Baby #4 is on the way!!

We are so excited to have another Dayton baby! The girls couldn't be more thrilled about "a baby in mommy's tummy!" Ally has been asking for a baby brother for a couple of years now, so she is convinced that it will be a boy. Annalise and Megan on the other hand want another sister and think it is a girl! I can't wait to find out, but unfortunately I still have a long time to wait because I am not due until the end of February. These are a couple of pictures that Ally wanted to take on the morning Annalise was starting preschool. We were up and getting breakfast ready and I was about to make Annalise’s lunch when Ally begged me to try her hand at photography. She did a great job taking the pictures, however, it was early in the morning and I’m not a big fan of these pictures since I look so lovely in my pajamas. I will have to take some more sometime soon. These pictures are of me when I am like 13 weeks along. Now I am 15 weeks along and 1 day (I have to include that day!). It has been crazy how fast my stomach has been growing. Everyone keeps asking me if I am having twins since usually you can’t even tell someone is pregnant at 13 weeks along! I am only having one baby, but the doctor just says that the more kids I have the quicker I start to pop out…boy is he right!

I have been so blessed thus far in the pregnancy and know that the Lord is guiding me in everything that I do. It has been such an incredible experience. Usually my pregnancies have been a lot tougher than this one, so I am just so grateful that I am "able to get everything done" if that is ever even happened before!
When Josh and I prayed about whether we should have another child (we had "talked" about it ever since Megan was born and the answer was always no) it was a pretty miraculous experience. The Lord has been planting many things in my heart to help ensure this little spirit reached our family because all logic pointed against having another child (my pregnancy’s and recoveries after delivery are historically pretty tough!).

I would bring the fact of having another child up (in a joking type of way) every now and again to Josh to see what he thought and the answer was always a pretty strong no. I wasn’t sure if we would or not myself, but the Lord just kept prodding me. Finally I talked to Josh one last time to see if he still felt the same way and after seeing that there was no way to change his mind (because it was already made up) I gave up too. The only request I had for Josh was that he pray to the Lord to make sure that this was His will for our family instead of going with our own desires ( it would be a lot easier to have 3 kids instead of 4) and logic (we were very concerned about my health in carrying another child).
So after giving up after that conversation I was happy to be done having kids because I was completely content with my three little sweethearts. The only thing I did was pray to my Heavenly Father and let Him know that if it was His will for us to have another child then He needed to tell Josh because as far as things stood then were done. It was easy to decide because I trusted that Josh knew what was best for our family and I knew that he would pray about it to make sure . I even called my sister and told her how neat it would be from then on out knowing that we were done and that it would be so nice to able to plan for the future. What a surprise it was when some time later Josh came to me (Easter Sunday) and told me that he felt really strongly that we needed to have another child! That completely blew me away and needless to say it was a pretty emotional and spiritual time for the both of us. Ironically enough I was scared to death. I had never fully decided that we needed to have another child; I would just bring it up from time to time to keep the possibility open in case that was what the Lord had in mind since I had never had a strong feeling that we were done. The Lord really kept sending little things my way to keep the door open. It is really neat to look back on that.

Anyway, the reality of what Josh had said hit me and it took me some time to pray to the Lord and talk it over with Him (and Josh) to make sure that I could do it. I am so stubborn huh?! I felt bad that after all of the little promptings I had been given that Josh had to help convince me that this was what was right for our family. It just all came as such a shock! I got such a strong feeling that if we were to get pregnant (remember we were just trying for a baby...that didn’t mean we would actually get pregnant) that the Lord would strengthen my body and that things would not be as bad as they had been in the past. The Lord was so kind to calm my fears and Josh's. We had such a strong impression that we should start trying for another baby that we were not expecting it to take almost a year and a half! There was a lot that went into that year and a half including many miracles (and trials) that have lead us to today where we couldn’t be more grateful for this child that will come to our family. We know that the Lord had it all planned out and that we just needed to learn to submit to His will and be patient.

I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who is so mindful of me as His daughter. My testimony has been strengthened in so many ways through all of these experiences. It has been so evident that He is guiding me (otherwise there is no way that I could continue to serve as Relief Society President and be pregnant at the same time!) and giving me the strength that I need to keep going with all of the things that He has asked me to do. I am grateful for such an incredible example in my life. Josh couldn’t be more perfect for me. He loves me despite my many flaws and he helps me grow and develop in the things that I am lacking. Best of all he loves me and supports me better than anyone else in this whole world could even possibly try to do. I love him and I feel so blessed to have him with me for eternity and for us to have another child together that we can love and cherish as we strive to raise him/her to return back to his/her Heavenly Father. We are SO blessed!