Well, the not knowing period is finally over. The verdict is in. We will be adding a…

…girl to our crew in September. Maya is super excited. She has said all along she wanted another sister. Anna doesn’t really have a clue but she loved the balloons she got to play with today thanks to our gender revel photo shoot

Introducing Baby Girl #3. I think she is going to be a cutie just like her big sisters

Here are a few 20 week (+5 days) belly shots for you.

As I sit here writing this Yaris is kicking away. I truly can’t wait until Monday when we finally, FINALLY!, find out if this little monkey is a boy or a girl. I have never gotten this far into a pregnancy without knowing and the suspense is killing me. I don’t know how people make to the end of a pregnancy not knowing. I just couldn’t do it.

I am finally feeling pretty good and after 18+ weeks of constantly nausea and vomiting I was so ready to hit the “feeling good” point of this pregnancy. I still have days where I feel nauseous on and off but luckily those are much less often now and the good days outweigh the bad. Hopefully I can make it to the end not having to deal with crazy morning sickness again.

Settling in to enjoy my favorite part of pregnancy and anxious to make the big announcement next week. Is Yaris a boy or a girl? A few more days and we’ll finally know.

We spent the week staying with my very dear friend, Heather, and her family. Thank you Heather! Maya got to play with her bestie Claire every day which made her happier than happy.

The week flew by way to fast. It was filled with fun moments with our dear friends and I could have spent at least another week and still not felt like I had enough time with everyone. I miss our friends in St. Louis so much. I’m glad we got to spend a little time reconnecting with them and just hanging out like old times. Watching Maya and Claire pick up right where they left off, like no time had passed at all made my heart smile.

Thank you to all our dear friends who made our trip back so much fun. We love all of you and miss you dearly. Can’t wait to see you all again, hopefully soon.

18 Weeks along with Maya. Not quite sure why I was taking belly shots like this. I think it was Lorne’s idea

18 Weeks along with Miss Anna, taken the day we found out she a girl.

And, finally, 18 weeks along with Yaris.

I was incredibly surprised to find that there really wasn’t all that much difference, in my belly anyway, my hips are a completely different story.

18 weeks into this pregnancy finds my finally mostly over the crazy “morning” sickness I suffered for the first 16 weeks or so of this pregnancy. I still have days where I’m nauseous off and on all day and I still find myself occasionally running for the nearest toilet but thankfully those days and fewer and further between lately. I don’t have any specific cravings or aversions this time. I love fruit just as I did with my previous two pregnancies (does that means Yaris is another little girl?) and seafood has been a bit of a turn off lately but for the most part things seems to vary from day to day in that department. I’m feeling Yaris moving very regularly now and the movement has advanced from little flutters to distinct kicks lately. Once I felt a rather firm kick on the outside for the most part you can’t really feel him or her morning on the outside yet. I think Lorne and Maya are looking forward to that development. Still counting down the days until my big ultrasound 2.5 weeks to go!

Every year, during the month of April, the small town of Mount Vernon puts on this festival. The town is surrounded by fields filled with daffodils and tulips. Little activities and art shows are set up throughout the town. The big draw, of course, is the acres upon acres of tulips. It really was quite a sight. Anna kept saying “Wow, wowwers!” (her adorable word for flowers).

It was so breathtakingly beautiful. I can’t wait for next year’s festival! Maya and I are inspired to plant a ton more tulip bulbs this fall so that my front and back yards look like our own little tulip festival

As I enter these weeks that mark the middle of my pregnancy I am getting more and more anxious to find out if Little #3 is a boy or a girl. My good old Mother’s Instinct has me leaning toward one particular gender but I really can’t wait to see if I’m right. My St. Louis doctor always did the anatomy scan around 18 weeks. My doctor here doesn’t do them until 20-22 weeks. I’m scheduled for the big ultrasound on May 13th when I’m 21 weeks along. It still seems so far away.

So, here we sit, impatiently waiting to see if we will be adding a boy to the mix or adding another little girl to our estrogen heavy family. I hate waiting!

This weekend was crazy weather-wise around here. Saturday was very rainy and cold. A cold front moved through that dumped a ton of snow in the mountains and left us grabbing our warm rain coats as we headed out the door. But then yesterday happened, talk about crazy weather. The sun managed to break through the clouds and warm things up a bit. Most of the day was gorgeous and we spent a bit of time at the park in the afternoon. Soaking up the sunshine and enjoying some time outside since we’ve been trapped inside quite a bit lately. It was really lovely.

The sun continued to shine into the evening hours as I began preparing dinner. Lorne headed out with one of our neighbors to do a little mountain biking so it was just the girls and I for dinner. The girls played out back while I grilled some hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner. The sky was clear, the sun was shining and it almost felt like spring again. But then, as I was taking the burgers off the grill and turning it off, I heard a strange sound. It almost sounded like rain hitting the leaves but I didn’t feel any drops and I didn’t see any clouds in the sky. As I stepped inside and closed the patio door it became obvious what the sound was, it was hail and lots of it. For close to 30 minutes small hail poured from the sky. For much of that time the sun continued to shine. It was seriously the craziest thing I have ever seen. The girls stood at the window completely awe-struck. Anna just kept shouting “LOOK LOOK LOOK”.

After about 30 minutes of the hailing craziness my backyard looked like it had just snowed. It was insane!

In St. Louis I had been taking her to this adorable salon in the mall dedicated to little girls. Everything was princess themed and they always did her hair in a cute little up do after her cut and sprayed her hair with glitter. She LOVED it! I looked into taking her to a similar place here but when I saw the cost for a hair cut (simple cut, no style/no shampoo) was $30!! I said forget it. The place in St. Louis was $15, and included shampooing and styling along with a few extras like glitterly face stamps. I was not about to pay that kind of money for a simple trim. So, off to Great Clips we went. She didn’t really care, she enjoyed herself anyway. Although she did ask the girl for glitterly face stamps and spray glitter for her hair and was a bit disappointed when they didn’t have that stuff.

She ended up with a pretty adorable little hair cut. They trimmed about an inch off to get rid of the split ends and added a few face framing layers. It looks adorable, and so grown up!

When exactly did she get so grown up? I swear every day she looks more grown up than the day before. I feel like just yesterday I was taking her for her very first hair cut. Where does the time go?

Slowly, the various steps of early prenatal care have helped. My first appointment, complete with my first peek at Little #3 helped it feel a little more real. My first trimester screen ultrasound, watching Little #3 do his/her acrobatics on the screen and seeing a little baby taking shaped helped. Hearing the heartbeat with the doppler at my last appointment helped. All these things have helped and yet I still don’t feel like I’m where I should be yet.

Last week I began the feel the tell tale pop pop popping of those first flutters, those first movements. Feeling those first little flutters has really helped build a connection. I wouldn’t say it is where it has been in my previous pregnancies yet, but I’m getting there. I’ve always loved the first little flutters. Those early movements that only I can feel. I didn’t think I’d feel those again so I’m trying to savor them.

The near constant nausea is still hanging around. I had a week or so where it has eased a bit and I thought I was almost out of the woods but it has returned, blah :/ These little flutters sure do help make feeling sick all the time a little more worth it.

Today I will honor Miss Maddie by thinking about Heather, Mike and Annie and sending lots of love to them on this very difficult day. I will honor her by remembering what a wonderful little girl she was. I will honor her by wearing purple and thinking about all the lives she touched in her short life and all the lives she still touches on a daily basis.

Please take a moment on this Sunday to think about the amazing Maddie and send some love to her parents and little sister. Lets surround them with love so they know we all remember their special little girl.