everyday Ann

living the ordinary seeing the extraordinary

Surprise!

It is hard to believe that in just three months this little one will be making its arrival and yet on the other hand three more months of being pregnant seems like an eternity. Honestly, how much bigger can I get.

Being the planner (and impatient one) I always like to know the gender ahead of time while Aaron prefers to wait it out until delivery day. We found out with Grace and waited with Caden although, we both had a really good hunch that it was a boy. After an extremely long winter and feeling knocked down by the first trimester I really wanted to find out the gender with this baby. Not to mention to prep Grace in case the baby was not a girl.

Aaron agreed with one exception, he would get the sealed envelope with the gender written down in it and I would not be allowed to see it. He said he would plan a gender reveal surprise for the kids and I. I agreed to it, but gave the deadline of two weeks before curiosity would get the best of me and I would just have to peak at the envelope. The kids on the other hand were a little less patient than me and tried to sneak open the envelope ahead of time.

The night started with a scavenger hunt of clues hidden around the house that led to different baby related items. The last clue led us out to the deck. Now look up into the night sky and see if it lights up like the 4th of July. If it’s pink you know it’s a girl, if it’s blue well either way the game is through.

Not everyone was excited about the reveal, the little ones were a bit terrified from the noise. As soon as it was over and Grace realized what it meant she was ecstatic to say the least!! She could barely fall asleep from all of the excitement!

I thought I would always be a boy mom, so to be adding another girl to the family is a surprise. Obviously the gender didn’t matter to us, just blessed to be able to carry another child. I am excited for Grace to have a sister, as someone who grew up with just brothers I always dreamed of having that bond. We cannot wait to meet you our sweet little girl!!

Easter People

I figure the title is still relevant being we are technically still in the Easter season. We have been adhering to the mandate of celebrating the last few weeks, leaving me a bit exhausted along with looking more 30 weeks instead of 19. In the past I have been a strict no caffeine person while pregnant and nursing, not even a drop. Not sure if it’s my advanced maternal age, chasing around four other children or the lack of sleep that has driven me to enjoy cups of the fully dieseled kind.

Well we made it, hosted two major celebrations both of 30 people or more all within a two week time frame and came out free of any major meltdowns on my part. What I learned, hosting makes you keep your house clean and beyond. Cleaning out of the normal routine; washing the outside of windows, scrubbing down outside doors, washing the walls and no matter how hard I try my patio door will always have little hand smudges on it.

In addition to Easter, this past weekend Ethan made his First Holy Communion. He was sooo excited and kept saying, “this is the best day of my life!” With all the rush of preparing for the weekend I hadn’t taken a lot of time just to reflect on his day not to mention Mass always being a circus in our pew, so I was taken a bit off guard by my emotions. I was surprised when I found my eyes filling up with tears of joy as I watched him receive Jesus for the first time. In that moment all seemed to stand still there was a beautiful period of silence in our pew and I was able to just close my eyes and bow my head as I prayed for my son.

The psalm from today’s readings spoke poignantly to my heart as I reflected on the words.

Shout joyfully to God, all the earth,
sing praise to the glory of his name;
proclaim his glorious praise.
Say to God, “How tremendous are your deeds!”

Psalm 66: 2-3

As I reflect on the past few weeks, months and years how can I not say how tremendous are His deeds, how can my very being refrain from shouting joyfully. The weekend after Easter I happened to run into a priest who once served at our parish. He knew Aaron and I prior to children and asked how my family was doing. My mind quickly raced back to Holy Saturday Vigil eight years ago. I had just found out I was miscarrying for the third time and I remember the exact pew we were sitting in.

During the homily the priest talked about how in our lives after every Good Friday there is an Easter Sunday, although we may not always see the Easter Sunday in our lifetime. I sat there holding Aaron’s hand so tightly as tears ran down my face. As my heart questioned when I would ever see Easter Sunday, when would I experience the joy. All I know is Good Friday as once again another baby is taken from me. Will there ever be an Easter Sunday in my life to follow all of this pain?

There I stood now years later telling him we were preparing to welcome our fifth child. I had to recount bodies in my house as five children sounds unthinkable to me. This, this is my Easter Sunday.

The News…..

…………coming October 1st!!!!

We are beyond excited to be adding to the Everts’ crew and incredibly grateful to God and humbled by His faithfulness!! I know I have said this before, but never did I imagine this would be us. Five years ago I wouldn’t have believed we would be maxing out capacity in our minivan and have more than tripled the occupancy of our house.

I am thankful to have made it through the first trimester (officially 15 weeks!!) and to be feeling much better. Morning sickness hit with vengeance right at 6 weeks and was not just in the morning, but all day long with about every food aversion to go with it. I am excited to finally be able to enjoy the taste of coffee again.

Kolbe and Ethan basically knew since I was 5 weeks, since Grace told them I was getting shots and going for blood draws. They easily put two and two together, knowing that I only do that when I am pregnant. I neither confirmed nor denied until around 9 weeks. Upon finding out they exclaimed they were going to tell the entire school. They are very excited, just a little disappointed there aren’t twins.

Grace is positively convinced, absolutely certain, no telling her otherwise that the baby is a girl. She denies any love or affection she will give the baby if it happens to be a boy, although she dotes on Caden constantly.

Caden is still trying to figure everything out. Occasionally patting my stomach saying “ooh baby”, but also patting my behind saying the same thing. He will also touch his stomach and Grace’s and say “baby”. Eventually he will figure things out.

Along with sharing our news I am also thinking and praying for all of you women wanting and waiting. Don’t ever give up hope. God is at work in the silence and has not abandoned you in your pain and longing.

Moms and Lent

It is practically here, are you ready? I know I will be fine tuning my Lenten commitment right until midnight tonight along with enjoying a large bowl of ice cream. I set up the sacrifice jar today and we each wrote down our Lenten commitments on a note card last night. The boys are already thinking of ways to fill the jar, because they know the coffee beans will turn to jelly beans come Easter.

Writing over at Catholic Mom as we prepare to enter the Lenten journey. Let’s be honest, simply by being a mom we are daily met with situations that challenge us and we don’t have to look far for opportunities to make a sacrifice. All in this together!

Remembering Our Babies

(source)

October marks Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month and while I see great changes in awareness since I had my first miscarriage almost ten years ago I still think there is a long ways to go, especially in our personal and faith communities. Over the years we have honored our babies in different ways during the month of October. This year we will be doing a balloon release with our children.

I am writing at Catholic Mom today sharing five ways that have helped me find healing after the loss of my babies to  miscarriage. What has helped you find healing? I would love to hear your story, none of us are in this alone.