So, in case you weren't aware, life doesn't always go exactly according to plan.
From elementary school all the way through high school, I planned on a college career at Stanford. I didn't get in.
My freshman year of college, I assured my friends it was definitely not in the plan to get married young (as is the trend at a certain university). I got married just over a year later, at age 19.
I never dreamed I would live anywhere but the West Coast. Yeah, you all know how that turned out.
After graduating from college and starting my career in public accounting, the plan was to work for exactly the two years required to obtain my CPA license and then have a baby in September 2003. Getting pregnant wasn't as easy as I thought. After a little medical intervention and over a year and a half behind the original schedule, Ella arrived in April 2005.
I thought two years was an ideal age gap between children and that getting pregnant the second time would be a breeze. It wasn't a breeze. It was harder. I needed not just a little medical intervention, but a lot of medical intervention. Claire was born in March 2008, making her and Ella almost exactly three years apart.
It was always in the plan to have a third child. Specifically, the plan was to reunite with my beloved fertility doctors next year and gear up for another IVF procedure that would hopefully bring us another baby right around Claire's third birthday (turns out I really like the three year age gap). Well...
I got this little surprise back in September. I was extremely emotionally detached at first, figuring it would end the same way my other two natural pregnancies had ended (not well). But with every doctor's visit, surprisingly things kept progressing normally. Now, here I am at 13 weeks pregnant and all signs point to the fact that there will be another baby in our house come next May. I never thought I could have a successful pregnancy on my own. I guess I was wrong. (Matt thinks it was all the yoga...maybe he's right?)
The bottom line is this. Yes, I am a little bit frightened of what will be a two year age difference between Claire and the new baby. No, I have no idea where I will put this baby. I always thought we'd be in a bigger house by the time the third made its appearance (note to self: refer to paragraph 1). However, I am supremely confident that just like all the other unexpected little turns my life has taken, this one will also turn out to be surprisingly wonderful.