Number 3

That’s right! We’re going to be having another baby!

To the dear, sweet people who are concerned: Yes, we do know how that happens.

It’s been kind of funny seeing the difference in peoples’ reactions to the news of each of my pregnancies. People were excited for the first. I think people were surprised but excited for the second. Now with the third, I feel like we get a lot of, “Oh…wow…congratulations…you guys are brave.” I think it has more to do with the age of our children than the number. Yes, we will have three under three for a little bit (but not too long!). We’ve liked the age difference between Elias and Mercy, though, so hopefully we’ll like it again this time 🙂. Aaaaaand hopefully Mercy girl will be well into the world of walking by then. (You can do it, babe!).

We also had A TON of babysitting offers the first time around and then maybe half as many the second time. This time? None! Come on, guys! If we ever need a break, it’s going to be with three kids. Let us drop them off at your house for the afternoon (or the week, ahem, Papa and Lou Lou).

Really though, you guys have been so sweet in the way you love us and our kids. We feel so thankful to have all the support and help that you guys offer, and I don’t know how people parent without this kind of environment. Our family and friends are the best.

My due date this time around is 12/1. Since both Eli and Mercy were early, I’m thinking this one may come sometime in November, but we’ll see. Overall, we’re really excited about having another baby. We do have some questions though. Like:

Where should we put him/her? Is it time to look for a different house? Can Mercy and Elias share a room? Could the baby just sleep in the loft? Should we just give up on anyone sleeping ever again? (Please, no).

How do we all leave the house? If we go grocery shopping, where does everyone sit? Am I going to have to use the huge carts with the big plastic thing with two seats in front that’s like steering a tank around the store? Should we just plan to eat out all the time now instead of getting groceries? (Hmmm…).

I actually feel a lot more confident in adding a third child than I did having our first. I have very vivid (ok, somewhat vivid–I hadn’t slept in like 4 days) memories of bringing Elias home and just feeling completely lost. We had a pediatrician appointment for him the next day, through which I cried the entire time (hormones! and no sleep!), and Elias peed all over. The nurse picked him up and cleaned him off and Derek asked, like a total parenting noob, “Can you show us how to hold him like that?” Guys, we didn’t even know how to hold our pee-soaked son to clean him off.

I don’t think that illustrates any current parenting prowess as much as our complete lack of preparation the first time, but we have learned a few things since then. We kind of felt like adding Mercy to the family wasn’t a huge deal (except for all the extra love and blah blah whatever ;), but not a ton of extra work). We’re hoping the third will feel the same. Parents with three or more children have told us, though, that the third is the hardest because the parents are outnumbered. So…just pray for us. And don’t look at us like we’re terrible parents if we ask you to take a kid or two for us.