The Burrus Family: And Baby Makes FIVE

We are all really excited to announce that come February, we will be a family of FIVE! That's right, Baby B #3 is due February 6, 2014. I have no idea how three kids will work, but hopefully we will figure it out. :) The kids are super excited, especially Charlie, who really gets it this time (as opposed to last time, when the poor 18-month-old had no clue that his world was about to be rocked :). I have had to field a barrage of questions, from "how did the baby get there" (punted that one) to "is the baby wearing CLOTHES in your tummy" (apparently the fact that the baby is naked is truly hilarious). We have decided to not find out the gender this time, and so gender has been a big topic of conversation around here. When asked what we're having, Charlie usually answers "we don't know!," but if you press him, he will always say that he wants a brother. He has explained this in several different ways, including "I need a brother because I already have a sister," and "I think the baby should be a boy because usually I just like boys." Charlie does not know just how lucky he would be to get another adoring baby sister just like Evie (or maybe he does...one day, in a weak moment, he told me that he wanted "another sister, JUST LIKE Evie."). Evie hasn't stated her gender preference quite so clearly, but every time she is asked what she wants the baby to be, she answers "a dress." I'm not sure if we should interpret this as a vote for a girl or if she just really wants to get a new dress out of the whole thing.

We have starting working on getting the kids prepared for the baby and they have lots of thoughts about how to take care of it. Charlie is planning to read it stories, cuddle it, and tickle it (very gently, of course :). He is a planner like me--at the grocery the other day, we walked past the applesauce and he exclaimed, "Mommy, let's buy some of this for the baby!" We have been reading Evie an "I'm a New Big Sister" book and she is not terribly interested. Her primary concern while reading the book is pointing out what items are "Ebie's!" (most of them). She is particularly interested in a picture of a plate of cookies on one page. She can hardly enjoy the book because she is so intent on clarifying that those cookies belong "Ebie!" and not the baby.

Charlie's biggest concern is when and how the baby is coming out. For the first few days after he found out, he raced downstairs every morning to find out if the baby had arrived in the night. When I explained that it was going to be a very long time and my belly would grow very, very big before the baby came, I thought that I had solved the problem. Several days later, however, Charlie looked down at my belly and gasped, "Mommy, your belly is huge! The baby can come now!" At that point, I just realized it's going be a loooong time until February. :)

Here are the proud big brother and soon-to-be big sister! Sweet Eves doesn't know quite what she's getting into...although I am really excited for #3, I am kind of sad to see her time as the baby coming to a close.