Listen in on part of a random phone conversation I had this past week:
Lady: "Congratulations! I heard you had a baby."
Me: "Yep, I sure did. Thank you."
Lady: "Did you have a boy or a girl?"
Me: "I had a boy. He's a little over a month old now."
Lady: "Oh, wonderful. Is that what you wanted? A boy?"
Me: (thinking of a million sarcastic responses, like, "No, I really wanted a girl, but I guess I'm stuck with this kid." or "No, boys are awful. I think I'll put him up for adoption.") Instead, I nicely say, "Yes, I'm glad to have him."
Lady: "Is this your first?"
Me: "No, he's our third."
Lady: "Oh, really? What else do you have? Not two more boys, I hope."
Me: (thinking, "Are you for real? Yes, because having three boys would just be the worst punishment God could ever throw upon me, right? Surely, if I had three boys, it must mean that I've done something terribly wrong!") Instead, I say, "Yes, I have three boys. They keep me busy, but they're lots of fun."
Lady: "Oh. So are you going to try for a girl next?"
Me: (*sigh* "Which answer should I use this time? I'll try a light-hearted one.") "No, that would be a pretty big gamble." (hardy har har har)
The remaining 30 seconds of the conversation was awkward jibber-jabber. She sure put herself in a precarious position after learning I was the mother to three boys. Although this was the most awkward conversation I've had so far (I'm so glad it was on the phone so she couldn't see my face), when most people learn I've just given birth to a third male, they look at me with sympathy and almost apologize while asking, "Are you going to try for a girl now?" I realize it's just an automatic question, but it is such an outlandish idea to me. I can't imagine ever getting pregnant with the intention of giving birth to a certain sex. It just wouldn't be fair to the child or to myself. Obviously, the odds are 50/50, and no wishful thinking is going to change that. If we do decide to add to our family again, it will be for the joy of raising another child together, regardless of what private parts it has. I know there are people who do "try for" one sex or the other, but I guess I just don't get it. I love being a mom to three boys. I don't feel that there's a gaping hole in my life that only a daughter could fill. If there was, I would give it up to God and not try to take things into my own hands by repeatedly bearing children until one of them pops out a girl, because guess what? He ultimately decides what it's going to be anyways.
So, what we're going to do is just enjoy these wonderful children (yes, even if they're all boys) that God has given us as gifts, not penalties. We're going to love them and raise them the best that we can so they can grow up to be strong men, which we know this world is lacking. Then, if somewhere down the road, we are blessed with another addition, we'll love it the same as we do these boys, no matter what it turns out to be.
I guess you know what question not to ask me now, right? :)
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Thursday, September 1, 2011
What's Been Going On?
Life in the Baird household is just trucking along. We've had our highs and our lows and our just normals. Here is some of the latest...
Two days ago, both Micah and Adam got to feel Baby Boy kick, finally. I've been feeling him for quite awhile now, but it hasn't been strong enough to feel on the outside. Micah was at work with me on Tuesday when I felt quite a few good thuds. I knew he would keep it up, so I told Micah to come over quick and see if he could feel the baby. I'll never forget the look on his face or the excitement he expressed at being kicked by his baby brother. His eyebrows raised and he got that big smile on that I love so much. He felt him twice, then ran into the other office to brag to G-pa and Uncle Z that he was the first one to feel the baby. That night, while lying in bed, Adam got to feel him, too. Since the inner ear bones are beginning to harden, that means Baby can start to hear us. So, Adam was talking to him, and sure enough, he got kicked at. I love this stage. It just becomes a bit more real that there's a little baby in there when you can feel him. Tonight, Seth joined the club. As soon as he put his little hand on my belly he could feel the baby, but he kept his hand there much longer to feel it again. So sweet. It won't be too long before we'll all be tripping out at seeing him move across my belly.
It's no secret that Seth is a wrestling man. Both the boys love to wrestle around, but Seth is usually the instigator. His love for Nacho Libre is also well known in these parts, and that's why he received a specially made Nacho Libre costume from his Aunt Alli for his birthday. This boys LOVES his stretchy pants.
I mean he really loves them. He wears them any chance he gets, even to bed. When he goes to Grammy or Nanny's house, his Nacho costume must be in his backpack. Before church last night, we gave the boys a shower and got them dressed. I sent them into their room to play while we got ready. When I called for them to come get in the car, I noticed Seth had a red butt. He had pulled the red underwear over his khaki shorts and really thought he was going to church that way. He's nuts.
Two days ago, both Micah and Adam got to feel Baby Boy kick, finally. I've been feeling him for quite awhile now, but it hasn't been strong enough to feel on the outside. Micah was at work with me on Tuesday when I felt quite a few good thuds. I knew he would keep it up, so I told Micah to come over quick and see if he could feel the baby. I'll never forget the look on his face or the excitement he expressed at being kicked by his baby brother. His eyebrows raised and he got that big smile on that I love so much. He felt him twice, then ran into the other office to brag to G-pa and Uncle Z that he was the first one to feel the baby. That night, while lying in bed, Adam got to feel him, too. Since the inner ear bones are beginning to harden, that means Baby can start to hear us. So, Adam was talking to him, and sure enough, he got kicked at. I love this stage. It just becomes a bit more real that there's a little baby in there when you can feel him. Tonight, Seth joined the club. As soon as he put his little hand on my belly he could feel the baby, but he kept his hand there much longer to feel it again. So sweet. It won't be too long before we'll all be tripping out at seeing him move across my belly.
It's no secret that Seth is a wrestling man. Both the boys love to wrestle around, but Seth is usually the instigator. His love for Nacho Libre is also well known in these parts, and that's why he received a specially made Nacho Libre costume from his Aunt Alli for his birthday. This boys LOVES his stretchy pants.
 |
| Don't mess with this kid. |
A side effect of wearing the Nacho pants is that when he gets them on, he thinks it's time to throw down. It doesn't matter when or where. The other night, after bedtime prayers, a wrestling match somehow got started. I don't even know how because one minute they were in bed and we were kissing them goodnight and the next minute, they're on the floor. I mean the lights were off and everything and yet there they were, in the glow of the hall light, tossing each other around. This particular match was so hilarious that we couldn't do anything about it for a long time but laugh. We may be biased, but they're really getting good. They were pulling out moves that we've never seen before...and Seth was holding his own pretty well against his older brother. At one point, he was standing behind Micah, who was sitting, and had his arms wrapped around his head in a choke hold and was attempting to lift him off the ground that way. You just had to see it. Well, after about 15 minutes of laughing so hard I nearly peed my pants (a lovely pregnancy symptom), we told them it was enough and past time for bed. Seth asked for his Nacho pants. We are pretty used to this request before bed, so Adam put them on him and told him to get to bed. As soon as that elastic snapped against his hips, though, something took over him. Instead of climbing up into bed, he shouted, "Now we wrestle!" As if the past 15 minutes never happened or they were just taking a break or he wasn't really serious until the pants were on. I don't know. Like I said, he's nuts.
Today was the first time of many (I'm sure) that we contemplated taking our boy to the emergency room for a wound. Micah was at work with me. I was sitting at my desk while he was playing across from me on Disney Junior on our laptop. Suddenly, he fell off the back of his chair, which pulled a cord, which was connected to a candle warmer, which had a LARGE jarred candle on top of it, which fell right on top of his noggin, then landed and broke on the tile. I saw him when he first started to fall so I was already over to him by the time the jar broke. He instantly started screaming bloody murder. At first, I thought it was just going to be a bad bump on the head, but then the blood came. All over. All over the floor, me, and him. To make it worse, he had his hand on his head, then rubbed his eyes from crying, so it was all over his face as well...like something out of a horror movie. It was an act of God that I stomached it so well. My Dad heard the commotion and came running in and I ran Micah to the bathroom. It was so heart-wrenching to hear him cry and scream things like, "Why did this have to happen?" and "Why does it have to hurt so bad?" and "I don't want to sit in that chair anymore!" I would have traded places with him in an instant if I could. We got the bleeding to slow down and were able to see that underneath his thick hair, was a pretty good sized gash.
I wasn't sure what to do, so Zech and I took him (complete with a bag of ice shoved into an oven mitt) over to Adam's work to get his opinion. We chose our course of action and it was then that I called Amber, as she is an experienced wound super-gluer. She explained how she & Chris had done it before, but it was never in a hairy area. When we discussed shaving part of his head, Micah had a cow. He's been talking a lot lately about how he wants to grow his hair out because that's what Uncle Noah is doing. I really didn't know what to do. We went to K-Mart. I left Z & Micah in the car while I ran in to find hydrogen peroxide and super glue. While I was in the store, Adam called me. It was then that I decided I couldn't do this alone and it was about time for him to take a lunch break. So, I re-parked the van under a tree in the parking lot and Adam met us there. We laid Micah down in the back of the van using a Bible covered with a towel as a pillow. Recounting this makes me laugh even now. Adam brought some gauze, Q-tips, and rubbing alcohol from work. We cleaned off as much dried blood as we could with the peroxide. Then, we were able to move the hair aside so that not a precious strand had to be cut and while Adam held it, I put the glue in. He squeezed it shut and I must say, it didn't look half bad. Not that I want to do it again.
Well, you have to know, that all of this didn't happen without some bribery. While performing our little mini-van surgery, we kept telling Micah to stay still and think of Yogurt Paradise. And think of it, he did. In fact, before we went there, he even got the evil chicken McNuggets I swore I would never let him eat again. I think that grosses me out more than all the blood. Major mom-guilt over here. Anyways, while he was eating his frozen yogurt, I checked out our handiwork again and noticed a small bead of blood that had formed in the corner of the gash. I figured it would scab up and left it alone.
A couple hours later was naptime. When he woke up, I checked it again and saw that the little corner had managed to make a small river of blood down his head. (Isn't that disgusting?) We would need more glue, darn it. The boys and I got home shortly after that. Adam and I got out the superglue again. The superglue pen I had bought at K-mart wasn't being as productive this time and Adam was getting frustrated with both it and Micah's impatience while he tried to fix it. So, he got out another tube of superglue that we had in a drawer and was previously used. Of course, it was clogged, so he got a pin and shoved it down there. He then put it over Micah's head and started to squeeze hard. Next to nothing was coming out. He tried unclogging it again, put it over Micah's head and squeezed. A little something started to come out. He squeezed harder. All of a sudden, that little something popped out along with a puddle of superglue...right there, on the back of our son's head. My eyes just about popped out of mine. There's absolutely nothing you can do. You can't try to sop it up with anything, because whatever you sop it up with will be glued to his head! We tried our hardest not to say anything or sound too freaked out because we didn't want to excite Micah. So, we were just silent and exchanged MANY faces over his head. Needless to say, our previous "great job" now looks like a bird pooped or camel spit on the back of the poor kid's head...but the wound is sealed! And as if he didn't have enough of a cowlick problem before, his daddy just bestowed a new one upon him.
In his shower tonight, I tried to get some off, but it's as hard as a rock. I put conditioner and coconut oil on it. That got me nothing. I guess he'll just have to be like that for awhile. Good thing he's not in Jr. High...that would just be brutal. Before bed, he shouted, "Mom! I felt the glue!" and then he wanted to see it. I got him a mirror and showed him the back of his head. I was a little worried about his reaction. He has such a good sense of humor because I think I would have been crying, but he thought it was kinda funny. "That looks weird," was about all he said with a giggle.
Monday, August 15, 2011
A Third Boy in Training
Sometime around the end of June/ beginning of July, I had a dream. This is nothing out of the norm...I dream a lot. I think it's genetic. I've had a couple dreams before that have been "prophetic;" most of them are nothing but nonsense. For some reason, this one was especially strange to me and stuck out in my head long after I woke up. I told Adam about it as he was getting ready for work and I was still laying in bed. I couldn't remember all the details and most of them are completely ridiculous anyways, but I tried to recall what I could (or what I thought was important).
The basic premise of it was the baby coming WAY early. I was only a couple months along, but the baby came out full-term, healthy and a boy. We were completely unprepared. No crib, no car seat, no name. So, after getting home from the hospital, I left the baby at home with Adam so I could go to the store. On top of baby gear, we were also in need of groceries. Here is the really weird part: While I was out driving, God gave me a name for the baby. I don't remember how; I think it just popped into my head...but I knew it was God and I knew it was our baby's name...even if the first name was one I had honestly never heard of outside of this dream and the middle name was one that neither of us was fond of. The name given was Elias James. I called Adam right away to tell him what the baby's name was supposed to be and try to convince him that although it sounded strange, it was from the Lord. Haha. I don't remember too much after that. I don't even really remember his reaction.
His reaction in real life was a funny face...which was about what mine was. That first name especially just sounded so strange to me. Then I did some research on it and found out it's not entirely unheard of and it's even kind of growing on me. Not so much for Adam (yet). I did a search on Blue Letter Bible and found that it's another name for Elijah and only used in the New Testament of the King James Version when referring back to him (can you tell I don't usually read the KJV?). It means the same as Elijah, "The Lord is my God." On an unrelated note, I also found out it's Walt Disney's middle name from a random Disneyland facebook post.
From the beginning of this pregnancy, I never really got my "hopes up" for a girl. There's no written law that says once you have two boys, you must have a girl. Our goal in having another baby wasn't even to "try for" a girl. After having that dream, it just confirmed my thoughts that it was a boy...and I was totally okay with it. Happy, even. I love our boys so much and though they drive me crazy sometimes, they are a lot of fun.
Our ultrasound with my doctor where we get to find out the sex is scheduled for September 12. Fortunately, Adam's great-aunt is an ultrasound tech in Murrieta, CA which is exactly where we had planned to be (months ago) for the first few days of our vacation. I didn't think I'd be far enough along to be able to tell the sex, but I looked at the website of where she works and saw right on their homepage "Gender reveal starting at 14 weeks." YES! I would be almost 16 weeks when we were out there! I e-mailed her to let her know we were coming and ask if she would be able to fit me in. Turns out, the day we were coming was a good day for us to stop in.
So, a month early, we got to see our baby BOY together with his big brothers. It was such a special time and Aunt Kathy blessed our socks off. On top of the ultrasound, she gave us a DVD of it so we could share the experience with our families and a CD of pictures. They have an incredible ultrasound machine and we were able to see him sucking, waving, and of course, his telling features. (Click on the pictures to make them bigger.)
The ultrasound basically confirmed what Adam & I both already knew. We had a date night a few nights before and were talking about the baby. That's when we told each other that we had both been thinking it was a boy.
On the way into the ultrasound, we asked Micah what he thought the baby was. He kept saying, "Oh, it's a girl." I told him, "Daddy & I think it's a boy. You'll still be happy if it's another brother, right?" He replied, "Yeah, but I think it's a girl." Then, when we found out and rubbed it in a little that we were right, he said, "NO! I didn't say it was a girl, I said it was a girl OR a boy." What a back-pedaler.
We're all very excited. Adam & I feel so blessed that God has blessed us with another little man and the boys are happy to have another brother. I just pray Seth is as good of a big brother as Micah is. So far, he tends to be a bit more relentless and merciless...so we'll see how this goes. :)
The basic premise of it was the baby coming WAY early. I was only a couple months along, but the baby came out full-term, healthy and a boy. We were completely unprepared. No crib, no car seat, no name. So, after getting home from the hospital, I left the baby at home with Adam so I could go to the store. On top of baby gear, we were also in need of groceries. Here is the really weird part: While I was out driving, God gave me a name for the baby. I don't remember how; I think it just popped into my head...but I knew it was God and I knew it was our baby's name...even if the first name was one I had honestly never heard of outside of this dream and the middle name was one that neither of us was fond of. The name given was Elias James. I called Adam right away to tell him what the baby's name was supposed to be and try to convince him that although it sounded strange, it was from the Lord. Haha. I don't remember too much after that. I don't even really remember his reaction.
His reaction in real life was a funny face...which was about what mine was. That first name especially just sounded so strange to me. Then I did some research on it and found out it's not entirely unheard of and it's even kind of growing on me. Not so much for Adam (yet). I did a search on Blue Letter Bible and found that it's another name for Elijah and only used in the New Testament of the King James Version when referring back to him (can you tell I don't usually read the KJV?). It means the same as Elijah, "The Lord is my God." On an unrelated note, I also found out it's Walt Disney's middle name from a random Disneyland facebook post.
From the beginning of this pregnancy, I never really got my "hopes up" for a girl. There's no written law that says once you have two boys, you must have a girl. Our goal in having another baby wasn't even to "try for" a girl. After having that dream, it just confirmed my thoughts that it was a boy...and I was totally okay with it. Happy, even. I love our boys so much and though they drive me crazy sometimes, they are a lot of fun.
Our ultrasound with my doctor where we get to find out the sex is scheduled for September 12. Fortunately, Adam's great-aunt is an ultrasound tech in Murrieta, CA which is exactly where we had planned to be (months ago) for the first few days of our vacation. I didn't think I'd be far enough along to be able to tell the sex, but I looked at the website of where she works and saw right on their homepage "Gender reveal starting at 14 weeks." YES! I would be almost 16 weeks when we were out there! I e-mailed her to let her know we were coming and ask if she would be able to fit me in. Turns out, the day we were coming was a good day for us to stop in.
So, a month early, we got to see our baby BOY together with his big brothers. It was such a special time and Aunt Kathy blessed our socks off. On top of the ultrasound, she gave us a DVD of it so we could share the experience with our families and a CD of pictures. They have an incredible ultrasound machine and we were able to see him sucking, waving, and of course, his telling features. (Click on the pictures to make them bigger.)
His imitation of "The Thinker"
He's pointing at us.
"There's a stem on that apple!"
Just kickin' back.
He loves us already. :)
In a few months, I imagine this stretching out is going to hurt me.
In this part of the ultrasound, we could see him moving his mouth.
The ultrasound basically confirmed what Adam & I both already knew. We had a date night a few nights before and were talking about the baby. That's when we told each other that we had both been thinking it was a boy.
On the way into the ultrasound, we asked Micah what he thought the baby was. He kept saying, "Oh, it's a girl." I told him, "Daddy & I think it's a boy. You'll still be happy if it's another brother, right?" He replied, "Yeah, but I think it's a girl." Then, when we found out and rubbed it in a little that we were right, he said, "NO! I didn't say it was a girl, I said it was a girl OR a boy." What a back-pedaler.
We're all very excited. Adam & I feel so blessed that God has blessed us with another little man and the boys are happy to have another brother. I just pray Seth is as good of a big brother as Micah is. So far, he tends to be a bit more relentless and merciless...so we'll see how this goes. :)
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
BIG imagination
My mom has told me many times that Micah is much like I was at his age. Goofy yet hilarious, tall & lanky, klutzy, and possessing a BIG imagination (I still do...maybe that's why I have such crazy dreams). I've seen videos of myself when I was that small, and I believe she's probably right. Today alone, Micah gave two instances of his imagination.
I picked him up from "Nanny's" house and told him to get into his carseat. As he was doing that, he looks over at the neighbor's house and notices their tall, stucco, retaining wall. Suddenly, he says, "Mom, do you think a spy could climb over that wall into their yard?" These out-of-the-blue musings crack me up. Of course, I told him that a spy could most certainly climb that wall because they get all the cool gadgets. "Oh, you mean like those hook things?" he asked.
After we got home, the boys dove into their new ninja LEGO sets I got them a couple days ago. They were playing for a while, but Seth got bored and started pestering me to play the Wii. I told him, repeatedly, that the TV was not going on and that they would not be playing video games tonight. He kept nagging at me, and I got tired of saying the same thing over and over, so I got very stern with him...I might have even yelled. I think he finally realized that I was serious, so he started crying...VERY loudly. I took him over to the couch near where Micah was still playing with his LEGOs to calm him down. I forgot to mention that when Micah plays, he gives voices to his toys and has conversations back and forth between them, etc. So, Seth is still crying crocodile tears and I'm trying to talk to him and explain why he can't play the Wii, when Micah exclaims, "Seth! Could you stop crying? I can't hear my LEGO guys talking!" This kid is straight up crazy...and I love it.
I picked him up from "Nanny's" house and told him to get into his carseat. As he was doing that, he looks over at the neighbor's house and notices their tall, stucco, retaining wall. Suddenly, he says, "Mom, do you think a spy could climb over that wall into their yard?" These out-of-the-blue musings crack me up. Of course, I told him that a spy could most certainly climb that wall because they get all the cool gadgets. "Oh, you mean like those hook things?" he asked.
After we got home, the boys dove into their new ninja LEGO sets I got them a couple days ago. They were playing for a while, but Seth got bored and started pestering me to play the Wii. I told him, repeatedly, that the TV was not going on and that they would not be playing video games tonight. He kept nagging at me, and I got tired of saying the same thing over and over, so I got very stern with him...I might have even yelled. I think he finally realized that I was serious, so he started crying...VERY loudly. I took him over to the couch near where Micah was still playing with his LEGOs to calm him down. I forgot to mention that when Micah plays, he gives voices to his toys and has conversations back and forth between them, etc. So, Seth is still crying crocodile tears and I'm trying to talk to him and explain why he can't play the Wii, when Micah exclaims, "Seth! Could you stop crying? I can't hear my LEGO guys talking!" This kid is straight up crazy...and I love it.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Another Little Baird in Training
Baird Bun number three is a-cookin' in the oven! We are so excited about the newest addition to our family.
After "Do you want this one to be a girl?" the most common question people have asked is, "Were you guys planning on another baby?" Adam and I have discussed this in great detail and we still come up with the same answer..."Yes and no."
Here's the truth: A few months before getting pregnant, I was bitten by the "baby bug." Adam calls this, "getting stupid again." He says that after awhile, women forget about the pains of pregnancy and childbirth and can only think of little baby toes and onesies and the smell of baby heads, etc. Call it what you will, I had it.
Along with that, I also had reality...and the reality was (and is) that we were not financially prepared to have another baby or for me to stay at home and do full time "mommy-ing." That is something I've always longed for. So, despite baby-dreaming and getting Adam to admit that if we were financially stable, he would want a baby, too...we resigned to be babyless for now. I even sent him this article, telling him, "See? We're not the only ones."
There's this verse in the Bible...
"Look at this," I said. "It is only day 9 and I'm pretty sure I'm already ovulating! I've never ovulated this early before."
He just kind of shrugged and said, "Okay...so what does that mean?"
"That means that we could definitely get pregnant this month."
Sometimes, we ladies really gotta spell out for the men. For the next week and a half, we were just left to wonder. I was on high alert for any pregnancy-like symptom. I experienced some immediately, but was also able to explain them away with other possibilities. "Maybe I just have to pee again because I drank more water than usual today." "Perhaps the heartburn is from that meat being too spicy." It was so frustrating.
Then, we went to Zech's graduation from Bible College in Murrieta. Tom Mauch, who was one of my teachers when I went to school there, had gotten quite close to my brother during his time there. He is a wonderful old saint with a smile that just shines Jesus. During the reception, he came over to our table to say hi to the fam. When he got to me and Adam, he was asking about the boys. We introduced them.
As he was looking at them he says, "Ah, children are wonderful. Have more."
We laughed a little and looked at each other. "Have more?" I asked.
"Yes, have more. We only had one daughter and I'll always regret it. She never married, so no little grandbabies for me." As he said this, he cradled his empty arms. It was so sweet, yet sad. "So, have more. Don't worry about the money."
Adam and I looked at each other with wide eyes. The very thing we had been talking about holding us back from having another kid was the thing he was telling us not to worry about. After he walked away, I said to Adam, "I'm pretty sure that's a word from the Lord."
He replied, "It would be weird if we were pregnant, huh?"
I said, "Even if we're not, that sounds like a green light to me!"
After that is when I think the peace came and we even got a little excited about the prospect that we could be pregnant. I even told Adam that if we weren't, I wanted to try for a March baby. For some reason, that sounds like a good month to have a baby. I'm sure Michelle Lubow would agree (all three of her kids were born in March). Still, it was impossibly early to know if we were really pregnant or not, so I went back to scrutinizing whether any symptoms were true or just my imagination.
Four days later, Adam was to go on a "man-cation" with my Dad and Zech to Florida for a week. We had planned on me taking a pregnancy test the morning before he left, but we never got a chance to buy one. There was always someone else around or the possibility of running into someone we knew was too great. Ah, small town life. I thought I could wait it out, but when I went later in the day (after he had left) to pick up my prescription and saw the tests right by the counter near the checkout, I couldn't resist. Even though I was at least 3 days away from when I was supposed to start my period, my curiosity could stand it no longer. I grabbed a box that had three tests in it and as soon as I bought them, stuffed them into my purse. It was a good thing, too because on our way out, the boys and I ran into someone we knew. Imagine that.
At first I told myself I'd wait until the next morning. As it turns out, I tell myself lies. As soon as I had laid the boys down for their nap, I ran into the bathroom and peed on that stick like there was no tomorrow. Watching the test work seemed agonizingly long as I waited for the line or lines to appear. Sure enough, there were two. Even though we had so many suspicions, I couldn't believe it. I was so excited and instantly fell in love with the little one growing inside me. My motherly instinct kicked in and I wanted to do everything I could to protect and nurture him/her. Mostly, I wanted to tell Adam...but he was thousands of feet in the air somewhere over Texas. Talk about torture!
I was faced with the decision to tell him right away or plan something really neat out to tell him when he got home. For about two hours, I stuck with the latter plan. Once he called me after landing and I heard his voice, that all changed. I told him I had a picture to send him and sent him the one I had taken earlier of the test. We hung up so he could look at it. He called me back and said, "So...what does that mean?" Do you see why I said before that sometimes we ladies really gotta spell it out? Haha. When he finally "got it," I could hear the excitement in his voice and I was so relieved. For some reason, even after all we had talked about and been told, I still had this small fear that the news would only bring him stress. Thankfully, that was not the case at all.
When I told him, he was driving around the airport in the rental car waiting for my Dad and Z to get there. They did, all too quickly. It was hard enough telling him over the phone and not being able to just hug him and rejoice together, but on top of that, we had to clam up almost immediately about it. Maybe it would have been better if I had waited to tell him, but I just don't have it in me to contain myself!
It was all good, though. He got home at the end of the week, and I got that hug I needed so badly. We were able to keep it under wraps for a few more weeks, then we just had to tell the boys. We figured once we did that, we'd have to tell the world, considering their young ages. Here's the video we took of us telling them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqDYHErkIuY&feature=channel_video_title.
After telling our families and close friends, we put the video up on facebook to tell everyone else.
Now, I'm almost 9 weeks along. Only 31 more to go! The other day, I had my first prenatal appointment and we got to see our little peanut. We had the boys come in to see the ultrasound, too. I wanted to try and make it a little more real to them and show them there really is a baby growing in Mommy's belly.
After "Do you want this one to be a girl?" the most common question people have asked is, "Were you guys planning on another baby?" Adam and I have discussed this in great detail and we still come up with the same answer..."Yes and no."
Here's the truth: A few months before getting pregnant, I was bitten by the "baby bug." Adam calls this, "getting stupid again." He says that after awhile, women forget about the pains of pregnancy and childbirth and can only think of little baby toes and onesies and the smell of baby heads, etc. Call it what you will, I had it.
Along with that, I also had reality...and the reality was (and is) that we were not financially prepared to have another baby or for me to stay at home and do full time "mommy-ing." That is something I've always longed for. So, despite baby-dreaming and getting Adam to admit that if we were financially stable, he would want a baby, too...we resigned to be babyless for now. I even sent him this article, telling him, "See? We're not the only ones."
There's this verse in the Bible...
"A man's heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9Our method of "birth control" is called natural family planning, so I'm pretty tuned into what's going on with my body and cycle. Well, in May, I came across a startling revelation as I was feeling pain in my lower abdomen (mittelschmertz) and looking at my chart. I ran it over to Adam and plopped it in front of him at the dining room table (and no, he was not eating).
"Look at this," I said. "It is only day 9 and I'm pretty sure I'm already ovulating! I've never ovulated this early before."
He just kind of shrugged and said, "Okay...so what does that mean?"
"That means that we could definitely get pregnant this month."
Sometimes, we ladies really gotta spell out for the men. For the next week and a half, we were just left to wonder. I was on high alert for any pregnancy-like symptom. I experienced some immediately, but was also able to explain them away with other possibilities. "Maybe I just have to pee again because I drank more water than usual today." "Perhaps the heartburn is from that meat being too spicy." It was so frustrating.
Then, we went to Zech's graduation from Bible College in Murrieta. Tom Mauch, who was one of my teachers when I went to school there, had gotten quite close to my brother during his time there. He is a wonderful old saint with a smile that just shines Jesus. During the reception, he came over to our table to say hi to the fam. When he got to me and Adam, he was asking about the boys. We introduced them.
As he was looking at them he says, "Ah, children are wonderful. Have more."
We laughed a little and looked at each other. "Have more?" I asked.
"Yes, have more. We only had one daughter and I'll always regret it. She never married, so no little grandbabies for me." As he said this, he cradled his empty arms. It was so sweet, yet sad. "So, have more. Don't worry about the money."
Adam and I looked at each other with wide eyes. The very thing we had been talking about holding us back from having another kid was the thing he was telling us not to worry about. After he walked away, I said to Adam, "I'm pretty sure that's a word from the Lord."
He replied, "It would be weird if we were pregnant, huh?"
I said, "Even if we're not, that sounds like a green light to me!"
After that is when I think the peace came and we even got a little excited about the prospect that we could be pregnant. I even told Adam that if we weren't, I wanted to try for a March baby. For some reason, that sounds like a good month to have a baby. I'm sure Michelle Lubow would agree (all three of her kids were born in March). Still, it was impossibly early to know if we were really pregnant or not, so I went back to scrutinizing whether any symptoms were true or just my imagination.
Four days later, Adam was to go on a "man-cation" with my Dad and Zech to Florida for a week. We had planned on me taking a pregnancy test the morning before he left, but we never got a chance to buy one. There was always someone else around or the possibility of running into someone we knew was too great. Ah, small town life. I thought I could wait it out, but when I went later in the day (after he had left) to pick up my prescription and saw the tests right by the counter near the checkout, I couldn't resist. Even though I was at least 3 days away from when I was supposed to start my period, my curiosity could stand it no longer. I grabbed a box that had three tests in it and as soon as I bought them, stuffed them into my purse. It was a good thing, too because on our way out, the boys and I ran into someone we knew. Imagine that.
At first I told myself I'd wait until the next morning. As it turns out, I tell myself lies. As soon as I had laid the boys down for their nap, I ran into the bathroom and peed on that stick like there was no tomorrow. Watching the test work seemed agonizingly long as I waited for the line or lines to appear. Sure enough, there were two. Even though we had so many suspicions, I couldn't believe it. I was so excited and instantly fell in love with the little one growing inside me. My motherly instinct kicked in and I wanted to do everything I could to protect and nurture him/her. Mostly, I wanted to tell Adam...but he was thousands of feet in the air somewhere over Texas. Talk about torture!
I was faced with the decision to tell him right away or plan something really neat out to tell him when he got home. For about two hours, I stuck with the latter plan. Once he called me after landing and I heard his voice, that all changed. I told him I had a picture to send him and sent him the one I had taken earlier of the test. We hung up so he could look at it. He called me back and said, "So...what does that mean?" Do you see why I said before that sometimes we ladies really gotta spell it out? Haha. When he finally "got it," I could hear the excitement in his voice and I was so relieved. For some reason, even after all we had talked about and been told, I still had this small fear that the news would only bring him stress. Thankfully, that was not the case at all.
When I told him, he was driving around the airport in the rental car waiting for my Dad and Z to get there. They did, all too quickly. It was hard enough telling him over the phone and not being able to just hug him and rejoice together, but on top of that, we had to clam up almost immediately about it. Maybe it would have been better if I had waited to tell him, but I just don't have it in me to contain myself!
It was all good, though. He got home at the end of the week, and I got that hug I needed so badly. We were able to keep it under wraps for a few more weeks, then we just had to tell the boys. We figured once we did that, we'd have to tell the world, considering their young ages. Here's the video we took of us telling them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqDYHErkIuY&feature=channel_video_title.
After telling our families and close friends, we put the video up on facebook to tell everyone else.
Now, I'm almost 9 weeks along. Only 31 more to go! The other day, I had my first prenatal appointment and we got to see our little peanut. We had the boys come in to see the ultrasound, too. I wanted to try and make it a little more real to them and show them there really is a baby growing in Mommy's belly.
I love ultrasounds. As weird as this might sound, I wish I had a constant window to see our baby grow. What a miracle life is!
So, there's the first story of Baby Baird's life. The first of many, I'm sure. Now, if I can only occupy my mind until we find out the sex....
Friday, June 3, 2011
Micah's First T-ball Season
This past Tuesday, Micah had his final T-ball game. It's amazing to see how far he has come in just the past few months since it started. During the first few practices and games, we were having to coax him just to stay on the field the whole time. By his last few games, he was an eager participant and would ask the coach if he could play certain positions while on the field. His next to last game, he FINALLY got to play first base. In fact, in that game, he played all three bases and had lots of fun. I'm so proud of my boy and can't believe how big he is getting. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the season.
There's a lot of power behind that swing!
Amazed that he got a strike!
Yawning while coach is giving him a pep talk at bat.
Saturday morning games weren't his primetime.
Saturday morning games weren't his primetime.
He loved sliding into home...every single time.
Slide marks.
Mr. Hollywood
Going into home
Man, I love his laugh. Melts me every time.
Tough guy
He just has to be different.
The stance he picked up from watching the coaches.
See? Haha.
Micah ran to claim his spot at third base oblivious to the fact that his team was in a huddle.
Hallelujah, New York!
Yet more words coming out of my kids' mouths that for the life of me, I can't figure out where they come from.
Lately, it has been Micah yelling out, "Hallelujah, New York!" at random times. Why?
Well, Seth has been hearing this along with the rest of us and put it into action today.
My mom had the boys and she took them to SARA park along with Noah & Caleb. While they were there, Noah sees Seth licking a pole...another habit that I wish to know the origins of. Anyways, as he sees Seth doing this, Noah shouts, "Hey, don't do that! It's icky!" Seth turns around, looks at him, and shouts back, "Hallelujah, New York!" and then runs away.
What is with these crazy kids?!
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