This year has been one for the books with everything going on in the world but that will be a blog post I’m sure I’ll write about once it’s all over and we’re no longer stuck at home.
Erik and I found out in January that we are expecting a baby and he/she is do to arrive in September! While this was not something that was planned or on our minds to happen anytime soon, it happened and it’s the best blessing I could have asked for. My life has been up and down over the last 4 1/2 years and I’m in such a good place now and I couldn’t ask for a better partner in life. Erik has been amazing and so understanding of everything the boys and I have been through. He is so good with the boys and helping me co-parent them. For someone who doesn’t have kids and didn’t grow up around younger cousins or anything he is amazing with them. He takes on the father figure role and is just what the boys needed in life. He does it all while honoring and respecting that Bob is their daddy and will always be talked about in our home. He helped Caleb learn to ride his bike without training wheels, helped Logan shoot a gun for the first time, he’s had them help him build stuff and hang up photos of their dad and so many other things. I’m not sure how the boys and I got so lucky but we did.
We haven’t found out yet what we’re having because our doctor appointments are a little off during this pandemic. I actually had a virtual appointment last week which was just weird since you can’t do any of the normal dr visit stuff. We will find out in May and hope to do a gender reveal of some sort, although it will probably just be us and we will video for all to see. I never had a gender reveal with the boys but I don’t think it was much of a thing until around or after Caleb was born (and he’s going on 7). I told Erik that since this is his first and only child then he can decide what he wants to do.
We didn’t know how to announce it but then we saw a photographer in our town doing a porch photo project so we figured that would be a good opportunity. Not only to announce our baby but also to remember the reason behind these porch photos, this pandemic that is going on. She stayed 6+ feet away from us and took our photos and then emailed them to us and it worked out perfectly. She did this all for free for so many people in our community and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to be involved in it. I had ordered shirts a while ago for the boys that say, “leveling up to big bro” for Caleb and “leveling up to big bro again” for Logan that had game controllers since they like to play video games. We gave them their shirts and they were so confused and didn’t understand them at all. When we finally told them what they mean they didn’t believe us, haha. They are both excited though and indifferent on if they want a brother or sister. Either way they will both be good big brothers.
One thing about my story that I’ve always found interesting and now even more interesting is that it is so similar to my grandma’s. This is the time in my life when I feel like I need her the most and would just love to talk with her about it all. My grandma was widowed in her 20’s with two young kids (my aunt Kathy and my uncle Bob). Her husband, Clarence, died of leukemia just shy of them being married for 6 years (Bob and I made it to 5). She married my grandpa years later and they had my mom. My grandpa had never been married and no kids but took on the fatherly role to my aunt and uncle. My mom growing up knew all about him and she knew Clarence’s family as her own. I knew all about Clarence growing up too. I remember seeing pictures of him and knowing he was my grandma’s first husband who passed away. His family accepted my grandpa into their family and my mom too when she was born. Knowing this child will grow up very similarly to how my mom did (knowing her mom’s late husbands family) is such a weird feeling. There’s a lot of emotions tied to it all that is hard to explain. I know I’m very blessed to be able to have found love again after loss, blessed to be given the chance to have another child and blessed to still have my late husbands family in my life. Erik is going to be such an amazing daddy and I can’t wait to see him with this baby.
Link to our photographer: https://www.facebook.com/stephanieann.photoco/