Party of 5

Back in early February of this year, I found out I was pregnant with our third child. For a couple of weeks prior to discovering the shocking news, I had a strange feeling something was up, but the test results kept coming back negative. My cycle had been completely off the previous month, so I waited and took another test a week later...and that was when I saw the faint line that usually tells no lies.

Part of me was shocked, but another part had expected it, due to the symptoms I had been feeling. All I could think about was the fact that my youngest was still 9 months old, and I had just delivered him last year! The best part was that I was getting used to wearing normal clothes again. But the thing was, I had just warmed up to the idea of having another child, and thought we would wait a bit and enjoy our Party of 4 until the right time came along. I suppose the Lord has a sense of humor, because he probably knew I would change my mind if I had let the idea marinate any longer : ). Mike was probably just as shocked as I was, if not more! Sometimes our plans don't always work out the way we think they will, but we trust that God knows best...and having had two unborn babies in heaven, we take each life seriously and we're thankful for the little person that is growing within me.

Now the thing with having three children who are still in full-sized carseats, required an upgrade in the car department. We were driving around a Mazda Cx5, which is a midsize SUV, and it would not accommodate the three carseats we would need. We were quite bummed about that, having drove our car for only a few years since our oldest was born. The car had grown with us and we loved it dearly. And then the inevitable had to happen: we needed to trade in our beloved car in order to purchase a minivan (gasp). In the past, I had told myself I would most likely never want to purchase a minivan because I grew up driving one and they were unwieldy, bulky and generally "uncool." Well, I guess when push comes to shove, and you become a parent, you learn to make "sacrifices" and choose what is practical. True, we could have purchased a larger SUV, but after realizing how tight it would still be, we decided to go big.

We haven't regretted our choice to purchase a "Swagger-Wagon," and even took it out for a road trip test drive to NorCal with the fam. I must say that it was rather nice to be able to fit everyone, including my extended family into one car! We didn't have to hold back when it came to packing the essentials for the children, and Mama even got to pack a few extra pair of shoes ; ). We expect to take this big baby on several more trips down the road-- and the day we have to get rid of it will be most bittersweet.

SaveSave