Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Announcement time. We are going to add one last wee person to our family (some days "pack" feels like a more appropriate word than "family" but that's the way things are round here sometimes). Here's an ultrasound pic from last week as proof:



Worst 12 week ultrasound pics I've ever been given but in real life this babe was as cute on the screen as his/her sisters. Everybody asks if we are hoping for a boy and I have to say that I'm fairly indifferent about sex. I'll be content with whoever it is. I know what girls are all about and I like girls so that's fine with me. A boy would be different and I can see the allure but I'd find it hard to imagine myself as the mother of a boy (truth be told, I'd be happy never to own a Tonka truck).

For the most part, I feel great. In fact, I feel better than I did when I was pregnant with the other kidlets. I'm a little bit tired (but isn't every mother of a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old) and always hungry but my strangest symptoms are an overactive sense of smell and a completely unslakable thirst. On Saturday, I could smell the strawberries at the grocery store long before I was within sight of them and then I neeeeeeeeeeded to buy some who-cares-if-they-were-shipped-from-California-and-look-a-little-overripe. The thirst is the most irritating symptom and I've taken to carrying a huge water bottle laced with the tiniest bit of cran-raspberry juice with me everywhere I go (I hate water). I was worried about gestational diabetes but was reassured by my doctor that my sugar levels are fine so I guess it's just another symptom.

It's a bit of a different experience this time because Claire is old enough to understand that she is going to get a new brother or sister. Jillian doesn't really get it but Claire talks about it almost every day. She has a bit of trouble with the idea that there is a baby in my "belly" though. Last week she put her hand, with all seriousness, on my left breast and said "Mommy, Nanny says if I put my hand on your belly like this the baby will kick me". It took all my power not to laugh at her. I told her that the baby is too little for her to feel yet and she delights in holding her hands apart and asking if is it this big (hands as wide as a loaf of bread) or this big (two fingers held so they almost touch). Yesterday I resorted to taking a lime out of the fridge and handing it to her "that big!" I announced and she was finally satisfied. She has rooted around in both her own and Jillian's bedroom and found some things that she wants the baby to have and I'm convinced she's going to be a great helper (please, please, let her be a great helper).

I'm due around Easter and I'm sure you'll be hearing/seeing a lot more about this wee one as time goes on. There. Now you are allllllll up to date!