In my last post, I eluded to the idea that our family was growing. I’m here to confirm today that this is true! We are growing and expanding the #mireckizoo!
Technically, I’m the only one who is doing any expanding – in my belly that is :D Here’s a bit of the background story, in two parts!
Growing the #Mireckizoo – Part 1
As far back as I can remember, I have almost always wanted to be a mom, (aside from a short time thinking I might want to become a veterinarian – but I quickly changed my mind, as I was not too keen on taking a lot of chemistry!). Teacher and librarian also slipped in there off and on (and now, as a homeschool mom, I’m all 3! Hah!). Any stories I wrote for fun included 5 children – 2 sets of twins (2 boys, 2 girls) and 1 on the end. Of course, before Tim and I were married, we’d talked family size and found we were both pretty well on the same page (being that we were both from large families – mine 4 kids, and his 8) – he’d jokingly say we were going to have 19 kids, or something like that, and I’d smile and laugh saying, maybe 5.
6 Months In….
Within the first 6 months of our marriage, I was pregnant with our firstborn. It was a rough pregnancy at the beginning as I was working and quite sick, throwing up multiple times a day. But that ended around 16 weeks and the rest was fairly easy. April arrived and bam, we had our first son!
Surprise!
11 months later, and The Boy and I announced to daddy (BIG SURPRISE for him :D) that I was pregnant again. This pregnancy was much easier as I wasn’t working – I was only slightly nauseated, but tired from having a toddler boy to run after. January 1st was my due date, but boy #2, JJ, thankfully decided to come a few days late. Now I was an official #boymom !
All Day Sickness
17 months later, we found out about baby #3! Nausea and fatigue hit me like a truck and it lasted all day until about 20 weeks – then came back in the third trimester! I had a strong suspicion we were having a girl, and in March, daddy’s little girl, Keekers, was born.
By this time we had 3 just under 3 and I was exhausted. My body worn out from 3 pregnancies close together and though we were thrilled with our little family, we knew we needed a breather (apparently 3 is the major tipping point for having kids and is THE most overwhelming combination).
2 1/2 years went by and we went back and forth over whether we wanted to have a fourth. He was ready, then I wasn’t, then I was ready, and he wasn’t. Finally, we prayed and prayed about it and decided we felt ready to go for it.
For This Child I Prayed
Now let me stop and say here that before and during this pregnancy, we had many friends who struggled to conceive. We watched many walk the path of disappointment and heart break and cried and prayed with them. When we prayed for a fourth, we in no way were discontent with those God had already given to us, and did not even fully expect him to give us any more. But he did. I wrestled the whole pregnancy with being pregnant while others who so dearly wanted a child were not, but God worked those things out in my heart and ended up blessing those friends nearest to us with their own little ones soon after.
Again in this pregnancy I was sick around the clock for 20 weeks, at which point we found out we were having another girl! 2 boys, 2 girls! December rolled around and #hercuteness joined our family.
Fast forward another 2 1/2 years later. 3 kids really is the tipping point, and anything after that is just water under the bridge ;) Well, that’s at least the case when you have 3 older ones and then a baby! What a relief it was to not be changing diapers while pregnant or having to care for 90% of everyone’s needs as well as a newborn.
Aside from our firstborn (with whom I was a very militant, determined and overly controlling new mom – I’m sorry, son!), this was the first time I’d had to breathe and REALLY enjoy the baby stage. While I love that our first 3 are so close in age, we really had needed that break to spend time enjoying them and each other.
