5 years and some happy news

In the past month, we have closed chapters, cracked open new ones, traveled solo and pregnant with a one year old, received some fairly frightening but hopefully ok news about sweet baby dos, renovated a house, moved out of a house, moved into a house, become quite pregnant indeed out of the blue (so long, last pair of stretchy non-maternity jeans!), and watched our toddler turn into a talking, running little person overnight. Throw my pregnancy insomnia (3-4 hours sleep) in the mix and basically this means I. Am. So. Exhausted. Folks.

There is so much to catch up on. But first, I just wanted to share a bit of happy news with all of you. This news deserves its own post, but there is a lot I want to cover for the sake of remembering this time, so I'm going to post in installments each morning over the next few days to get caught up. So, our big, wonderful news:

Eliza is going to have a baby sister!



She's been getting in lots of practice with Baby Doll in preparation for the big day in February. While of course she would have loved a brother too, this somehow seems to fit our family so perfectly right now. Her room in the new house is ideal for two little girls to share. And truly, I knew deep down she was a girl, from the minute we found out we were pregnant. This pregnancy has been identical to the last one. Plus, I had a dream around 8 weeks; in the dream I had a baby girl and she even had the name we've currently settled on. We are overjoyed – I feel like Eliza was always meant to have a little sister close in age.

I was surprised the first time around at how outspoken people were about not finding out the gender vs. waiting for the birth. I certainly see why it would be so exciting to wait, and either way I'm not sure why other people care so much about something that is such a personal choice for the parents; but for me, it is deeply, incredibly important that I know. It's not about "knowing" or not being able to stand waiting for some grand end surprise. We have willpower aplenty here. But for me personally, knowing this baby is a she helps us bond with her a little better, helps me prepare for the next stage a little more readily, and this time around especially, it has made it all much more real for our family. A very good thing in light of the chaos and unsettled nature of our past month. Our sissy now grounds us a little more.

I'm big on making the gender reveal a memorable, special event for us - the delivery room isn't the only way to make it a special surprise! I had our technician write the gender on a card. I took it to Janie and Jack and picked out two outfits - one of each gender - and told her to wrap up whatever was on the card. This may sound familiar, as it's just what I did two Christmas mornings ago.

We opened the box at our five year anniversary dinner at the Driskill, where our wedding was held, and thus it was the most perfect setting to learn that we are being blessed with another precious baby girl. Even though I was so sure, I still cried, of course. It was a wonderfully fitting way to celebrate five years together, our growing family, and our brand new home. That happened to be our first night's stay in the new house, too.

Five years ago, I would have been so happy to see this life unfolding in a crystal ball. Thank you, sweet, wonderful Miller, for five years of happy adventures together. We are so blessed, and we can't wait to meet you, precious baby girl!