Pics of baby girl B!

Little hand beside her face

Hardly still for a moment during the ultrasound

You can kinda make out her leg/foot here

She was so SQUIRMY!!

These clips are so short... you should have seen her flip over!

Even Steven

Pics to follow soon... however, we have big news!

It's a GIRL!!! Everyone here is so excited that baby #4 is a girl, and will make our family "even steven" - 3 boys and 3 girls. Even the boys are glad about this fact. When Anna is 12 and the new baby girl is 7, she may not be so thrilled at having to share a room with a pesky little sister, but hey, the family is even!!!

She is now due Feb. 23, 3 days sooner than they thought. Who knows about these dates anyway? She's going to come when she's good and ready. Mom, you better just get here right after Valentine's Day!!!

Stay tuned... baby girl B doesn't have a name yet, but we'll let you know when she does!

Baby #4 Update

Just a quick update... I had my 16 week prenatal visit today and all is well. Heard the heartbeat at 150 bpm, and everything measures just fine. I will be scheduling an ultrasound in about 2 weeks and hopefully we will get to find out the sex of baby #4! Thank you for continuing to pray for us and for the health of this little one. We are only starting to think about names...

Love to you all and happy weekend!

The Wonders of a CD Player

After Eric got this little personal CD player for his birthday, I quickly learned that the thing must have magical powers!!! Eric AND Caleb have both sat down to listen to music on the couch and were SNOOZING in a matter of minutes! You better believe I am getting these for the other kids too! Amazing... instant nap inducers!

Caleb lulled to sleep

Eric snoozing after school one day

A Day of Firsts

Anna and Caleb had their big day this Wednesday, Sept. 9! Anna started Pre-K at Mt. Olive Christian Preschool, and Caleb started going to Miss Chris' home daycare. They both will attend these only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Mom is hoping to get her consulting work done during these times as well! Anna also had her very first soccer practice Wed. night. She did very well and listened to Coach Glenn and ran hard. The hardest part is always getting to know the other kids... unfortunately, she did not know any of them to start with. Eric and Anna have their first game this Saturday!! Pics to come....

Anna starts a coloring page while the teacher greets all the students

Anna in front of her school with her new blue school-issued totebag

Posing at home before school

Caleb, with his usual playful pose

He was mad that I was stopping him from playing to take his picture. I said goodbye to him at the daycare and he just said, "Bye, Mom", as in, "Go on, get out of here, I'll be fine". No kiss for Mom, nothing. Caleb is really a big boy now.


Anna's socer team and coach. This is a non-competitive league... it's just for fun, and for the kids to learn a few skills. They don't score the games, and every kid gets a trophy for participating at the end of the 8 week session. Eric will play this fall too!

Learning how to dribble the ball with the inside of the feet

Waiting her to turn to try a corner kick

Running to kick a goal

Our New Deck!

Here are some pictures of our new deck! It is about 90% done... we still need to add the handrails for each set of steps and we need to put up some lattice around the bottom to keep the cat from going under there. We are already enjoying using the deck, eating outside, sitting out there at night when kids are in bed... thanks again to Chad's folks for the use of this nice table and chairs! Trex decking is amazing stuff... no splinters, ever!

The Baumgartner Six Pack?

Ok folks, now that the news that we are expecting our fourth child is pretty much public knowledge, I suppose it's ok to blog about it. So first things first. I'm going to need a new name for my blog. Baumgartner Party of Five just won't work once we are 6. Send me your ideas... I will choose the new blog name from the suggestions I receive here. Post your suggestion as a comment (not anonymously, please).

And to reply to the most common questions I have been getting as a result of sharing this good news outside the four walls of my home, here are a few thoughts:

1. Yes, we are aware of what causes this.
2. Yes, we are crazy.
3. Yes, I am getting too old for this.
4. No, we don't care if it's a boy or girl. It will be one of those, I'm sure. And yes, we would like to find out early if they can tell us. I'm a planner, you know.
5. No, I have not had morning sickness, thankfully.
6. No, I will not tell you what the worst symptom of pregnancy is. You don't want to know.
7. I don't know yet if I will keep working. I haven't bought my Lotto ticket yet so I can't tell you.
8. No, we do not have any names chosen yet. If you have a good suggestion, and I mean a GOOD one, feel free to comment here. I can't promise to pick from my readers' submissions on this one, however.
9. I don't know if this will be the last one. I said the last one was the last one, but now he's not the last one anymore is he? Only God knows...
10. WOW is an appropriate response to our news. However, bear in mind, we are still no Jon & Kate plus 8 or the Duggar family (with 18 kids and counting), now are we? Four is a pretty good number, don't you think?

More to come soon....