To tell or not to tell...

For the past few weeks I've been trying to decide if I wanted to announce early on, this time, or wait as long as possible like we've always done before. Announcing early on won out because it seems with each pregnancy, I'm more tired than the time before, and it's very hard to act 'normal' when you're exhausted all the time.

So, instead of being between 4 and 5 months we're only at 9wks right now. It'll seem longer for you than me actually, because with everything going on around here constantly, the time just flies by. At least it seemed to go a LOT faster during my pregnancy with Butler than the other three.

I'm almost certain the due date for this baby is June 20th, but because this pregnancy was a bounce-back right after a miscarriage, my doctor wanted to do a dating ultrasound anyway. We'll do that on Saturday, and I can barely wait because I'll get to see/hear a heartbeat then! At my last prenatal appt, my doctor and I got to chatting away so much that we both forgot to get to listening for a heartbeat. I didn't even remember until the next day! A doctor you really get along with is wonderful when you're pregnant and usually emotional.

We told the other kids just last night - we figured they'd be hearing from other people soon enough, so we might as well give them a heads up. But it's going to be a long wait for them. They were very excited once it actually sunk in. At first they just stared at us blankly like they'd been stunned which was not exactly the reaction I had expected from them. Then they wanted to know how we knew. Dolly concluded that I must have figured it out because I was tired. "You were really tired, so that's how you knew right?" She's just had a quick bout with a stomach flu, so she continued sympathetically, "Yeah, maybe you're gonna throw up all the time like when I was in your tummy."

Poor PC, he dearly loves babies, and he has a very caring and nurturing side to him, but he also is terrified of change. Last night he went from shocked/dazed, to ecstatic, to overwhelmed by all the change that will come as a result of this latest bit of information. By the time he went to bed, he was sobbing because of the littlest things like still having a lingering cough, or wanting a drink of water or not wanting to go to the bathroom before bed or needing to blow his nose. I ended up sitting with him for a while pointing out all the fun things we'd need to do to get ready for a new baby - like finding out if he was big enough to move into a booster seat so the car seats could be passed down the line of kids. Once he was on a brighter note, he told me all about the stories Uncle W told him when he had a sleepover back in August. After that, he was ok enough to settle down for the night. This morning, he woke up singing and beside himself with excitement about a new baby. I love his passion for life!

Emma's excited because everybody else is, but I don't think she really realizes the reality of it yet. She says she wants a girl baby, but I'm guessing she's just copying Dolly on that. It will be interesting to watch her when she discovers she's going to have to re-train everyone. And Butler doesn't have a clue.

Now the trick is figuring out how we're going to fit another car seat into the van. We found a very narrow booster seat online, but you have to buy them in sets of 8 and we're not sure they're up to the Canadian car seat standards which would make a big difference when it came to selling the extras. We have to do a bit more research on that, but there's still time.

Well, I should post this while I have a chance. It's already lunch time and I have yet to make lunch which we have to eat fast enough so we can leave on time to get Dolly.