2017's Biggest Plot Twist

I promised pictures from Christmas, and I will, indeed get to those in good time.  But I thought I might as well start things off with a bang.  As you may now have guessed, we had one very gargantuan, unexpected, life-altering piece of news come our way in November: I am currently pregnant with Richards/Simmonds baby #3.  

You can take a minute to digest this news, if you want - it has now been almost two months, and I can barely wrap my head around it.  Perhaps some facts will help:

1. Yes, this baby was a (very large) surprise. I have dubbed it the baby that really wants to be born, and I wholeheartedly believe this to be true.  For context: Clark and I have been together for almost 20 years.  TWENTY YEARS. And in that 20 years (up until this point, that is), I have only ever gotten pregnant twice, and both times were completely on purpose.  So - this is... anomalous, to say the least.

2. Seeing as I am now 37, I was put on a "high risk" list, and therefore got an early ultrasound.  That ultrasound happened a little over a week ago, and everything looks completely fine.  I am therefore no longer considered high risk, which is great! (Though it also means I no longer get the royal treatment on the high risk floor of the IWK, which was completely lovely while it lasted).

3. I have been feeling pretty miserable for the last couple of months - mostly nausea (especially at night), and exhaustion.  Today, however, marks the official beginning of my 2nd trimester, so I'm very hopeful that the grossness will soon abate.  New Year = New Me.  That's my mantra.

4. Due date has been set at June 29th. Another summer baby! This is almost exactly two weeks later than my sister Andrea, who is currently ALSO pregnant.  When I start to panic about the fact that we left baby-parenting behind many years ago (and will have to therefore start from scratch, and find a way to fit a fifth person into our perfectly-sized 4-person dwelling, and likely buy a freaking mini van, etc, etc etc), I just remember that Andrea will be mothering a newborn and a barely-one-year-old at the same time.  Sooooo... relatively speaking, I have nothing to panic about, right?  Plus, I've got two very excited helpers rarin' to go.

And that's about it!  We told the kids the day after we were given the all-clear ultrasound.  Here is (rather poor-quality) video of their reaction:

 To add a little back story to this: minutes before the video was taken, we told the kids: "come sit in the living room - we have some exciting news!" Juniper looked up from whatever she was reading, and asked, totally matter-of-factly, "are you having a baby?".  We just kind of gaped at her, and responded "just... come sit in the living room".  Then, before I turned the camera on, she kept trying to whisper to Linden "I think mom's having a baby!"  I have no idea how she guessed so easily.

Then, her first question, after all the jumping up and down and celebrating that you saw: "was this planned?"  She qualified this by adding "I've wanted another baby since Linden was FOUR, and you always said no".

Then: "This is even more exciting than a PET!"

Linden, meanwhile, was apparently listening quietly to this back and forth, and drawing his own conclusions.  He reported that he went to school the next day, and told his teacher: "We are going to have a new baby, but mom and dad didn't make it.  It just... happened".  He couldn't understand why his teacher thought this was funny.

Anyway, I'm confident that everything will turn out as it should, in the end.  Juniper has been busy making lists of possible name choices, and there has been much discussion about room reallocation and other such details.  Juniper has also been saying "goodnight" and "good morning" to my tummy every day.  It's all very sweet.

Whew!  And finally, though it now seems like an afterthought, on to Christmas!  This year, we were joined by Theresa and Scott (who stayed with us), and Clark's mom and stepdad (Deborah and Yvon), who stayed in a hotel, but joined in for all the festivities.  It was fun, and jam-packed with activities (though there was basically no outdoor-based play, as Christmas itself was completely miserable, weather-wise).  Considering all this, I actually have very few good pictures... I have not been completely on my game as official family photographer as of late, due to previously-discussed circumstances.  Here's what I managed to capture, though:

Snuggles with aunt Theresa

Mid-Christmas Eve dinner - it was delicious, took most of the day to prepare, and I didn't lift one finger.  Talk about awesome Christmas guests!

The whole gang!

Linden, being a goof, as usual.  Doesn't he look old in this pic?

Be-crowned, and finally allowed to rip into stockings

New (handmade) Christmas PJs!  Stockings!  Presents!  Christmas morning is SUCH a rush. Linden clearly can't even keep his tongue in his mouth.

Sporting their new cowls/head bling, before ripping into the gifts

Linden happily playing with his new car mat

OK, that's it!  There may well be some good New Year's photos coming for the next post... Clark and the kids are currently at the farm, and will be there until New Year's day.  I bowed out of the trip, as I am just not quite up to it yet (all this nausea, paired with long road-tripping was enough to turn me off the notion completely). So I'm just... relaxing at home, by myself.  Or, rather, not completely by myself ;)  Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to you all!