An announcement...if you can figure it out, that is...

Jack: "I've got a secret!"


"And even though I ate some of these letters on my shirt, I think you should be able to get the picture..."


"This yellow "H" is particularly tasty..."



If you got the message by now, you're quicker than the room full of engineers on Saturday when I sent Jack into the Rainoldi's house (they were having a World Cup party) to surprise Jason and everyone with the news! It's actually quite hilarious - Jack was wearing this onesie, socks, and his sneakers. I didn't put shorts on him because, obviously, I wanted the shirt to be the focus.

As it turns out, the only thing people could focus on was how silly Jack looked. People kept shouting, "Where are your pants, buddy?!" And then I had to explain why he was wearing sneakers with long socks. I'm waiting with baited breath for someone to catch on...these engineers are too smart for their own damn good! ;-)

Still nothing...

I had to say, "PEOPLE, WHAT DOES HIS SHIRT SAY?!?"

"OOOHHH..." Finally!

Geez! But they weren't the only ones...we "skyped" my parents and Jason's folks later that night, showing them what Jack was wearing. (It worked out well because Lucy really wanted to show everyone her shirt she was wearing - which was mine from age 3). Lucy got to show everyone her shirt, and then we said, "And Jack wants to show you his shirt too!"

(Here's the shirt that was mine...)



Jack's on screen, and the grandparents say, "Aww, big brother, that's cute..." then nothing.

Okay, what is the problem here!?! This is not that hard to figure out!

Jason had to say, "Mom, why would Jack be wearing a shirt that says 'big brother'?"

It took my parents a few seconds to catch on too...

Oh well, despite the lag time, we're thrilled to announce that we're expecting another baby! It's very early - I'm just 4 weeks along - and the due date is Feb. 21st!

And I know lots of people are probably thinking I'm crazy for announcing this so early - I know it's not recommended due to the risk of miscarriage, but I am just not wired to keep this quiet. My friends know much of my business on a regular basis - a baby is just way too exciting!


I'd literally have to wear duct tape on my mouth every day, and that would be a long 12 or so weeks of keeping this blessed little secret to ourselves. And if God forbid we did loose this child, I'd actually prefer the support of my friends rather than being able to say, "Phew, well at least no one knew..."

But that's just me; obviously, everyone has to decide for them when it's right to share the news. I do realize the reasons why it can be a good idea to wait. Jason actually laughed out loud the other night when he found the due date predictor on his computer screen. In the time line it offered, at 14 weeks it said: "Announce your pregnancy!" I'm sure people shake their heads at me all the time; this should not be surprising!

I've tested positive early with each of my kids so far, known before my missed period, and found out "boy" or "girl" ahead of time, picked the name, the whole shebang!

BUT, this time, we are going to change it up a little...we're NOT going to find out the sex of the baby, and probably not announce our name choices. We're not actually sure what the boy or girl name would be anyway, although we do have some top contenders already.

We're blessed with one of each so far, so there are clothes (and in the right season as well, fortunately) for either sex, we're not going to do a complete "nursery theme" (third one always gets the shaft - it starts early, I guess ;-), and we really do want to experience that thrill of pushing that kid out, anticipating the doctor saying, "It's a ..."

And of course all we want is a healthy baby, but if it happened to be a healthy baby GIRL, well, that'd be icing on the cake! Jason and I both would LOVE another girl in the family. And there are just too many adorable Lucy outfits in storage; sure would be a waste not to get to use those again.

So, praise God- here we go again!