oh baby!

We got some pretty big news on July 7th of this year:

It's an awfully long (and personal) story, and I still don't feel quite right about sharing it all on here, but... In a nutshell, I felt a strong feeling at the end of May while we were in the temple that there may be another child to join our family.  It was very surprising, yet I knew two things for sure-- the feelings came from my Heavenly Father, and that it would be a great blessing in my life (should I chose to accept).  Rob was shocked when I shared these things with him (I mean, we were done. done. having kids). I joked that maybe this was just an Abraham/Issac situation and that the Lord maybe wanted to just test us to see if we were willing to align our will with His, and test our faith. Well, we decided to take a leap of faith and leave a very small window of opportunity open and needless to say, I was pregnant within a couple of weeks. There have been so many feelings, fears, emotions, doubts, as well as moments of peace and confirmation, etc. associated with this experience. I'm not kidding that this has probably required more faith than any other decision I have personally made.

I am now almost 30 weeks along and it is still slowly sinking in-- we are really having another baby!?!

The nausea started around week 7 and got worse until it finally eased up around week 18. That was a really rough time in bed, but we all survived (thanks to the help of Rob, my SIL Sue, and good friends that brought in many dinners).  I actually threw up less than any other pregnancy (which was a miracle, really), but I think it was because I just stayed in bed to avoid throwing up constantly.

At week 12 I took a blood test and found out we were having a boy! The feelings I had in May seemed very specific about the child being a girl, so that was also a bit shocking and I have to admit to feeling really guilty about crying about the results (I REALLY wanted to give Liv a sister and I was questioning my personal revelation skills!). When Rob and I had a chance to talk about it in private later that evening, he got a little emotional (rare) and shared with me that he had felt very strongly that we were doing the right thing and he had felt confirmation that we were supposed to have this baby. When I asked him why he hadn't shared this with me before (it seemed like he was just going along with the feelings I had received), he simply said, "Probably because you needed to hear it today." I have felt at peace from that moment on. We've been blessed with some pretty terrific boys I must say, so I consider it a great privilege to raise another son even though we now have SEVEN more pinewood derby cars in our future.

I started feeling better at the beginning of October. Here is my little baby bump at week 17:

Ultrasound at week 19:

Yesterday I was wide awake from 4-6AM and decided to get the baby's room put together. We got a smokin deal on some furniture from our friend's neighbor and I went to Lowe's and picked out paint (to cover the ugly red/brown wall) and had the painting done by last night. Liv and I washed the bag of newborn clothes and have everything put away in the dresser and ready to go.  Here is some of the room so far:

We still have 10 weeks to go, but getting ready now is making me feel excited and is also a great distraction too.  I grateful that everything seems completely healthy and normal with the baby (and me). I'm fairly certain that mid-March will be here before I know it!