Oh Boy! Two months and a newborn later...

Just over a month ago, I gave birth to a very healthy 11 pound, 8 ounce baby BOY. I don’t know what shocked me more — his little boy parts when they turned him over so we could see what he was, or the numbers on the scale when they weighed him. 

I was expecting a 9.5 lb baby girl. 

No, we didn’t find out the gender until he was born, but I was ten thousand percent convinced he was a she. I have five daughters, and other than being older and more tired this time, it felt pretty much the same. And my biggest girl was over 9 pounds, and I was positive that this one was bigger, maybe even ten!

Justin caught the moment we learned his gender on tape, and I’ll be forever grateful to remember the exact words I spoke in the minutes after his birth:

“NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”

“I’m confused.”

“I don’t know what to do with a boy!”

He was also 12 days late and didn’t arrive until December 20th, just five days before Christmas. It was a little chaotic, to say the least. Plus the baby blues hit hard this time around, compounded by co-parenting issues with my ex-husband and the fact that the big girls left the day after Christmas for a nine-day trip with said ex-husband across the country. 

So who knows if it was hormones, or knowing this is my last baby, or a conflict coming to a head, or missing Hannah and Cordelia during the best week of the year (that dreamy place between Christmas and New Years where time seems to not exist) … but it was a little rough there for a few weeks. 

Side note: I’m glad my older kids have a dad who loves them and a good relationship with him. But it doesn’t make missing them when they’re gone during the holidays (or any other time) less hard.

Then last week Justin had to travel for work for the entire week and I had 5 kiddos and 3 schools and extracurriculars to coordinate. All I did last week was drive kids around, nurse the baby, and throw chicken nuggets at people in hopes they didn’t starve.

But we made it! On a wing and a prayer, we made it. Praise the newborn baby Jesus in the manger, we made it. 

They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and now that Justin is back things are not seeming so much like the end of the world-

~~Break in post because it’s been two weeks since I left off mid-sentence and I am just now getting back to it~~

Did I mention we are getting through on a wing and a prayer? Everyone has been sick on and off throughout all 87 days of January, and into this month too. One of our kids just got diagnosed with a learning disability we’ve never heard of (we thought it was dyslexia - turns out it’s not). I’m still president-ing my mother-daughter charity group, and focusing on leadership opportunities for our members as well as cool philanthropy projects. Dishes and laundry continue to be daily chores.

It’s February 12th and my big Christmas tree is still up. It’s a Valentine’s tree now. 

I hope to write to you again before it becomes a St. Patrick’s Day tree. 

Fingers crossed!