Christmas in June: A House of Bennetts Announcement

I couldn't wait till July, so June it is. You know that theory that when female bloggers of a certain age range stop blogging consistently, it is because they are pregnant? Well, in our case, that couldn't be more true. :)

These two little buddies are finally getting a little elf to help with Christmas. We made it Facebook official last night and now are making it blog and instagram official.

Our current due date is December 7, 2015.

Which makes me 14 weeks along as of today.

I thought that I would answer a few of the more common questions I have been getting, so brace yourselves, I am going to talk about all sorts of pregnant ish.

How are you feeling?

Flipping awesome... as of two weeks ago. I had consistent sea-sickness from about 6 weeks until 12-ish. Gagging a lot and wanting to just throw up and get it over with, but no actual up-chucking. I am no longer pukey feeling and look like a person again. GO ME. I am still tired like woah, but the nesting instinct has kicked in and I want to get house stuff done.

Boy or girl? Are you finding out?

We don't know the gender yet, but we are definitely finding out. My boss has already lauded how much better not knowing is, but have you met me?!? I am a planner first and foremost. We are gonna give it a few more weeks before our big ol gender ultrasound.

How did you tell people?

My closest Denver people knew pretty damn early because there was no hiding it. I was so sick and nasty and a blob that either I had ebola or I was pregnant. (So glad it was the later). I wanted to wait to make it totally official until I could tell my mom and sister in person. Here is a video of me telling my sister last week.

WARNING: tears may be induced.

Then last night we posted this on Facebook:

It was so fun to get everyone's congrats and likes and comments. I loved it.

Are you going on a babymoon?

We wish we could do a total blow out thing, but since this baby was "made" on our honeymoon, we are having to hoard our vacation time from work. I'd like to do a small weekend trip to a beach in the US somewhere, but we shall see how finances pan out. We are, however, going to Salida for the Mumford stopover in August so that will be a blast.

What about work?

I will be taking three months off-- some of it unpaid-- and then returning to work full time. LB will take about two weeks when baby comes and then the current plan is for baby to be in daycare. STAY TUNED.

What are you reading?

I am going to be doing a few posts on this, but mostly:

Are you showing?

I think I am because (this is an annoying thing to say) I have never had a belly before. To most, I just look bloated. I am okay with looking a little chunky because in my mind it puts off the whole strangers touching your belly thing for a while.

How are you sleeping?

Generally, like garbage. I am so uncomfortable on my side and it throws my neck out of whack, but I am not supposed to sleep on my back anymore. I am days away from pulling the trigger on the giant maternity pillow... haters can keep it to themselves.

Other general symptoms?

My hair is falling out like in clumps and my skin is in full on 14 year old acne mode. I am currently on pace to eat us out of house and home consumption wise, but at least food sounds good again. And by food, I mean sweets: fruit, froyo, more fruit, fruit bars, sweet teas, skittles, SWEET STUFF! :)

To say that we are excited is an understatement. We are overjoyed and just so pumped to meet this little human.

Washington and Oregon

I grew up in one and LB grew up in the other. Seattle is where my mangled roots of a family began (and ended for me) and Portland is that for LB. We are PNW people at heart, but hate the rain so we will never live there full-time again. In spite of my rainy weather phobia, I know every back road south of Seattle and LB's got the whole I-5 corridor on lock. Canby and Salem are the places where we spend Christmases because it is too much for me to be back in Seattle sometimes (honestly, 99% of the time). I instantly get all anxious whenever I go home-- there is just too much pain/sadness/anger/confusion there for me. As Ashley said when we were in Washington for my brother's funeral, "There is no healing left here for you to do."  And yet, to have two school shootings in my two states within a week of each other, leaves me feeling all the more anxious/sad about going "home" for my bridal shower this weekend. By the time you read this, I will have flown into Seattle, driven down to Portland, and be gearing up for the final hour drive down to Salem for the shower. At the rate things are going, it is highly possible that by the time you read this, there will be another innocent taken from a sacred place: a school. Why is this not more unsettling for us? Kids killing kids. KILLING. MURDERING. Taking away people's babies. I used to be a teacher in a pretty rough school. Heck, I even had an eighth grader look me straight in the eye from down the hallway and tell one of my students, "I am gonna kill that white b*tch." And yet, I showed up to teach everyday because my kids needed me to. Even though there were days when I was afraid. Even though a few kids were already gang involved and, in Arizona, almost all of their parents had guns.

I've read two blog posts this week where mommas pray that it not be their kids. Is that enough? Is it enough to pray that it is not your kid when ALL OF US, every single one of us, will have to send our babies to school one day? When there are teachers who go into classrooms EVERYDAY facing this fear?

I am not answering the myriad of questions in this post because to do so would require a level of intelligence and insight that I do not possess. And not just because I am not a momma yet. But because somehow, kids being shot at school turns into a gun debate instead of a national travesty and a cohesive call to action. It is not political in the same way that health care is not political (what a loaded word, political).

The question really is this 1990s gem: what would Jesus do about kids shooting kids and what would Jesus do about health care? Religion aside, do we or do we not have a moral obligation to take care of EVERYONES babies, momma, dads, and grandmas? Do we have an obligation to do everything we can to keep EVERYONES babies safe regardless of the personal "sacrifice" that might require of you?

I end this post acknowledging that it is rambly and covers a lot of ground, but this is what happens when I am faced with going to Washington. It hits me like a shock and the shootings on top of that just pile on to the amount of self-reflection and rambling that occurs.