The Bonus

I'm the fourth and youngest of my parents children, and I was not planned. Unplanned children will often be referred to as accidents. My father always say, that I was no accident, but rather a bonus, unexpected, but welcomed with joy!

It probably doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out, that with an arrival just 13 months after our second daughter was born, our third little one, was such a bonus!

I was sitting, with a big glass of red-wine in my hand, when conversation let me to the fact, that I might be pregnant. It seemed quite unfathomable, since I had a baby, only a few months-old next to me! Never the less, I finished my glass of wine, on the off chance that I was pregnant, and yet again would have to give up this sweet nectar, and took a pregnancy-test.....  

So how does one get unexpectedly pregnant you might ask?! .... One doesn't! One just isn't very smart!

Originally I had a paragraph here, explaining the specifics, but my husband had me edit it out - something about how people would know that we, as he so eloquently puts it, do it! We have three kids! I think they already know?! But either way, the point is, that without being very smart, we still got away with seven and a half years together (five of them married), before we intentionally got pregnant. And then another two years, before another intentional pregnancy.

According to my husband, the responsibility lies fully with me (and perhaps the few cocktails I had in me). Something about being a guy, and how you can't expect much from men under such circumstances. A valid point.......

When I look into the beautiful eyes of our little bonus, and she smiles at me, revealing a single perfect dimple on her left cheek, I am happy to take full responsibility! And I can't help but wonder if she was really all that unexpected? or if the universe always meant for her arrival? 

The Middle Child

Out of three kids, there's bound to be a middle-child. According to experts, middle children will have a tendency to feel neglected or ignored. From day one, our middle child made sure nobody could ignore her. Even before we knew she wasn't going to be our last, we believe that she did!

Her sisters arrived petite and with fussy blond hair. She came out of the womb with a whole head of black hair, with round chubby cheeks and eating like no other baby could have possibly eaten before!

Like a Duracell rabbit, she has yet to stop. She has not stopped moving, she has not stopped eating, she has not stopped getting into trouble! She is my zumba-class, my run around the park and my diet all wrapped up in one!

We never had to baby-proof the house with our oldest daughter. This one on the other hand, will enter a room and with spy like vision scan for what-not-to-do. Even with all doors shut, safety gates at the stairs and cords tucked away, she will find a table to climb on, a curtain to hang from or a flowerpot to eat out of.

I thought I had baby-proofed our bathroom, thought being the operable word here! Toilet brush was removed, toilet paper out of reach, you name it. I hadn't think to remove the toilet itself though! I found her sitting in the toilet - yes IN the toilet bowl! Feet first, head sticking out, happy as a clam!

I could also tell you about the time she climbed out of a window (not far off the ground) and ran down the driveway in all but her diaper, or the time she stuck her whole head in a bucket with soapy mop-water, but I think I have already painted a pretty good picture..... 

She gets me tired, she worries me and she makes my heart stop beating at least once a day. But she also makes me laugh, she has a smile that will light up the room and her dance moves are unheard of for a 15-months-old. And when she kisses her baby sister, or when she sings in the backseat of the car with her big sister, I could never imagine this family without her or her craziness. 

Two pieces of bread, with nothing in between, is just two pieces of bread. Two pieces of bread with a filling, now that makes a sandwich! Our middle child makes our family. And she's no regular slice of cheese either! So when it boils down to it, what would our family be without our filling?! We need a little spice in our life - we need our middle child!