When you’ve been pregnant (or nursing) for the last three and a half years straight, you find yourself asking this question a lot. Someone will ask me, “do you like sweets?” or “are you a morning person or a night person?” and I find I don’t really know how to answer that. I liked sweets when I was pregnant with Kimi, but not with Beau or this little one. I don’t believe that I am a morning OR a night person as I pretty much turn comatose the moment the sun goes down until well after it rises in the morn (or when my kids go down for their nap). In fact, I have little to no recollection of a time when I could honestly say, “I am so rested, I feel good!” Nor can I remember the last time I walked into a room and did not immediately search out the nearest available spot to sit down…and it need not even be a chair.
Poor Brent thought he married a woman who could cook, clean, work, play and generally function off of 5 hours of sleep a night to discover that motherhood tends to rob a woman of that ability. Plus, there was some false advertising in the first four years of our marraige as I often treated him a lot like a toddler – you know, cooked for him, cleaned up after him, played with him – but now with two kids who actually need that treatment plus a little kicker taking over my insides, he often hears things like, “bake this for x minutes, here’s the dish soap, and please entertain these children.” Quite a difference for my poor man but he’s been a good sport. As for me, my new “normal” is more like “whatever, as long as I can survive and treat others decently while doing so.”
We are slowly getting accustomed to the idea of a third child and we feel honored the Lord deemed us worthy of raising one more human. Hopefully, we can remember that these children belong to Him first and us second and that our role, besides trying to keep them alive, is to raise them in a manner that continually points them to the cross of Christ. After all, should we go to those who have never heard halfway across the world and forget that there are three lives right in our home that are heavily dependent on us to share the good news with them?
Here are a couple snapshots of how the kids feel about their new sibling:
Connie Hernandez says
Hi Erica & Brent,
Erica, I sympathize with you during this pregnancy. I felt that way with
my 3rd pregnancy. I don’t know how you do it with your little ones. Our
kids were 4 years apart and I was working parttime as a nurse. I’m praying for you that the Lord give you strength and sustain and
protect you and your baby, that He continues to give both of you
wisdom, & guidance in parenting as well as getting ready for your
mission, and for peace.
Take care. God bless you and your family.
Thank you for sharing how God is working in your lives. It’s awesome!!!
In Him.
Connie