Questions

Since getting pregnant with this little amazing gift God is giving us, I've been asked some odd questions, but also some very interesting ones! If you've asked me one or some of these, please don't think that I think you're odd. I think only the first one is the most odd to ask a parent. 

The other day I thought it would make a good blog post and Laura said she'd enjoy reading it :) so here I am. 

There really isn't any order of importance. 

 1.) "Why would you have your kids so close in age?!" -- this one, I do think is an odd question. 

I have a very simple and somewhat shocking answer (to some people) for this question. "Unless God is a fool that can make mistakes, this is not too fast." 

2.) "Are you totally freaked out to have 3?" 

No. We're not freaked out. Yes, we're nervous. Of course we are. We're not nervous about the "day in and day out" stuff -- I know life will go on and we'll get used to 3 just as quickly as we got used to two. Life is kind of funny that way. I sometimes get sad how quickly people (including myself) tend to move on from even tragedies.  

We feel a bit more anxious about the "raising" part. We understand (a little bit) about the importance of raising up children for the Lord and the fear of messing up or just being plain lazy is probably what gets to us more. Jason and I are faced with our own selfish tendencies and we understand that you lose more of your own world each time you bring another child into God's world. :) 

Knowing this is the plan God has had for us and knowing His promises helps, but yes... that's the part we're "nervous" about. 

3.) "You must love being pregnant!" -- okay, I admit, this one is odd to me as well. :) 

I always have to laugh when I hear this. Haven't you ever done something because you love the outcome, but you're not crazy about the "getting there" ?? That's me with pregnancy. There is very little that I enjoy/like about it. I think its one of the most amazing things in God's creation, but I do not enjoy going through it. I hate the way my body feels and I hate the fact that I feel so un-normal, I can't be as go,go,go as I normally am and I never seem to get used to needing naps and such. Its a very odd 9 months for me. 

I try not to complain (too often) and when I was pregnant with Ethan and realized how much I didn't care for it, I promised Jason it wouldn't be 9 months of hell for him each time we got pregnant. 

The hardest part for me is near the end when I have to ask for help. I hate admitting I can't do it all. 

But yes, I love the end result and wouldn't trade that for anything. 

4.) "Are you going to find out what you're having?" 

The plan right now is no, we're not going to find out what the baby's gender is. It will be our first time trying that, so we'll see. :) Jason is more wanting to know than I am, so I've already told him, if he decides in the ultra sound that he wants to know, its fine with me. I know I already like it that way as well. Our ultra sound is May 13th, so we shall see then. I'm learning to never say "never". :) 

5.) "Do you have names picked out and will you share them?"

Names... yes. We have tentative first and middle names picked out for both genders. Naming has never been too hard for us, since we typically agree on them and have learned over the years to just pick a normal, nice sounding name and we're good. 

I tend to get too picky about the meaning, but thankfully this time, we loved the meaning of both names we picked out. 

We made the decision during Ethan's pregnancy, not to share our name choices. Mostly just because we'd like to have the freedom to change our minds at the last minute and not have to hear about. I think the middle name for our boy choice has already changed twice, so... see what I mean? 

6.) "Do you have a preference on what gender you have?"

With my other two kids, I very much had a preference and it didn't match God's. 

When I was pregnant with Ethan I thought it would be so fun to have a girl first. Not sure why... I just decided it would be and so then I decided I must be having a girl. Surprise! 

Then with Rachel, I thought it would be really cool to have another boy, close in age to Ethan, so I decided she was a boy. Surprise again! 

With this baby, my first thought (after finding out I was pregnant) was "I'd love to have another boy!" but since then... I honestly don't care. I think it would be fun to have a girl close in age to Rachel (because I loved having a sister close to my age) and I also think it would be fun to have a boy again. Especially when I go through all Ethan's baby stuff. 

This is kind of why I don't mind being surprised on the gender. Either one will be a complete joy! 

I will admit, I hate the idea of having what looks like the "perfect family/genders". I haven't liked being asked "why are you having more, you already have one of each?!" Such an odd question to me. 

Although I always have sympathy for those couples that only have one gender and every time they get pregnant they have to hear dumb questions like "trying for that girl/boy, are you?" So I guess both ways have their disadvantages. 

7.) "Do you work out or worry about weight gain during pregnancy?" 

No. I don't work out. I try to go on walks and I stretch before bed every night. I'm planning to start lap swimming now that the weather is so warm, but I've yet to start that. 

I've never been a fan of stressing my body out during pregnancy. I try to do stretches and stay limber, but I have no work out routine or anything like that. I don't think you're a bad person if you do though. Each woman can handle different things, I'm sure. 

Weight gain. What woman doesn't worry about weight gain?! I wasn't worried during my pregnancy with Ethan and I gained 55 pounds. :) So yeah... I do worry a bit now. 

I only worry so much as asking myself "do you really need that second doughnut?" but I don't deprive myself. I do not count calories and don't worry about carbs and such. 

Just eat when I'm hungry and quit when when I feel satisfied. I try to make those good choices when I'm hungry and feed my body food that will sustain it well, but it often ends up being In and Out burger! 

I think if I stopped doing house work, running errands, didn't chase the kids around, etc.. then I'd probably be more worried about my caloric intake, but since I'm doing those things (which I like to call my work out) then I allow myself the freedom to eat. :) 

I've gained 2 pounds in this pregnancy so far, so I'm at least not worried yet. Ask me during my 3rd trimester and my answer might change. :) 

8.) "Do you ever have dreams that your baby is born and its a certain gender?"

So far... no. 

9.) "How many kids are you guys gonna have?"

Ask God. And if He tells you, let me know. 

10.) "Any cravings during pregnancy?" 

Of course. 

This baby has been very good to me. He/She craves very healthy foods. During my first trimester I craved raw veggies and fruit. I ate oranges like there was no tomorrow and always had dried apricots with sugar snap peas (yes, both at the same time!). 

The 2nd trimester has been more of a liquid craving. I often have to have my sparkling lime flavored water and I NEED grape juice on certain days. :) 

Oh! This baby loves the M&M Twisted Frosty at Wendy's. So yummy. 

Only thing I've had a hard time eating is meat. It has to be chopped up and mixed in my food, otherwise chewing and swallowing tends to make me gag. :( 

There you go! I'm sure its too much information for some of you. I love knowing little tid bits about my friends, so maybe some of you enjoyed it.