Announcing Pregnancy to Family

So we finally announced 2 weeks ago we are expecting our 3rd baby!  My husband grew up in a family of five & so did I, so 4 never seemed quite right to us.  Although I will admit the younger years are challenging for me, one book calls it parenting in the trenches, it's just a very tiring time, but also oh so rewarding.  Since the little years were tough & exhausting I had to really pray about having a 3rd, and God changed my heart in a way only He can.  He had other plans for us.

Looking back, I am just so thankful I listened to God's wisdom, through my sister in law, Heidi.  We told her we thought we were done at two & were considering taking permanent steps.  She said "Just wait, wait a few years to be sure, if you aren't 100% positive." I thought on that many times & prayed for peace.  I'm so glad we waited!

We found out September 5th we were expecting, which happens to be my moms birthday.  So I had to text her with "Here is your first Birthday Surprise!" Along with this photo:

We also told a few immediate family members that day in various ways, including texting a jar of pickles, saying I've been eating lots of these because I'm having a baby!! Craving pickles like never before!  I asked Heidi, my sis in law, if she still had my maternity clothes, cuz I was gonna need them back!  So we had fun sharing the news & listening to everyone's responses, b/c ALL were shocked since we had shared we thought we were finished having babies.

We are thrilled to welcome baby in May and we talk about our newest family member everyday.  Now the last time I was pregnant, with Emma I don't even remember when/how we told Drew.  He was not even 2 and really didn't get it.

 But this time our kids are 3 & almost 6 and they get it.  I miscarried before I had Drew so I always wait to tell people until I have heard the heartbeat & I'm nearing the end of the first trimester.  I just don't want to get peoples' hopes up or go through the questions and random burst of tears at people who hadn't heard the devastating news, so we wait.  It was tricky this time with our kids because they tell everybody, everything.  But my sister in law, Juliet made a good point "You don't want them to find out from someone else."  So we made the decision to tell them & here is how we did that:

We bought cupcakes from our favorite cup-cakery, announced we were having a celebration, gave them picture clues and I explained what their shirts said (yes I had them wear their big bro & sister shirts in the picture for my mom, without telling them what they were about, lol).

The looks on their faces when they realized there is a baby in mamas belly.  Priceless! Tomorrow I'll share how we announced to our friends, the big Facebook announcement, lol.