Big Surprising News I have been planning some amazing, creative way to share this news, but all of my attempts have been failures.

Drum roll…

I AM PREGNANT!

I was going to take really cute pictures of the girls holding up a sign that said “Big Sisters in March 2016” or take a cool picture of everyone’s shoes and then add cute little baby shoes to the mix and have text somewhere that said “Adding two little feet March 10, 2016”. Anyways, the point here is that I figured that by the time I actually produced these cute photos,Big Surprising News the baby would be here already.

Some thoughts you may have now that you know…hopefully in this order and my reply.

1. Congratulations!
(Thank you!)

2. Wow! Didn’t you just have a baby?
(Yes, Maurie is not quite yet one years old.)

3. Was this planned?
(Yes, just not this soon;)

4. Are you hoping for a boy?
(Yes!)

You could have other thoughts, but these seem to be the questions I get most often. The only thing that has bothered me has been that people have found out and not even said “Congrats,” or “I’m happy for you.” Regardless of how many children someone has or how close their children are together, I think adding a human being to a family is exciting and worth celebrating…even the surprise babies.

Here is the story of how we found out. First, I took two pregnancy tests in May and both came back negative. I was appeased and did not consider pregnancy after that. I continued to not have a menstrual cycle, but I decided it was due to my quick weight loss. Three months later, I thought I was really sick. I was so tired, dizzy and feeling altogether terrible. I was still eating a very limited diet and thought I wasn’t eating enough…which I was not eating enough for being pregnant. Eventually I had an impression to get a non-dollar store pregnancy test and check one more time for peace of mind. So after a trip to Walgreens, I woke up early the next morning completely expecting to see negative results. Well, obviously, I double checked the package insert to see that what I was seeing was a positive result. I came downstairs and shared with Cody that I was indeed pregnant. Cody just smiled, congratulated me and gave me a kiss. He was not surprised, but I could see the stress in his face. The two lines on the pregnancy test looked like dollar signs to him and he is right. We love our children, and they are expensive =).

We are also just coming out of some pretty traumatic, tough times with Maurie. She is sleeping through the night after 11 months and I can tell you I truly appreciate it! I laugh though because I have gone from not sleeping because Maurie needs me, to not sleeping because I have to pee a million times a night. However challenging the timing may be, I am just grateful for a healthy baby. When I did find out I was pregnant, according to my menstrual cycle I was supposed to be 13 weeks. When I went into the midwife, we could not hear a heartbeat, so I worried and went in for an early ultrasound. Thankfully, the baby was just fine, but I was not as far along. I can tell you during that time of worrying and wondering, that I was far more concerned that the baby was okay than I was with expenses or lost sleep. Children are work, but the best work!

We told Jane and she was so excited. She jumped up and down and came over to me to look at my stomach, as though she would see something already. She asked me consistently every morning for a week if the baby was coming out. I finally got her to understand that when she turned five years old in March, that the baby would come. She seems satisfied for now. She tells everyone that I am pregnant and that I am having a boy. We rarely have to announce because Jane beats us to the punch.

Are you serious, Mom? Another baby?

So happy!

You can imagine that Maurie doesn’t think much about it. If anything I feel guilty that her babyhood will be cut short. She is still a baby and I am soaking in her milestones. She will be 18 months old when Baby Bowman 3 arrives.

What? I don’t know what you are talking about. Yes, I am the baby.

Just to liven things up, we are going to do a gender reveal that is a surprise to Cody and me. In the past I have always just found out at the ultrasound, but I want them to put the gender in a sealed envelope and then I want to recruit a friend to help us set up a reveal. I will share the results in a little less than two months. We will not be sad if it is another girl. Our girls are so unique and such a joy. We, however, will admit that we will be extra excited if it is a boy. We have our top five names for a boy picked, as well as a few girl names. Has anyone ever done a fun gender reveal? Tell me about what you did. I hope my gender reveal plans go better than my plans to announce my pregnancy. =-)

Here is a video of what we want to do. Cody loves baseball.

So, here’s to another adventure!

Hope all is well with you!