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What my Kids think of the New Baby

I have 3 children and while they each are super excited that we’re having another baby – they’ve been asking for one for basically forever – their responses have all been different. I can’t wait to see what they all think once the baby is here!

First. Here’s what they all have in common. They want a boy. We’re going to have to find out gender just in case this baby is a girl so they can get over the disappointment before the baby arrives. Though, they seem to have varying reasons for wanting the baby to be a boy.

Oldest –

My oldest is 8 and is super excited to have a baby to “take care of”. She was almost 5 when our youngest was born so I’m pretty sure she doesn’t exactly know what this means. However, she’s old enough to be quite a bit of help and I think she’ll actually enjoy the baby, since she loves babies.

She wants me to have a boy so things will be even. We’ll have 2 girls and 2 boys and everyone will have someone to play with. Honestly, she’s just excited about a baby and she’ll be happy either way. Thanks to her, basically every checkout clerk in the city now knows that I’m pregnant!

Middle –

My middle child is super sweet but is a bit more shy around babies. I think she’ll do just fine with a baby sibling. She’s excited, and likes to give the baby (my stomach) kisses. Just wait until the baby can kick hard enough for her to feel it. She’ll most likely be glued to my side from that moment on.

She wants a boy because she wants to remain my “baby girl”. Which is my nickname for her. I assured her that she can keep the nickname regardless of the baby’s gender, but I don’t think she’s convinced. She tries to pretend that she just wants her brother to have someone to play with, but she really just wants to be the youngest girl. It’s tough being the middle child, so I understand her wanting to hold on to the baby girl spot.

Youngest –

He’s 3 and knows basically nothing about babies. He has grand plans of the baby playing with his toys and hanging out in his room to play every night. Being the only boy, he has his own room and isn’t happy about it. He hears his sisters chattering and playing at bedtime and he wants a bedtime buddy.

I’ve assured him that the baby can be in his room – actually, in a 3 bedroom house, the baby kinda has to share a room with him – and he’s super excited. He wants a brother so he has someone to play cars and super heroes with. He has no idea what sharing a room with a baby will be like. I’m not certain he’ll be happy at first but once the baby starts getting more playful he’ll be so happy to have a playmate. The trick will be keeping him from handing small objects to the baby.

I want to know. What did your kids think when you announced an upcoming baby?

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Caring for Myself in My First Trimester

Aside from the actual delivery. First Trimester is by far my least favorite part of pregnancy. I have morning sickness – really all day sickness – from about 4 weeks until week 13. And with 3 kids, homeschooling, and a small business, keeping up while I’m sick is a challenge to say the least.

This is my 4th pregnancy, and if there’s anything that I’ve learned about my first trimester it’s to give myself permission to just take it easy.

Here’s just a few ways I take care of myself – and of course the new little baby – during my first trimester.

  1. Extra Sleep – Something about the hormones, I’m way more tired than normal. As in 10 hours of sleep at night and a nap tired. Of course, the more tired I am, the more sick I feel, so if I want to get anything done, I do actually need to sleep. And, technically, I’m sleeping for me and the baby, and everyone knows that babies need lots of sleep.
  2. Special Snacks – Another fun thing about the first trimester. I’m hungry all the time. Because I get less sick if I perpetually snack (rather than eat all my food in 3 meals a day) I do go ahead and purchase snacks that I’m craving. This pregnancy I’m craving oranges and avocados (eaten separately), both snacks that are definitely good for me. I’m not actually craving any unhealthy snacks this time around (one pregnancy it was krispy kreme doughnuts) so I’m pretty much allowing myself to snack as much as I want on what I want. I do limit the unhealthy snacking to my normal snacking limits. It’s important to eat well.
  3. Frequent Snacking – I feel better if I snack frequently. So I keep nuts and/or granola bars in the car for when I need a snack while on the go. What I have depends on how many of my snacks my kids “stole”. My kids just love all this extra snacking! Normally, I don’t do this, but, in the interest of feeling well, it’s good for me to do.
  4. Relaxing – I like to be on the go and I like to be busy. I also really want to rearrange the kids bedrooms. But all that stuff is going to have to wait until the second trimester when I have the energy to do it. I do manage to keep the house picked up – most of the time – which I think is pretty good with 3 kids. I constantly have to remind myself that it’s perfectly ok to take a break and finish the laundry tomorrow (guess what I didn’t finish today). A lot of times relaxing just means that I’m sitting down working on my blog, catching up on e-mails, or reading a book. Just something that lets my body rest.
  5. Vitamins – For some reason I don’t handle multivitamins very well. They make me sick. So, combine morning sickness with prenatal vitamins making me sick, and well, let’s just say that every pregnancy so far I’ve just given up on the vitamins. Whenever I discover a new prenatal vitamin I try it out for a week (even when I’m not pregnant) just to see how I handle it, and it never goes well. This time around I found a brand called Premama that actually works for me. Horray. It does actually help some with the morning sickness and energy. So I’m finally able to get those extra vitamins that I’m supposed to have without making myself sick.
  6. Pregnancy Brain – So I explained the concept of pregnancy brain to my 8 and 5 year old. I was having a really bad day forgetting things. And now, I’ve basically been given a pass to forget any and everything the entire time I’m pregnant. If you have kids, I highly recommend you do this. It’s honestly a great way to get away with things and have them be ok with it.

So, Mommas, tell me in the comments below, what are some special things you’ve done for yourself during your pregnancy? Or tell me about your favorite food craving?

This #BloggersTalkingAbout series features amazing bloggers writing from the heart. Continue reading more by following these links. Loving Yourself by Joanne | Loving Yourself This Valentine’s Day by Traci | New Routine & New Doctor by Karen | Care For Yourself By Reducing Anxiety & Worry by Karen | Permission To Cry by Brandy | Caring For Myself In My First Trimester by Jenny. If you’re a mom/female blogger, join us in our group, Bodacious Bloggers

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Love

As I sit here reflecting on soon to be 9 years of marriage, I think back to what started it all. Love. Yes, the warm, fuzzy, “I’m in love”, kind of love.

Nine years later, I’m still in love, there’s just a lot more than warm fuzzies to back it up. We’ve made it through 3 pregnancies and 3 births (the third one we delivered 5 minutes before the Midwife arrived), we’re in the midst of raising 3 little kids – some days the house is clean, other days it looks like I just didn’t care.

Not too much sickness, though there was that one time we were both sick with the flu at the same time. Never do that, especially when none of the kids are sick and you have a nursing infant. Apparently, my husband feels worse than I do when he’s sick, he got to lie in bed all day, I got to sit on the couch (or floor, depending on how many children needed lots of space on the couch) and watch kids tv shows all day. Yup, that was fun. Somehow I still love him.

The truth about love is you’ll do anything for it. You change your entire life for love, you marry someone, move in together, and make a gazillion changes to your life just for love.

Then, you add more kids to love. Speaking of adding kids, fun fact, our second child was born on our 5th anniversary. Good thing we celebrated the weekend before! She’ll never forget when our anniversary is.

So, nine years and three kids in, there’s so many things that have changed. We can no longer just go do whatever we want whenever we want to. Someone has to watch the kids. We’ve had to choose to focus on our marriage and on us. And we have to learn to agree on household rules so the kids know what’s a rule and what’s not.

The thing about love is all the hard work is worth it. It just grows the more you put into it, and the more you do for each other the more you love each other. So, after nine years of marriage, we’re more in love than we were the day we married.