Sometimes its hard to believe you are 3… THREE! Annabelle you are sweet with a little bit of sassy. You are funny and so smart. You have grown one of the most tender hearts I have ever seen in a child for others. You love to dance and read and take care of your little sister. You are always willing to lend a helping hand, especially if its in the kitchen. You love fiercely and every one is your friend. You are kind and courageous and strong. Most of all you are full of joy, and your life has brought so much love and happiness into so many peoples world.
Your name fits your perfectly for you are loving, lovely, joyful, gracious and so beautiful from the inside outward… you are a gift straight from God himself – Annabelle Jane.
Happy birthday sweet girl. We love you and are so excited to see all the plans God has for you this next year.. and every year to follow. We know they are going to be big!
Something about coming to an end of a season and getting ready to begin a new one has a way of making you just want to reminisce am I right?! The other night Matt and I watched some home videos that we took during this pregnancy which got me thinking about how thankful I am for what a great time it has been in our family. So we thought why not share a couple of those stories and videos here just for fun!
How Baby Sweet P Came To Be
Matt and I have always known that we wanted to have a big family, it’s actually one of the first things that we bonded over when we started dating. We also have always said that we wanted to have our kids pretty close in age. We both grew up with siblings that we’re close to us in age and though there were fights like no other at times we both see what a gift it is to have someone who is around your age group to grow up with especially now that we are older… plus, to each their own, but for us we always felt that it would be best to just get each phase over with rather than having to go back to the newborn, toddler or teenager phase all over again… although that being said we can totally see the value in having an older sibling when it comes to babysitting lol 🙂
So when we got the best surprise of a lifetime and found out we were pregnant with Annabelle back in March 2015 we also knew that along with that would begin a fun season for our family of (God willing) having multiple babies in the coming years whether that be biologically or through adoption. We knew we wanted our kids to grow up with siblings.
Fast forward to late October 2016 we both really started to feel God lay on our hearts together as a couple that it was time to actually start trying for another baby again. We had been tossing the idea around for a couple months at that point but it wasn’t until then that we really felt Him leading us to begin this new and exciting adventure of actually trying to conceive a baby, something we didn’t get to do the first time with Annabelle. We really didn’t know how that process would go either because when we got pregnant the first time around it was something that was completely and wonderfully unexpected. It wasn’t like this time where we felt a very strong sense in both our spirits that God wanted to give us another baby and we should begin trying because it just kinda happened and that was that lol. So this time it was exciting and new to actually have those conversations and see how God had been moving in both of our hearts to united us together and begin this adventure as a couple with Him!
We had heard that it could take a few months to get a positive pregnancy test and since this was our first time actually trying to conceive we weren’t really sure what to expect. So we prayed over it and said “Alright God! We’re going to listen and the rest of this journey, however that make come to look, is in your hands!” and gave it to him!
Well, it was the early morning of Sunday, November 27th. We had just had a very fun, busy Thanksgiving weekend together with our family. We had successfully hosted our first Thanksgiving (a personal dream of mine ever since I was a littler girl and would help my grandma make Thanksgiving dinner), did some Black Friday shopping with my sister and went to choose and cut down our family Christmas Tree with Annabelle for the first time as well as visit with Santa at the tree farm. Matt and I were laying in bed while I was breastfeeding Annabelle and all the sudden I got this very strong, very intense need to go to the bathroom, to the point where I felt I literally couldn’t wait. As soon as Annabelle was finished eating I pretty much jumped out of bed and ran to our bathroom. We had some pregnancy tests sitting on our bathroom counter. I had taken one just a few days before hand because my period had been a couple days lat but it had actually came back negative which kinda bummed us out. I thought why not take one more though just for good measure because the last time I had such an intense urge to go to the bathroom I ended up being pregnant lol. There were also a few other signs such as super clingy puppies and I had been feeling a little moodier than normal as well. Well wouldn’t you know this time around we got a positive result! It’s funny how a few days of extra hormones running through your body can make all the difference.
Pretty much immediately I had this overwhelming sense of thankfulness and excitement that took over, coupled with a bit of disbelief that we actually were able to get pregnant on our first try because just a couple nights beforehand we had gotten that false negative, given it to God all over again and determined we would just try again next month. I remember sitting in the bathroom for what seemed like forever staring in amazement at the test and then looking up at myself in the mirror with what seemed like the biggest, goofiest grin and thinking I had to find a way to pull it together if I wanted to have a shot at surprising Matt with the news later that afternoon after church instead of just blurting it out the moment I was to come out of the bathroom. He knows me so well and would totally know that something was up if I came out with such an elated expression plastered on my face. lol So I took a couple minutes to collect myself, thank God for this new little life and answering our prayers and then did my best to keep my cool and act like nothing was up or out of the ordinary around Matt the rest of the morning lol.
I could barely wait to get home from church that afternoon and surprise Matt with the news that I had known all morning! Before we got home I asked him to swing by Kohls really quickly. I had seen an outfit there when I went Black Friday shopping with my sister that I thought would have been so cute for Annabelle if we had been pregnant. It was a pink long sleeved onesie that said Best Sister Ever on the front with a pair of floral matching bottoms. Annabelle was asleep in her carseat which gave me the perfect opportunity to just run in really quickly by myself. I told Matt there was an exchange I needed to make which was true.. but little did he know I also needed to make that special purchase as well! Well wouldn’t you know Kohls had sold out of her size. So when I got back in the care I asked Matt if he would mind stopping by Babies R Us so I could look for some Christmas pj’s for Annabelle.. which we were able to find, as well as that same cute outfit I had seen in Kohls in Annabelle’s size! 🙂
When we finally got home I took Annabelle upstairs to change her diaper and put her in her new outfit while Matt made lunch for the three of us. While he was cooking Annabelle and I worked on a quick little scavenger hunt where I put different cards around special places in our home that signified the progression of our relationship over the past 9 years. Then I sat Annabelle in her crib with a handful of puffs and her favorite book and told Matt he had to take a break from cooking because we had been working on a special early Christmas gift for him! Thankfully I am married to a man who is super go with the flow and enjoys being spontaneous or my on the whim surprises wouldn’t go over so well. Matt spent the next couple minutes obliging me and letting me follow him around with a video camera as he went looking around our house from clue to clue that eventually lead him to Annabelle’s bedroom where she was patiently waiting in her crib for him with a special message written on her shirt!
The moment Matt went in to see Annabelle he got the same elated, excited grin across his face that I had on mine that morning and said “Are you Serious!!” as soon as he picked her up and read her shirt… to which the only reply I could give was excited giggles. lol He then ran over to me with Annabelle in his arms and started hugging and kissing me with that same sweet excited smile. I pointed him to his last clue and his “early Christmas present” which was a little box that I had wrapped the pregnancy test from that morning in. He opened it up and again that same smile flashed across his face as he held it in his hands.
We spent the rest of the day decorating our home for Christmas and day dreaming about this precious new life that was to come into our family to which Matt confessed to me that he had a gut feeling all along that we were pregnant, even after we got that first false negative! It was one of the sweetest moments from this pregnancy for sure.
Come back tomorrow as we wrap up this 2-part series and tell the story of how we told our closest friends and family that God was adding another sweet baby to our crew.
Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice. That’s what little girls are made of! ❤
A few months ago we hosted a small gender reveal party for our newest little Sweet P where we found out surrounded by our closest family members what this little one that God is blessing our family with is going to be! It was such a great memory to share such a sweet moment in our family with our closest loved ones.
We are so completely overjoyed to announce that God is giving us another sweet little girl to love and adore!
There are so many reasons why Matt and I are so thrilled that God is giving us another daughter but at the top of that list is definitely the fact that we are so excited for Annabelle (and this little girl) to have a sister so close in age (our two Princess Sweet P’s will be 20 months apart)! We just can’t wait to watch them become best friends and have a front row seat to watching that special bond between them grow and develop throughout the years. We are just so excited that they will have one another to grow up together with and know that this sweet little daughter of ours that God is adding to our family is going to bring so much joy, love and fun into all of our lives!
Literally since seeing the pink confetti we have been day dreaming about all the memories and fun times that we inevitably know our family, and more specifically our daughters, are in store for!
Since finding out we were expecting a couple months ago we have heard one question or phrase that we didn’t hear during our first pregnancy with Annabelle.
“O! Congratulations! So you’re trying for a boy this time?!” or something similar along these lines.
Now let me just start by saying we do not think that there is anything wrong with taking gender guesses, in fact we had a lot of fun guessing what Annabelle’s gender was and we are really enjoying that part of our pregnancy journey this time around too. We are actually going to be finding out what this sweet little one will be this weekend surrounded by our closest family, and we can’t wait!
We also don’t think that those who have asked if we are trying for a boy mean anything negative by saying this phrase or asking this question. We truly just believe that these wonderful people in our life are just trying to make conversation and that they are just as excited to find out what this baby will be as we are!
But since having these conversations something has been tugging at my heart, and as we approach the weekend and therefore finding out what our second babies gender will be I feel more then ever like talking about some misconceptions I think our society has and why our family personally doesn’t feel the need to “try” for one type of gender baby or another.
Our sweet little thumb sucker. He/She already has something in common with his/her big sister! ❤
I come from a family of girls. Growing up it was just me, my mom and my sister in our immediate family, and on my dad’s side all my cousins are female. Literally until I married Matt my Uncle Doug was the only guy at our family events. And guess what. He loved it. He loved his three beautiful daughters and his two nieces, as did our entire family. Everyone was A-Okay with the fact that there was no boys around because we had (in my opinion) some of the most intelligent, talented, funny, beautifully kind girls. My cousins, sister and I were never made to feel inferior or like we didn’t measure up to expectations because someone always wanted a boy in the family. It was actually the exact opposite. We all grew up to be very confident, secure women because we were loved and wanted for who we are and what we are by our family unconditionally. It wasn’t until I entered adulthood that I started to realized how rare of a family I was born into, and how blessed and thankful I am for that loving support system.
All around our world, and even in our own country, babies are being born into families, some girl and some boy. In some countries girls are devalued to their counterparts because of socioeconomic and financial reasons. Thankfully I live in a country that values all citizens no matter the age, race or gender. But there is still an underlying tone surrounding families of one gender in our country. Others in our culture can be quick to assume about one sex gendered families that one parent or another wishes that they had the other gender in their family to “balance things out”. Like the mom that has all boys is just overwhelmed with a mixture of all things dirt and manly, or the dad who has all daughters needs a break from a sea of pink and princesses. Coming from a family of all women, and knowing several others that are made up of one gender or the other, I can say this is a total misconception in our culture. Those families do not feel that way. At least mine didn’t…. And that’s why we are not trying for a boy.
God gave Matt and I a beautiful baby daughter as our first born child in our family, and we are absolutely obsessed with her! Each day we grow even more smitten and are even more convinced of her total perfection than the day before. Not for one second have we ever wished for or wanted her to be born a boy. We love having a bright, vivacious, silly, sweet little girl. And we are doing our best as her parents to make sure that she grows up in a family where she knows how loved, wanted and worthy she is – unconditionally. That she is exactly what her daddy and I have always dreamed of when we thought about what our family would look like once we started having children, because she is healthy, happy and thriving. And she is our child.
Therefore we would never “try for a boy” because that could potentially speak some untruths to Annabelle one day about what we think and feel about her. “Trying for a boy” could potentially send the message to her that she isn’t enough. That we wanted something she could never be. By sending those messages that would devalue her and who she is on our family. Of course we would never want to do this as her parents, and we would never let others do this to our child either. Because of this “trying for a boy” would be going in direct opposition of what we are working so diligently to plant in her life, to grow a little girl who knows her self worth and that she is loved beyond measure both by her daddy and I and her heavenly father.
This picture doesn’t even begin to do justice to just how much she lights up our life, just how much we absolutely adore her. ❤
So that being said when we decided that we loved her SO much that we would love for God to give us another baby as a sibling for her and another added joy to our lives we didn’t start praying for a baby boy because we already had “our girl” as some would say. No way! We just prayed for a baby – period, end of sentence. Boy or Girl it didn’t matter to us then and it doesn’t matter to us now because having children and raising a family is not about having one sex gender or the other or a mixture of both. It’s about trusting God and being thankful for what He blesses your family with when it comes to your children and the unique individuals God is entrusting in you and your spouses care to disciple, love and point to Jesus.
Our 2nd sweet little baby. This little one was as calm as a cucumber just taking it easy and hanging out with us. This little one already has such a chill personality that is so different compared to it’s sister at this time that we love so much already.
So if we find out this weekend that God is giving us another sweet little baby girl for us wrap in soft pink blankets and adorn it’s sweet little head with bows then we are going to celebrate and be over joyed and ecstatic that Annabelle is getting a sister and we are getting another beautiful daughter to love and adore. And if we find out that this baby is a boy, then guess what, we are going to be just as excited and just as over joyed and celebrate just as much that God is giving us a sweet little son to love and that Annabelle is getting a brother, just as much as we would have if she had been getting a sister. Because it’s not about the gender to us. It’s not about “passing down the family name” in our family. It’s about passing down the family characteristics that we want our children to grow in – love, grace, kindness, compassion, hard work ethic, discipline, being genuine, humble and respectful to all people they are given the opportunity to rub shoulders with on this earth. Matt and I fully believe those things are more important than carrying on a last name, because they are what make our last name, they are the virtues that make our family a family we can be proud of, and you don’t have to be of one sex or another to carry them on. 🙂
Pair of Pomeroys: 