On Being Pregnant

(Before you get too excited, I am not pregnant. That would be crazy.)

I was admiring my dear offspring the other morning. My offspring who gets me up before the sun has risen. My offspring who gets me up before even God is awake (as Steve Gimpel would say). They are so lovely. They fill my early mornings with giggles, dirty diapers, milk, tight zip up pj's and chubby cheeks for me to pinch. I love them dearly. 

I was looking at them and reflecting on my pregnancies. Two pregnancies. I still think it's crazy that I've birthed two human beings. One little boy version of me and one little girl version of David. I thought about my two pregnancy stories.

Eli 

Took over a year to conceive. God used that year to speak life to me. The year of waiting for my first child caused me to not take pregnancy for granted. I treated each pregnancy like it was my last. 

Emma

Basically, David and I thought one day, "Well, Eli is almost 2 years old, maybe we should think about having another." A few weeks later, we were pregnant. This pregnancy surprised me because I mentally prepared myself for a year of waiting. God blessed us with Eli in a year. God blessed us with Emma in a month. God is good. 

Even now, years later, God continues to use my pregnancy stories to speak to me. Maybe that's why I'm still in awe of my two children. Maybe that's why I am still in shock that I have the boy (first) and girl (second) that I wanted. Maybe it's why I still look at Emma and say, "holy cow, I have a daughter." With every diaper I choose to give thanks (even those mean diapers that get all over me like last night), with every time-out I choose to give thanks, with every day I choose to give thanks. 

I don't know if we'll have more. That's still up in the air since three children sounds like a good number to me. But, David's a believer in that 'middle child syndrome' and refuses to have three children. Four sounds like way too many children for me. Who knows what will happen. One thing I do know is I'm so out of 'E' names. Let's see...

Ella (too close to Emma)

Emerson

Emily (ditto to Ella)

Elodie

Elle

Ethan

Evan

Eliott

That's all I have folks. 

***