Henry's New Role

At the beginning of December, Henry made a big announcement to our extended family: He's going to be a big brother in 2011. As you can tell from his hair, he had just been asleep in his car seat prior to sharing the news. We know he doesn't "get it." After spending time trying to explain to him what's going on and what's to come, he now points at his belly button and says, "Baby." He does know what babies are- he points to them and calls them "baby" at church. He has no clue that he's going to have to share everything with one in the near future.

It was fun to announce the news in person. I was able to gather my mom, Toots (Jo Ellen), Katie, Shannon, my Dad and Nick's mom Debbie in one room at one time to share the news. The next day I visited the Johnson family and told them in person too. In-person important conversations are one of the things you cut down on when you live 1600 miles away, so it was nice to have this one face-to-face.

The details: My due date is at the end of May. If this baby is anything like Henry, we may be looking at a June baby. We have already had our screening ultrasound, and on purpose, did not find out the gender. I thought it was a lot of fun to have Nick announce, "It's a boy!" in the delivery room last time, and I saved a ton of money by not buying stuff because I didn't know the gender beforehand. It was a win-win. I've been having a very normal, healthy pregnancy, but I felt terrible for the first 16 weeks. Now I feel really good. We're very excited to become the parents of children (moving into the plural noun is a big step!)