Thank you, Chase, for a fabulous vacation!

I'm exhausted.  Completely exhausted.  My calves hurt, and my shins are a little bruised.  But I am SOOOOO happy!  *sigh*  What a marvelous vacation.

I mean, just look at this and tell me you wish you weren't here:  

That's me with Mozart over my shoulder and the North Peak in the background.  To be honest, the skiing was probably some of the worst I've ever skied, other than the blizzard that one year.  This year it was icy.  It was also warm.  Like 45-50 degrees highs warm.  Too warm, really, but still SO fun!

And when you're skiing with a crew like the one above, it was just... amazing.  It was the first time I'd hit the slopes in 10+ years, and I was definitely more in shape back in the day.  But, guess what?  I've still got it!  Like riding a bike - you never forget.  :)  I can't tell you how happy that made me!

This is me and my sister-in-law.  (I'm the homeless looking one.  I never thought about how ugly my skiing getup was until just now as I'm looking at the pictures.)  We are on the top of the highest peak in the Outback, just above the treeline.  Way in the distance, you can see Breckenridge.  It was beautiful!

This is Chase, on his snowbike.  I made the mistake of taking him down a blue that was a bit steep on the first day and, well, that was the end of that.  He didn't get hurt, but he decided that snowbiking (as well as skiing and snowboarding) is not for him.  Somehow strapping things to his body, riding to the top of a mountain and then hurling himself down it isn't his idea of fun.  Something about his "self-preservation instinct." (I will never understand him.)

Chase spent day 2 of our ski trip reading in the condo and bringing us lunch at the slopes.  I'm certainly not complaining!  A hot lunch at the entrance to the gondola in between runs.  And he let me ski to my heart's content - he even cleaned up our room in the condo.  He's the best!

A few highlights from the trip:

My nephew (age 11) said from out of nowhere one day as he looked at a bottle of salve, "I'm really disappointed that you would buy something called, 'Bengay'"  This from my newphew, Benjamin.  Also the multiple times my niece put Bengay on her legs, and then rubbed her eyes.

Chase's whole snowbiking experience.  From the certification class, to the 40-something year old asthmatic out-of-shape woman who was also in the class, to his inability to cut across the mountain (it "just doesn't work" for him), to the asthmatic woman's husband telling Chase he was "shredding it," to... oh man.  There's just so much with that little trike  "quadracycle."

There were, of course, the wipe outs.  My one spectacular head-over-heals, one skiied, tumble... as I tried to put my 2nd ski back on outside of the gondola.  It was amazing.  A guy skiied by me and called over his shoulder, "Wish I had a camera for that one."  Honestly, it was the only time I fell, and it was amazing.  Then there was the time Ryan went to take a jump and landed on dirt.  It just so happens that skis stick to dirt while Ryan went flying superman-style forward.  Then the boys, the poor boys, who snowboarded and caught edges all the time (less the more we skied) - face-plants and flat-on-their-backs were very common.  I never saw it, but I am told that on my nieces first run down ever, she fell at least 50 times.  However, when I skied with her, I didn't see her fall once.

Most improved?  Well, that's hard to say because all of my nephews and my niece had never hit the slopes before and all of them skied blues by the time it was over.  Well done, guys!

I really don't have anything more to say other than that it was fantastic and you all should go skiing.  It's absolutely the best vacation ever!

Announcing our new recruit to Team Francl

The gag order is over!  Yes, it's true.  We are expecting #3!!!!  If I were in your shoes, I'd have a lot of questions, so I'll just go ahead an answer them:

1.  Due date?  October 28, 2015

2.  How far along?  6 1/2 weeks

3.  That make the kids how far apart?  If this one comes on his due date, Lily will be 4 years and 1 month old, and Connor will be 19 months old.  Exactly.  We have a thing for birthdays on the 28th day of the month.

4.  How are you feeling?  So far so good.  I've started carrying snacks everywhere, because I need to eat a little something every couple of hours.  And the first trimester exhaustion is just starting to hit.  But this is all normal for me at this stage, and I absolutely cannot complain.

5.  Boy or girl?  For the first time ever in a pregnancy, I feel very strongly about the gender, and I have from the second I knew:  BOY.  I'm 99% sure this is a boy!  We'll find out in a few months for sure.

6. Name?  We know the name if it's a boy (and it is), but we're not sharing, not even with Lily and Connor.  So for now, this little one is Bitty Bear.  (Lily was "Little Bit" before she was born; Connor was "Baby Bit" before he was born; and now that they're here, Lily and Connor sometimes are "Sister Bear" and "Brother Bear" respectively.  So you can see how the nickname "Bitty Bear" came to be.)

7.  What do the kids think?  Lily is thrilled to "be a big sister again!"  She's also convinced that she has a baby in her tummy too.  She has told me multiple times that my tummy's getting bigger (thanks for that this early in the pregnancy, dear...) and that her tummy is too.  Last night she told me that when our babies come out of our tummies, she will hold my baby and I will hold hers.  "We'll trade, won't that be great, Mom!"  :)  She cracks me up!  And Connor is too little to know what's going on.  But if his sister is excited, he is excited.  So I guess he's looking forward to the new baby too.

8.  Planned or surprise?  Oh boy, isn't this the question!  (Be honest, it's what you really wanted to know, right?)  We knew the potential risks and benefits and took our chances.  Turns out we basically won the lottery!

To be totally honest, this pregnancy was more planned than I've let on to most everyone so far.  We weren't surprised in the least, and we're really, really excited!  When Connor was only a couple of months old I was already talking with Chase about the next one and when, Lord willing, that one might come.  And now, here it is!  I can't say we'll ever do things this close again, necessarily, and who knows how many more kids we'll even have. But this time around, Chase and I both agreed this was right for our family.  We were both ready.

This whole experience makes me want to apologize to all of my friends who have had kids closer than I thought was reasonable - as if I knew what was best for their family. So if you're one of those friends, I'm so, so sorry!  One friend in particular, I nearly cried for when she told me she was pregnant again so soon.  In that case it was a surprise and not planned in the least, but my response, I feel, placed my own judgement of appropriate child spacing upon her and her family.  I felt sorry for her - almost to the point of pity.  What right did I have to put that sort of a label on that child - something to be pitied?

It's all made me rethink how I respond to other people's situations.  We are called to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.  So I'm not saying it's wrong to share in the shock, trepidation, fear, uncertainty, and all those other emotions that come along with unexpected or unplanned pregnancy.  But putting my personal ideas about the right way to plan a family on someone else's situation isn't right.  If things aren't sinful or wrong, then I should not treat them as if they are.

I have found that people tend to say "Congratulations" tentatively - like they're waiting to see if I'm genuinely excited or if I'm going to burst into tears at our folly of having to kids within 19 months of each other.  The more I think about it, I guess I appreciate this response.  It shows that others are willing to share with me in life exactly where I'm at - be that joy or grief or even both.

But let me be clear when I say I am excited.  EXCITED!!!!!

There will likely be some other big changes coming our way in the coming months, but the Lord knows them all now and is getting us ready for them.  For now, all 5 of us are resting in His sovereign plan for our family.