Catching up...

I used to blog... it was therapeutic, enjoyable and relaxing, but I wasn't sure if anyone really wanted to read about the ins and outs of my daily, monotonous life. I stopped for years but after finding such joy in reading others' blogs, decided to pick it back up. I'm not sure what happened to my old blog; can't even remember the name of it in fact. Oh well. This one has been hanging around for a long time, but now it will be used. I'll do my best to keep it real while hopefully making it interesting. If you blog and I get as much joy out of reading yours, I hope to give you some joy in reading mine... and if you don't blog, you should think about it!

So to catch up on events to date, I'm pregnant with our fourth baby ~ Another girl!! This makes two girls and two boys. We are so excited and looking forward to welcoming our first summer baby at the end of June. Her name will be Madeleine Elizabeth, although she will have a Vietnamese name between the two. Her daddy still has to think of some names he likes then once I give it the final seal of approval, that will be her official name. We debated on keeping her name a secret until after she was born in case it brought about criticism, but were too excited to keep quiet about it. (Word of caution, don't criticize a pregnant woman about the name she's chosen for her child after it's been set...). She will be called Madeleine, not Maddie, Mad-Dog or any other typical "nickname" that comes along with the name.

The other kids are super excited about welcoming another baby to the family, although Lourdes took a while to accept her title of "big sister." She insisted that she would not be a big sister and would cry in protest (literally). We had to tell her she'd have a little sister but that she wouldn't be a "big" sister. Apparently she likes everything associated with her to be little. (Which seems fitting since she is pretty petite for her age.)

Landen and Noah are looking forward to having a new dynamic and spirit in this home, in spite of the fact that Noah was pretty disappointed on his new baby sister not being a baby brother. He's come to terms now with it and is excited. (Thank goodness, because there's not a whole lot I could do about it anyway at this point.)

For those who ask if this is "it" for us... well, if you would have asked me that question while I was in the throws of morning sickness, I'd have told you absolutely!! BUT, now that I'm done throwing up all day everyday, I can't imagine saying for sure this is it. It took me 12 months and fertility drugs to conceive this baby after a prior miscarriage, so she was definitely very much desired. I can't say right now that I'd go through all of that again (fertility drugs, taking temps, getting shots, monthly "follicle scans", the constant rise in hope and subsequent disappointment, etc.) but if it happened naturally out of God's will, I'd certainly welcome it. I stop and think that if I would have never had another child after things were rough with Landen, I wouldn't have Noah. If I would have stopped after Noah, I wouldn't have Lourdes... and if I would have stopped after her, I wouldn't have this little miracle hiccuping in my belly right now. I'm not one of those people who just feel like "this is the last one..." or "this one completes my family." I've never been a girl who said "I only want 2 kids and that's it." Even when I was little, I knew I wanted six kids. I don't know if I'll make that childhood goal, but it's certainly not out of the question if it's in God's plan for me.

Lately, I made the decision to go through my tens of thousands of pictures over the last few years and print out the good ones and put them in photo albums. As I cleaned my closet out the other day, I came across quite a few old photo albums that I used to be diligent about keeping up and it dawned on me that online photo storage is so not even close to being as special as prints that you can flip through. It will take me a while and I will print them as I get coupons from Sam's Club (who is the cheapest) or Shutterfly when they offer their promotions for free prints (pay for shipping still), but my goal for this year is to get a large portion of these memories printed and put in photo albums. Wish me luck!!