Five on Friday

1.  Our week this week has been rather low key overall, which I appreciate before a busy week next week and Asa starting preschool the following week.  It is nice to have a little lull first!

2.  This week we played splash pad on the back porch AND I filled up the pool.  Asa and Anna Reaghan LOVED both.  Anna Reaghan even lay down in the cold pool water that just came straight from the hose!  Later the kids pulled blossoms off a bush (that does need trimming) and tossed them into the pool making it a "jungle pool." :)  Asa told me it was the biggest jungle pool "world history has had!"  They are too funny.

3.  On Saturday, I think Matt & Asa are headed to Lowe's to build an airplane at their kids' clinic. Or they  might pick up the kit and build it at home depending on Asa's interest Saturday morning.  Either way, I know they'll have a blast when they build it together. :)

4.  Next weekend we finally get to show Matt's parents our new house!  They have waited patiently for us to get the house in order enough to have guests (and get our children, ahem, acclimated enough to the new house), and we are THRILLED to have them come and can't wait for them to see it! Their visit is also multipurpose, because on Saturday evening we're having a little get together to celebrate whether

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is a boy or a girl!

5.  We are having a baby!  That's right, the THREE ring circus will be arriving at our house in late January or early February.  I am due January 20th, but if this baby decides to follow in his or her older siblings' footsteps, we'll be having a February baby. ;)  We are THRILLED to meet and get to know and love this little person.  It was kind of funny and actually very sweet that shortly before we learned we were expecting, I said to Matt, "You know, I have to hold this loosely because I don't know what God will do with our family--if He says it's complete or if there are more babies in store--but I just have this feeling like someone is missing from our family."  And Matt confided he'd been feeling the same way.  A week later, we found out I was pregnant!  So here I am now, 16 weeks along, and everything is going fine. :)

Next Wednesday we are having a sneak peek to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl, and then on Saturday night we'll be sharing that news with family and friends. :)  We ALMOST waited to find out; I was lobbying for that.  But then as the time we *could* find out drew near, I started to waver.  Matt had already switched camps to "find out" weeks earlier.  It's not an, "Oh I just HAVE to know," feeling.  It's more that I loved praying for and talking to Asa and Anna Reaghan by name the 2nd half of my pregnancies with them.  I loved having that connection before they were even born.  I missed the thought of not having that.  Also, since most of what this baby will have/use will be hand-me-downs (which I have no objection to--I'm all about it and thankful we have it all!), I want to choose something special for a coming home outfit, etc.  And the thought of picking a boy outfit and a girl outfit or a gender neutral outfit made me feel like I would be trying to pick something special for A baby, but not picking something special specifically for THIS baby.  Those are what swayed me.  So our doctor's office provides free sneak peaks around 17 weeks and then they'll do the big anatomy scan to check all of the baby's development at 20 weeks.

So there you have what we've been up to... and why we have a lot to look forward to. :)