Soon to be Stacey Party of Six!

I wrote this back in November and thought I would share it.

~We found out on October 25th that I'm expecting!  Except for week 5 when I felt so horribly, horribly ill, and a few other times, I've been doing well.  Life is sweet!  Its also hard.  I want to be done with work.  I want to see my husband succeed in his desires.  We would love to be out of debt.  Even though some things are harder now, we are so happy to be welcoming another little bundle or two into our family and for our many blessings.  We are blessed to have great family and friends around us.  We enjoy our neighborhood and this last year was awesome as the kids have made several neighborhood friends and most days we have some of them over.  We have a (mostly) free nation and a police system that avoids the corruption you find in many other countries.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is available in our country and we find comfort in reading our scriptures. 

I love my husband!  That man kicks some major butt.  We recently celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary and even though all the money I had saved for it earlier had gone to our car, we enjoyed a fun time eating out together, doing some shopping (for our kiddos) and going to a movie.  I love going to the movies!  It never gets old!  Maybe because we don't go very much.  :)   I'm so happy to be with Richard Stacey.  He's so good to our family and he is so patient and compassionate.  I love him so much more than I did 10 years ago when he was my brand new husband.  I appreciate that he seeks the Lord and that he has a strong testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  I'm looking forward to at least 60 years more with this man.  He makes my heart a flutter!

The kids reactions were funny when we told them about the baby.  We had taken them away from a show (negative points there) and didn't tell them right away for some reason and Cliffton was getting very impatient that he was missing out on a show.  :)  When we told them, Cliffton was barely impressed, Azure was playing with Elsa and Anna dolls and couldn't care less but Violet was very excited.  She said something like, "Oh, yeah!  I've always wanted 16 sisters!"  Ha ha ha, not sure where that came from.  We wanted them to tell their Grandparents here and Violet told most of the family, "We're going to have a baby in 10 weeks."  Again not sure where that came from.  So we started telling family, person by person, as they were around.  Loretta asked almost right after Violet spoke if she was right.  I said, "what do you think?!"  We wanted Cliffton to tell his grandpa but he was so nervous for some reason.  He would just make squeaky noises and get all fidgety.  Violet eventually came to help him.   She told Darrell.  Then we started telling our families.  One thing we found out that's really cool, is my sister in law Felicia and I have the same due dates!  Which, by the way, is July 3rd.  We're pretty sure she's going to beat me by having an induction a week early which she did with their first baby.  But still, maybe I'll beat her if we have twins!  ;) ~

Currently:  Now, that I'm nearly at the end of this pregnancy, I just want to add a few thoughts.  I am so thankful that I'm not working front desk anymore.  Richard gained employment right around Christmas and started working the beginning of January.  I quit mid January and my last day was January 22.  That was a tough job.  Not everyday, but most.  Richard works here in Midway for Malinka CPA and does bookkeeping and tax law research.  The owner is a friend in our ward who started expanding his business when they moved into Midway.  The hours are great, and quite flexible, Richard enjoys it and its only minutes from our home.  The only downer is there are no benefits as it is such a small business.  So, health care is a bit tricky but we manage.

We found out in February that we're expecting a girl and I think Cliffton and I were the only 2 who really thought we were going to have a boy.  He was NOT too happy!  But he's since been quite excited and it is soooo cute when they all talk to the baby.  She has been a very active baby and she usually responds rather vigorously when she hears us talking to her.  I know I haven't had a baby respond so well to voices before.  I think we have another social butterfly coming to the family.  By the way, Richard still thinks we're having twins.  :)  He is very cute, y'know.

My sweet Sister in law Felicia was due on July 2 but their baby was stillborn at 18 weeks after her water broke.  Seeing pics of their precious little one was hard for me and I can't understand what it must be like for Matt and Felicia.  I hope they will be able to have more children and fulfill their desires.  They are such kind parents and friends and they are in our hearts.

Richard and I were pretty set on the name Daphne for most of this pregnancy until they gave me a Mother's Day necklace.  Inside this clear locket are tiny gemstones representing the birthstones of all my kiddos including this little baby.  Since she is due July 3, they put a "ruby" in there along with Cliffton's emerald, Violet's diamond and Azure's, um, well, there are about 5 different choices for June:  Pearl, Moonstone, lt. amethyst, alexandrite and smoky quartz.  I'm going with alexandrite since it looks like a very light pink/purple like the one in my locket.  Anyways, Richard and I were both talking about how the Ruby likes to get stuck in one part of the locket.  After saying Ruby a few times, we both felt this name would be perfect.  So, we're not set, but pretty sure this will be our little lady's name.