A family update has been a long time in coming and you can tell that things have changed around here. This blog morphs with me and serves different purposes at different times, but I just love having any and all of you follow along in any way. Life has changed so much this past year as we have been settling into our new life on our farm. Literally day to day we face new excitements, challenges, and every moment is filled with adventure. We thought why not continue with the explosive excitement around here and add one more little firecracker to the mix.
We recently gathered with family and friends to find out if our 5th little firecracker would be a boy or a girl. The patriotic themed party was dubbed the “He or She Partee” by none other than Cashel himself. He even helped decorate the voting table. “Which do you choose?” “Blue = boy and Red = ‘gril’ ”
The votes were split with friends and family, except among our four boys. They all have clearly expressed desires for a girl. Although we think a basketball team of five boys is pretty special too! A couple of them knew better than to “vote” or express what they “wanted.” Cashel would respond when asked, “I’ll wait and see” and despite Camper’s deep desire, since our last addition, for a sister he even would say; “both” when asked if he wanted a boy or a girl. Corban was clear, “a sister.” And sweet, sweet Copeland is still cluelessly enjoying his “baby”status, and who can blame him.
Guests made their guesses and due to an unusual level of excitement we set off our firecracker around dusk.
The firecracker was a bit confusing I must say and thankfully we had a backup plan and it became clear, our fifth firecracker is ….”a girl!” The crew waiting with confused looks began to register the news and as they did their faces say it all. We were shocked and probably won’t recover until we hold her in our arms in a few months.
We are in shock, as were our guests. The boys are over the moon and taking ownership of their sister. Watch out world this little girl had four serious big brothers.
As we sat and visited with family and friends I was amazed at the bits of her story that were laid out far in advance. I have always been asked, with each birth, if I “wanted a girl” and in all honesty my heart just burst with each little boy that I couldn’t imagine wanting what I didn’t have. I love boys, our boys especially, and our little universe felt complete.
Although that story did change a bit, this last year when helping coordinate and speaking at our local women’s conference. I watched a little toddler worship on her Momma’s hip, and teenage daughters attend with their own mothers. I told a girlfriend it was the first time I felt a longing for a daughter. Truly.
After the reveal my mom’s lifelong best friend Sachiko presented me with a gift, a baby blanket that she made for our daughter. She made my most beloved baby blanket when I was born. I ran to the house, dug under the bed and pulled out my keepsake bag. There laid the thread bare, totally see through blanket. I also snagged my “hope chest” that I had been unconsciously stashing things away in, for years. A tiny knit red sweater with beautiful vintage floral buttons that Benjamin and I bought (our first baby purchase in the long years of trying to conceive) we found in a Camano Island antique shop; a tutu and package of headbands I won in a giveaway before we even had children. And then inside a small box stamped “Waddle it be” were two pairs of pink shoes. One pair from a friend (the boy shoes she purchased for Cashel’s gender reveal have been the first pair of shoes all my boys have worn) that even had the receipt so I “could return them if it wasn’t a girl.” A second pair of pink leather booties from my sister given at that same party in 2012. Below those were my own white patton leather Mary Jane’s from when I was baby, my coming home from the hospital onsie, a dress lovingly made for me by my paternal grandmother, and also inside the box was a pin. The “it’s a girl” pin my dad wore in the hospital when I was born.
I could go on, a “sassy doll” toy I purchased when a friend told me it was “the best toy ever” and reminded me of my own first “baby doll.” Inside the hope chest lay hopes I didn’t even know I had, at least not consciously. We are over the moon and so grateful for this little girl. We have no idea who she will be, what parts of us she will open up, or how she will change our family (just like each of our boys has) but we cannot wait to find out.
Stay tuned here for more updates and fun as we anticipate her arrival and continue our crazy beautiful life Living on Levin.
In the meantime… you can also see our gender reveal with Cashel, Waddle it be? here. Our gender reveal with Camper called “Stache or Sash Bash” here. And Corban’s was a paint party that you can view here. With Copeland we waited until birth to find out! You can also see all kinds of fun details about how I planned and executed the other gender reveals.