A Rainbow Babe 

My 5th pregnancy growing who we now know as Auden, I'll admit was not well documented. I think that comes with the expected territory of being the third baby -- doesn’t mean there was any less love, worry, joy, excitement, wonder-- just less free time. I think too, that in hindsight, after recurrent unexplained loss (more on that here) I was holding my breath and guarding my heart a bit.

We told the kids after our initial dating scan, we had an early one at 6 weeks and we showed them the grainy sonogram, letting them guess what it was. Benen guessed it was a weird picture of a nest (metaphorically on point!).  When we told him he was going to be a big brother again he was thrilled; ran and got me bottles and promised to help change diapers and teach his new sibling how to walk. Charlie on the other hand, sat and stared at us through her heart shaped sunglasses and responded with a wailing " NOOO THANK YOU" to being a big sister. Thankfully as I neared the third trimester she was on board, and asked me daily when the baby was going to come out and join us.

We like the element of surprise and referred to this beautiful rainbow babe as our sweet tie breaker.  My pregnancy was mostly uneventful, and in my opinion different than with Benen and Charlie, I was sure I was having a girl for the first oh probably 29 weeks and then was sure I was having a boy! Josh's bet was all in for a girl from day one.  Benen was very confident and hopeful for a baby brother and it depended on the day for Charlie's two cents. We booked this family photo session at just over 28 weeks to capture the love of our growing family and the evening was perfect. Jelly beans were consumed by the handful, giggles were audible and love was captured by Wild Shay Photography.