Although I don’t advocate for this as a way to approach life in general, my husband and I were on the we’ll-see-what-happens-by-35 family plan. And it turns out that what happened for us is that I got knocked up again! I really wasn’t sure what would happen. I ended up getting pregnant with our second kiddo as soon as we weaned our first, so when a year passed with no news, I thought, Maybe we’re done. Maybe I was wrong.

Here’s some of the good, the new, and the otherwise in my third (and my first girl) pregnancy.

I feel like a balloon that has been stretched out and deflated multiple times.

Oh wait. I am a balloon that has been stretched out and deflated multiple times. In addition to not getting that last ten pounds off between #2 and #3 (did I mention I had an extra year to accomplish that and nope, didn’t happen), I’m carrying this one way higher. Things are stretching in ways they haven’t before, and every morning, going into my closet is a total gamble. Mostly, if it’s a dress or contains elastic, we’re still friends.

My hair is a hot mess.

I don’t know if the whole stealing-your-beauty thing is real in general, but it’s real for this mama. My hair is usually AWESOME throughout pregnancy. Only 22 weeks in and I’ve officially succumbed to the messy mom bun. And did I mention I had my first cold sore EVER? That thing took up like half my face (nice hair would have been a good distraction).

I still see girl things and think, I should send that to my sister.

I’m sure it will dawn on me before she arrives that I will need to start shopping on both sides of Children’s Place, but for now, it hasn’t clicked. Friends and family have already bought her adorable clothes, but if a magic switch was supposed to flip for me, it hasn’t yet! I did walk past Baby Gap a few weeks ago and saw a grey sweater with a heart on it and thought, I think I could do that. The tutus, sequins, and hot pink — if she wants it, that’s okay with me, but she’s gonna have to train mama.

I still have awesome, generous friends and family.

We live in small quarters. So when no baby was on the way, we gave away/consigned/donated all the baby gear we had. I hoped at the time that we’d be able to borrow/buy used/beg for what we needed should the opportunity present itself again, and those hopes have been fulfilled. In addition to the tsunami of girl-clothing-offers, other basics have been offered up, and I couldn’t be more grateful!

I don’t have the perfect girl name yet.

I feel like I could break free from the alliteration I have going with my boys, but they both have ancient-y, warrior-ish names, and I definitely don’t want to leave her out of that! Literary-inspired names are towards the top of the list, but we are definitely not above a weirdo name that gets a second look. We’re not secret people, so if I figure it out before she gets here, just ask — I’ll let you know!

I worry that we used up all the cute and that we haven’t used up all the crazy.

Seriously. A little bit seriously, but seriously. Her older brothers have eyelashes that go on for days and everyone in our household is a little bit, er, intense. Exhibit A. My four-year-old describing his announcement of having a baby sister: “I’m gonna tell V that I’m getting a baby sister! She’s gonna say ‘that’s crazy’! And I’m gonna say I know, right?!?!?!” I know you can imagine the crazy eyes. There were definitely crazy eyes.

But really, she has some pretty fantastic older brothers. I am excited to see how their sibling bonds shape each of them and our family. We are excited to meet you, baby girl, and teach you all about our family’s brand of crazy!

What’s been new or surprising about your pregnancies?