That’s right friends, baby Dekker #4 is another GIRL!!
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Obviously, we would have been happy either way — but it sure was fun to tell Nora she is “finally” getting a little sister!
As an added bonus, I won’t have to deal with annoying comments like:
- Only one girl? I bet she wishes she had a sister.
- Are all those boys yours?
- Will you keep trying for another girl?
- Are you planning to build your own basketball team?
Of course, there will probably be different annoying comments, but for some reason, it really bothers me when people make comments about families with lots of boys or lots of girls — it’s not like anyone had any control over the situation!
Anyway, as Nora says — we now have an equal number of girls and boys in our family!
About 10 minutes after we told Nora the news, she asked to go shopping for new baby girl clothes (I purged all of ours years ago)… and since I was planning to go to the thrift store that afternoon anyway, it worked out perfectly.
We found 2 cute newborn items for $0.50 each and a fun cloth doll in the free bin. We washed everything up and Nora is VERY excited to give them to the new baby.
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And yes, we most definitely already have the first and middle name 100% decided on!
I’ve had a really fantastic girl’s name in mind since we found out we were pregnant with Simon… and after 2 boys, it’s still a favorite for both Dave and for me. Plus, it meets all our ridiculous name requirements.
I’ve already had 2 friends offer to give/sell/let me borrow their girl clothing (both of whom had October babies last year) and I couldn’t be more excited to look through their things.
A little pink and purple will sure be fun after a few years of blue and brown!
So many people tell me they can’t imagine “ruining the surprise” by learning the gender at the ultrasound… but for me, I honestly can’t imagine waiting!
Yes, I can understand the surprise aspect of learning the gender at the baby’s birth; but I honestly feel it is JUST as fun, exciting, and surprising to find out at the ultrasound (seriously, you should see how excited I get and how much anticipation is built up for that day!)
And now I have over 4 months to purge my boy things, stock up on a few cute girl essentials, and put a little bit of a girly twist on our currently boyish nursery — all things I definitely WON’T want to spend time doing once the baby is here.
Plus, now Nora gets to be excited for 4 additional months! 🙂
Happy Mother’s Day Weekend!
20-ish weeks — taken last weekend
Debbie says
Yay for Nora! Congratulations! I was so wrong in my guess. I should have compared your pictures when pregnant with the other three. 🙂 I can’t wait to see how Nora will be as a big sister to her baby sister.
Kerri says
So happy for you and Nora. When I was preganant with my 4th, I asked my then youngest if he wanted a baby brother or sister. I already had 3 boys but he asked for a brother. When I asked why as he already had 2 brothers, he says yeah but I don’t have a BABY brother. He ended up gettting his wish. 4 boys. And yes, I too get asked the same questions.
Linda says
Congratulations! I am so excited for Nora too. I remember when my sister came along. It had been five years and I was so excited it was a girl. Andrea, despite you being tired, you look fabulous!
BB says
What LOVELY news!! Congratulations to ALL of you, and have lots of fun with Nora getting and doing things for the new GIRLY addition to your family!
We have a new grandbaby on the way, and I am predicting this one is a boy. We’ll find out on Father’s Day, as our daughter is having the ultrasound tech not tell them, but put the sex on a piece of paper in an envelope, which our daughter will give, unopened, to a bakery to put the appropriate color for the baby’s sex as a layer in the cake. Both sets of grandparents as well the the parents and girl grand will all find out at the same time!
sukanya says
The title of this post brought a smile on my face:).
I can feel the joy that Nora would get with a baby sister as I am 4 months pregnant and my 3 year old daughter will do anything to get a baby sister.
Congratulations!!
Kim says
Congratulations! So happy for Nora and everyone! (I would always choose to know gender ahead of time. I like to be organized as well. Goodness knows, you are going to be one busy lady here in a few months! Anything you can do ahead of time is very wise.)
Katy says
It’s not an annoying comment, but as a mom of two of each, I can tell you the comment we get most often is “oh how nice and symmetrical! Two of each!” Which just makes me laugh because obviously it’s not like we had anything to do with it. And we always find out too, so we can start using the baby’s name and plan for clothing and stuff. Congratulations on another girl!
Cindy says
Wonderful news – Congratulations!
Sarah says
I’m really excited for you!! Your blog has been my favorite one since finding it about 4 years ago when starting my own mothering journey, looking for mama helps and ideas. Following your journey continues to inspire me and encourage me to keep on!
Oh, and I’m so thrilled for Nora! I can only imagine how giddy she is!
Happy mother’s day to you from Sarah in NM
Maria says
Congratulations to you all and especially to big sister Nora!
Happy Mother’s Day!
Evie says
Congratulations! So exciting, especially for Nora! I was just thinking about the countdown chains you make, Andrea. Perfect opportunity now to teach Nora and possibly Simon the concept of “month” using a chain made with quite large, month-sized paper links…labeled MAY, JUNE, JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, with each month torn off the chain and celebrated on the last day of that month.
Andrea says
good idea!
Iliana says
Congratulations Andrea and I am so happy for Nora!!
Dawn Kaestner says
Since you are 100% sure of the name is there any truly good reason to not share that news now? Fingers crossed you won’t be able to hold it in for the remainder of the pregnancy:)
Andrea says
haha — there is NO chance I would share the name early!! We love keeping the name a secret 🙂
JoAnn C. says
Oh HAPPY NEWS!!! Congratulations to the entire Dekker family,especially Nora.
Thanks so much, Andrea, for sharing this great news. And a very Happy Mother’s Day to you.
shan says
Dear Dekker family, Congratulations that Nora, Simon and James will have a little baby sister!!! Love the picture of Nora holding her pink baby doll 🙂
Alicia says
YAY! Congratulations on another beautiful girl!
Given that I’m pregnant with my fourth boy, I get those annoying comments seriously all the time! I know people don’t mean to be rude, but I am just a tiny bit sensitive to them, especially during pregnancy. So I can understand that!
You look amazing by the way! Hope you’re feeling better!
Karen says
Oh my goodness!!! So exciting for all of you ~ esp Nora Congrats!!
ShellyL says
Congrats to the Dekker family!! I love these adorable kiddos like they are relatives or something. I can’t wait to see the next one and see Miss Nora’s excitement. You look great!!
Becky says
How sweet! I love that first picture: “Just us girls!”
Mandy says
Congratulations! How fun. You look awesome, btw! Can’t believe this is your 4th pregnancy. You look like it’s only your 1st!
Angela says
It’s always interesting to hear different perspectives from people who choose to find out the gender or wait. I liked to be surprised when our babies were born, but I can see the positives of finding out early too. I can’t imagine choosing a name ahead of time though – we had a few favorites in mind and then had to spend hours (even days in one case) choosing just the right name that fit our babies once we saw them. It needed to “look and feel” right, if that makes sense!
I have girl-boy-girl-girl, and I’ve gotten lots of comments of “Oh, I’ll bet you were hoping that last one was another boy.” Nope, we were thrilled with whichever kind of baby God gave us! People come up with comments no matter what. I was always surprised when I *only* had three kids, and older people would say “My, you really have your hands full!” I would think to myself “Huh? Didn’t you come from a generation where it was common to have huge families? Three is not a big deal!” : ) Now that we have four, people assume our next step is buying a church van and having a dozen more.
Veronica says
Lol. I had to laugh at this because we ‘are’ in the process of buying a ‘church van’ for our seven kids- 4 boys, 3 girls. We thought it was funny that after our first two, a boy and a girl, that people would say things like ‘oh, the ‘perfect’ family now you can be done!’. We would just say we’d be fine with being ‘done’ (because we’d be happy with whatever number we have) but aren’t sure if God is ‘done’ yet 🙂 Needless to say we’ve confused a lot of people with that answer…some of the facial expressions are pretty funny though.
Congratulations Dekker Family! She will be a blessing to you!
Janice says
I feel like we are part of your family. Thanks for including your readers in your announcements of everything baby. Congratulations!
Annaleah says
I have one girl and FIVE boys, so I know all about those comments! But I think people come up with annoying comments no matter what you have!
Babs says
How Wonderful! It’s amazing to watch an “online family” be born and nurtured into super little people. You and Dave are fun to look in on! It ‘s very encouraging for young families to see what “normal” is , that you can do and have most things in moderation enjoy your life. Wishing you much happiness as you “blossom” and the new one arrives! We’ll all be watching!
Bonnie'sMama says
We found out the gender with our first baby. I looooved knowing ahead of time! We tried to find out with our second but she wouldn’t cooperate at all. Everyone just knew I was having a boy, and I figured it was a boy, too. I hated having to wait till the birth to find out! But I prayed a lot that God would prepare my heart for whichever gender was coming.
Even during the birth, the heartbeat was slower and my midwife said it had to be a boy. Trouble was, we had not been able to settle on a boy’s name! During labor, my husband was standing by my bed, looking in the baby name book, asking what that certain name was that I’d talked about.
When my baby was born, it took me a bit to remember that we had some crucial information to find out! I asked my husband to check, and with so much surprise in his voice he said, “It’s a GIRL!” I said, “What?! Check again!” And that’s the moment I knew that way down in my heart, where I hadn’t even faced it, I’d really, really been hoping for another girl. God did prepare my heart for a daughter. And we promptly gave her the name that we’d easily settled on very early in the pregnancy. And the reason the heartbeat was slower? She only weighed nine pounds!
So glad Nora’s getting a sister. That sister bond is so sweet. And oh the pretty dresses and hair bows and playing doll! I hope I get to have some more girls! You’re giving me baby fever, Andrea!
Linda T says
Congratulations! I totally get your line of thinking! We were blessed with 5 boys, followed by two girls. Believe me I think I have heard all of the comments! It was pretty special to have a girl and even more special that she has a sister!
God bless your pregnancy and your family!
Jessica says
So excited for your family and especially Miss Nora! Sisters are the best!
Laura says
Congratulations! Girls are so fun. 🙂 My oldest daughter got that same cloth doll for her 1st birthday and we still have it. It is SO cute and cuddly!
Stacie A Kaltz says
Congratulations! So exciting….especially for Nora! 🙂 Happy Mothers Day!!
Rachel says
I hate that we have to justify being excited about our babies! I’m also expecting my fourth, a boy, so we’ll have 2 boys, a girl, and then another boy. It’s super annoying to have to justify my excitement over my sweet boy when everyone wants a “matchy matchy” girl to go along with my third. People can be so rude about it, so I’m working on gracious responses 🙂
Angela says
I’m the opposite – three girls and one boy. It’s incredible how people will make comments like that IN FRONT OF the kids! Now that the kids are school age people don’t comment much anymore (they always notice babies), but when they’d say “I’ll bet you wish she’d been another boy” I’d say something like “Nope, I LOVE my girls and we were thrilled to have another one!” or “My son is a lucky boy to have three great sisters!” or something like that to keep it positive.
Roxanne says
Nora does look very excited! It will be fun to see her help and interact with the new baby. We have one boy (age 4) and one girl (8 months today- also a September baby!) and people ask if we’re done now since we have one of each (I guess that’s the quota/standard set by most people? haha) We found out the genders beforehand too- my husband hates surprises and I like information, so it was a pretty easy decision 🙂
Tracey says
Andrea, how wonderful!!! Thrilled for you all!!
Jen says
Congratulations! We have two girls and two boys, in that order, and we got all those same comments too!
We didn’t know what we were having for our girls (this was more than 20 years ago and I didn’t have ultrasounds with either of them for any reason!) but with our boys WE knew but we didn’t tell. We didn’t even tell people we knew because we knew they would bug us! We also gave fake names (if people asked!) and I always told people my due date was two weeks later than it actually was so people wouldn’t say “are you STILL here?” HA HA I was tricky! And all my babies were early anyway (truly early!) anyway.
Can’t wait to “meet” Baby Girl Dekker!
Chris says
I know she’s thrilled! Congratulations!
Meghan says
Yay! Congratulations! I totally understand all of your reasons for finding out the sex. For our third we waited until birth because if it was a third boy I didn’t want to have to respond to all the annoying comments for four months. We had a girl, and I’m still annoyed that people say “You finally got your girl.” (Which was not the purpose of having another baby.)
So excited for Nora!
Stephanie says
Congratulations!!!
Now you’ll just hear the annoying comment “2 boys and 2 girls. Now you’re done, right?”
So happy for you!!
KAREN SUNSTEIN says
Oh I’m so excited for all of you but especially for Nora!!
Lisa K. says
This post made my morning…so happy for you Andrea! Congratulations to you and Dave and the Dekker kiddos, especially Miss Nora. 🙂
Kellie Denton says
Oh my goodness so fun! Congratulations Dekker family (especially little Nora – ha)! I’m the oldest of 7 and I have 5 younger brothers … we all prayed for a baby girl and my little sister came finally … when I was 18 and leaving the nest HAHA! But how sweet these sister bonds are – congrats Nora you will be a great sister!
Michelle says
As a mom of 3 girls and 1 boy we get those “so many girls” comments!!
At least people stopped asking if we were trying for another boy now that our “baby” is 8!