 days in Tallahassee visiting family.  On our first day in Destin, we of course had to check out the beach.  It’s been 5 years since my kids have seen any beach besides Galveston.

The fact that when I called his name, he turned, saw my camera and smiled tells me that Destin is a magical place.

And then he did the same thing.  It seemed too good to be true.

Camryn and her buddy Noel.  Camryn kept on forgetting her name and would call her “my friend”.

I wasn’t sure how Camryn would like the water–it was really cold!  But just after that picture of her and Noel, she turned and ran to me.

Yup, it’s a magical place indeed.

It was a wonderful spring break.