Third Baby Planning: It's Complicated

Wow, oh WOW, guys. I don't know what to say after the outpouring of love and smiles you gave me on Twitter, Facebook and this website about Third Baby.

(Fifty-nine comments?! Holy crap! I didn't know there were that many of you READING on any kind of regular basis. Seriously, I have a feeling my mom checks in several times a day and is responsible for MANY page views. You sure know how to make a girl feel loved because yo, I realize commenting is a pain in the ass what with the actually clicking through and then writing something and filling out your info and doing the captcha crap and OMG just writing that was SO BORING THANK YOU FOR THE COMMENTS.)

Your excitement made ME more excited and it was a big week of internetty love and happiness in my inbox. I have the best readers and lurkers (nice to meet some of you!) and friends inside the computer. Thank you.

***

So! Three kids! We're, uh, going to be doing that! Okay, then! Here's where I'm at in this whole HOLY CRAP THREE SMALL PEOPLE situation coming at me this January:

1. I'm seeing the same awesome midwife and will deliver in the same hospital Charlotte was born.

2. Third Baby will sleep in the pack and play in our bedroom for the first several months, just like Charlotte did. Charlotte will be 20-months-old when Third Baby is born and I am HOPING to transition Charlotte to a Big Girl Bed when she's about 2-and-a-half, maybe a few months older than that even. (Claire moved at 2 years, 2 months and it was a bit soon for her, I think.) (Also, since Charlotte is A Climber, I do wonder if she will manage to climb out of her crib soon and force the issue.)

This is all in an effort to avoid buying a second crib. Because HELLS NO I am not buying a second crib just for one baby, just for a year and a half or so. I shall spend that money on something for ME. Third Baby, you are suffering the effects of Third Baby Syndrome already. NOTHING NEW FOR YOU!

So, Third Baby will be in our room, downstairs, because no way in hell am I going upstairs in the middle of the night (several times!) to feed a baby for months and months. No, absolutely not. There are three bedrooms upstairs. Charlotte and Claire stay put in their rooms. If Third Baby needs his/her own space to sleep in, before Charlotte moves to a Big Girl Bed, I am planning to just stick the pack and play in the spare bedroom with a baby monitor and leave the child in there with the treadmill and sewing machine until Charlotte moves out of the crib. At that point Third Baby will take over Charlotte's room (with the crib) and Charlotte and Claire will either:

a) Do bunk beds or two twin beds in Claire's room, so that I may maintain an entire bedroom for guests, treadmill, sewing projects, and/or storing things that have no other home in this house.

or

b) Claire will move to the guest bedroom, Charlotte to Claire's room, Third Baby to the crib in Charlotte's room and I will have no extra rooms upstairs, WOE.

You guys, having three children appears to be complicated.

(Or, I'm just good at MAKING it complicated.) (Very probable.)

3. If this baby is a girl, obvs we are ALL SET on clothes and pink things. I even have a name for a girl! If this baby is a boy we are SKA-REWED because we still don't have any boy names, four years after my first pregnancy. I like lots of boy names, objectively speaking, but when evaluating names for potential sons I always think, "Well, that's a nice name, but it's not for us."

Such as, I might very much like the name Blabbity-Blah. I might like it a lot and KNOW kids with that name that I like quite a bit! Good name! But, that is not my child's name. I like the name, but it's just not....right for us. Does this make sense? In a non-judgey, non-insulting way?

4. I am (not so secretly) hoping this is a girl. Besides having The Perfect Girl Name all set up, I just think three girls would be so much fun! I feel like I'm supposed to want a boy, since we don't have one, but...I just kind of want another girl! I do! I have a preference, for the first time!

But then I think about a boy and I think OH, that would be FUN and DIFFERENT and boys have such special relationships with their mothers and...gahhhhh, nope I kind of want three girls.

(Obviously, this means it will be a boy and I will just have to eat my words and wonder why on earth I ever wanted a girl when I have such an awesome BOY.) (We'll find out at the end of August.) (Which seems FOREVER from now.)

Comments

[HereWeGoAJen]

Matt and I could name at least three girls in about ten minutes but now that this one is a boy, we've got NOTHING. Seriously, we've known for like four months that it's a boy and we are no closer than before we found out.

Elizabeth was the firstborn and she didn't start sleeping in a crib until after she was a year old. I am all for the pack and play plan.

[Shilo]

WAIT WHAT? THIRD BABY? CCCCCOOOONNNGGGRRRAAATTTSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kelly Barclay]

So excited for you! Love your blog and you crack me up every time you post. I have three girls and love it! They are 9, 7 and 20 months!

[Holly]

For 2012, my baby count stands at 4 boys, 0 girls, 1 unknown. (Because I keep track of these things.... 2010 was an even split, as was 2009). If you go back to Dec of 2011, add 2 boys, 0 girls. SO, things are looking up for a girl, by Holly Statistics!

[S]

I'm with you on the three girls, because I was the youngest out of three girls. It was (and still is!) SO MUCH FUN! Seriously, growing up in my house was always a blast. Obviously sisters fight, but so do brothers and sisters! All siblings fight, I just know some people freak out at the idea of having all girls.
There is nothing wrong with having a preference! I think it would be stupid for anyone to think you wouldn't be happy to have a boy, that goes without saying, right? My parents were downright honest that they wanted a boy with me (I was girl #3!) and I obviously disappointed them. I never once felt unwanted or anything though! You know, just in case anyone says anything about you having a preference!

[Mly]

Hooray for third baby! Nothing wrong with wanting 3 girls, sisters arethe best!

[Sam]

If you have a girl people will be sad, "Oh I bet you wanted a boy! Are you going to try again for a boy?" And you will want to stab them. If you have a boy, people will say, "Oh yay! You finally got your boy!" And you will want to stab them.

I have three boys and I am thrilled to have them. It is okay to have a preference. And to stab people. Really. Okay, not so much. Congratulations!

[Sarah in Ottawa]

I still get giddy when I think "A'Dell - having another baby!". Am so, so excited for your family!

Three girls would be amazing. I can also say from experience that January boys are all kinds of awesome (as can Arwen; our boys are 1 day apart). I love that either way, the results will be amazing. New baby! Squee!

[Laura Diniwilk]

I have a bizarre love of new baby logistics posts, so this made my day. My girls are 22 months apart and we kicked the older one out of the nursery (way sooner than I had to, because L didn't sleep in her crib til she was 6 months old) because I didn't want to buy more things. Those twin bed rails are pretty awesome, we had no problems.

I think if we were to find out we were expecting #3, I'd also want it to be another girl. Three girls sounds like so much fun! I am so excited for you!

[Susie]

We only have one kid so far, but we decided we didn't like her crib (drop side hand me down, and we got nervous about safety) when she was five months old. We REALLY didn't want to pony up for another one, so we just threw the mattress on the floor and baby proofed (read: emptied) her room. Perfect for us. Next baby will be in a pack and play at first, then onto the floor. They'll never remember!

[Sarah T.]

Such exciting news A'Dell! Congrats!! When my mom was pregnant with (what turned out to be) my little brother, I was absolutely convinced it was going to be another girl (we have a sister between us). We had the girl name picked out and it was all I could talk about. When my dad came in to wake me up one morning and told me I had a brother, I was like whaaaat? A brother?? As it turns out, 2 girls and a boy is not so bad. :) Can't wait to see what the future holds for your family!

[Life of a Doctor's Wife]

I love hearing about baby naming issues. Obviously, I hope you find The Perfect Boy Name, but in the meantime, I love hearing all about it. And yes, I totally get what you mean about loving a name but it not being right for your baby. That can happy for so many reasons! One of my top favorite girl names is slightly Spanish sounding, and my last name is so French that it would just not work. Because my husband and I have no Spanish heritage, no ties to anything Spanish. So it would just be weird, I think.

A third baby!!! This is just so exciting. I'm not over the excited SHOCK of your revelation yet.

[Miranda]

Heh, we have a crib available and Damien has never slept in it. Pack and play FTW!

I wanted another girl SO bad. SO SO BAD. Right up until the day Damien was born and you're right: you're either going to get a girl and be so beyond excited or you're going to get a boy and the idea will grow on you and then he'll be here and you wont be able to imagine your family any other way. So pretty much it's the greatest win-win ever and I can't wait to see which way it goes for you.

[Jesabes]

I have two sisters (and no brothers), so I'm obviously biased, but three girls is the BEST.

Little boys are pretty great, too, though:)

[Salome Ellen]

I HIGHLY recommend bunk beds that can unstack into two twins! So many options. And ours are still going strong as beds for the grandchildren when they visit. (I just tried to find some online as examples, and honestly, ours are much closer to the cheap WalMart ones than to the expensive kind. I think ours were from Sears back in the day.)

[Home Sweet Sarah]

Eep! Baby! Baby baby baby!

I don't know why, but I totally keep picturing 3.0 as a boy. I JUST DO.

But three girls! Three girls! How awesome!

Exciting stuff for you, m' lady.

[Elsha]

I'm sort of hoping for 3rd girl for you guys. I mean, boys are great, but THREE GIRLS!! My sister is pregnant with her 3rd and I'm also hoping for 3rd girl for her.

[alison]

GO TEAM BLUE! I have lots of names you can use since chez baby factory is closed for us. ;)

Go for option 2b because having two littles in the same room is the Epitome Of Suck. It really is probably just MY kids, but they are such opposite sleepers and wake each other up, and B comes in our bed at least every other night. Woe.

Yay babies!

[alison]

Oh! And the part about commenting made me laugh because you don't make us do a captcha for a comment. ;)