WInter's End

March came in like a Lion this year dumping another 8-10inches of snow on us in the first week!

It was a real snow, and the first weekday storm of the season that kept Daddy Joy home from work!

There was some snow play, but it was pretty bitter cold and every one was fighting off yet another cold virus...

A common sight the last month...

 This not so much...I just find her sleep habit of folding her hands completely adorable...

 We've also been doing a lot of crafting (well 1 of these is from February as are the flowers from Valentines Day from Ryan).

THinking SPRING! Nothing says spring like marker painted Coffee Filter Suncatchers! :)

We made these heart decorations the week after Valentine's Day.

Goomba playing her silly games.

Tea Parties are the best part of winter. Making cake or cookies, making a  pot of tea...setting the table...settling in to enjoy the slow quiet time of year.

I snuck out after the snow storm to the paint shop down the street and painted some SPRING inspiration! A Cherry Blossom Tree, always pink and cheerful any day I want it to be!

Pip also draws great Cheerful people...frame...grass...sun and all

I mean, Happiest people ever!

 

Today was lovely!!! 40+ degrees and we took advantage with a walk at the park, our first trip to a park this year!!!

Traditional shot of the 3 of them together...

At least I know 4 kids will fit in the shot in a year or two! :) That's M our bonus kiddo who is with us M-F during the school year.

And yesterday...Yesterday I had my first OB appointment. I kind of put off making the appointment... 4th time going through morning sickness, I was in no rush to go feel sick some where besides home. I scheduled it for 14+ weeks.

The appointment went really well! And we were surprised to be able to get in for an ultrasound and see our baby.

Baby profile little hands rubbing the face, sweet little torso that looks so much like Roo and Daddy Joy. Measuring a few days ahead (I'll be 15 weeks on Thursday), and doing fantastic! Since we were there and the girls have been dying to know what we're having (and arguing about it quite a bit, truth be told), and technically the gender could be detected as early as 13 weeks (and baby was measuring right around 15) we decided to take a peek between the legs and see what we could see. It was a 3D ultrasound and we could have been wrong, it *very* much looked like a baby boy.
Maybe Pip was right with her little "baby brudder" story after all! I Either way, girl or boy, that little baby has all of our hearts. Watching the girls oooh and awww over him (her?) was just the best. Roo has curled up with the print outs they gave us several times today just grinning over the pictures. She is so excited! I mean it's hard not to grin at that picture (above) in particular. This is the sweetest baby, I've felt it from the start. And getting to watch him (her?) on the screen yesterday, with all the magic of 3D technology, it made it feel so REAL! Another true little JOY to add to our bunch (and if it is a HE, you can bet he's going to have a Joy name that can't be beat! :D And if it's a she, we can't wait to add to our bunch of sisters as well!).  

Surprises.

I love having 3 daughters. I have said it many times, I never knew an odd number could feel so complete.
It has been the greatest gift of my life to love these three and to watch them grow...

And then one day in early December Pip made a picture of our family...

"1...2...3...4...5...6...? Who is the extra person, Pip. Is it Nana?"

"Itsa Baby Brudder!"

I thanked her for the beautiful picture (it was her first attempt at multiple people, and her first time ever to draw our family). We laughed and brushed it off. So silly! A baby? Where'd she get that idea? Maybe Daniel Tiger, he just had a baby...sister...Margaret, so cute!
Hmmm...Where'd she get the idea of a baby brother? We ticked through all her favorite TV shows.  Ciallou while generally forbidden in our home, is highly appealing to Pip and Ciallou does have a baby... sister.
Super Why...Sister.
Baby Bear from Sesame Street...Sister.
 Nobody she watches on TV has baby brother. We don't know any one who has baby brothers- every one we know recently has had girls.  Oh well, it's so funny we are NOT having a baby. We love having our three. And really, there is NO way it could happen any time soon. We have been 100% perfectly sticking to our plan and really, there is no way!

And we giggled over it for days. "Haha, so cute! Cute Cute Cute!'

Looking back I am wondering if we felt some...well, foreboding is the wrong word, but we sure laughed about this an awful lot.
 When Ryan and I went out for our Birthdays I was complaining of feeling bloated and weird. When Friendly and Pip went to take a picture of us before we left for our date, Hubby Joy popped his hand on my tummy to freak me out.

haha

Honestly, even with the joking, it really wasn't even on my radar. In the past when I've wondered if I could be I've obsessed about it until I got hold of a pregnancy test and got a definitive answer.  This time I was completely oblivious. Seriously, wasn't even a consideration in my mind. I was extra tired and feeling sick, it was stress! November and December are a crazy months and I'd had a particularly high dose of "extra" that season. The days went by and the Holiday passed.
My clothing was fitting differently- too many cookies...I'm a week late...no I'm not!

Yes I am!

And there we have it. Apparently 3 is a wonderful number, but 4 is even better! Some time in late summer, around the time of the Fair, we'll be adding a new person to our family!

Starting the Second Trimester!

We don't know if it will be a baby brudder or a baby sister- we don't plan to find out before the birth. Now that the shock has worn off we're all so excited either way and we cannot believe we'll soon be stretching to a family of 6! So many changes in the air and so many new things to look forward to! What I am most excited about is a new squishy love to know and hold and watch grow...Whoever is coming is in for a lot of Joy with lots of loving from three big sisters! Sisters who are over the moon excited to welcome another sibling, they are so full of ideas and plans- it's been almost as fun to watch them as the knowledge of new baby coming!

It's funny, we think we know what we want, and what is best for us, until we're surprised with a gift. We are so looking forward to have this person become part of our world.

Overwhelmed with gratitude and impatiently waiting for all the new things coming our way!