We recently dropped a pretty big bomb on our family… a secret that some of my readers still don’t know about. But I’m here to come clean. First though, you deserve the same chuckle that I gave the above-mentioned family and friends, so I’ll share with you the Facebook post that caused all the ruckus.:

Yep. It all started with a three day visit to the hospital. The surprise though, was the “consolation prize” (which I included a photograph of) hidden away in the comments on that post:

You read that correctly: We have a new baby!!! And (other than immediate family and a couple close friends) we managed to keep the pregnancy a secret for the full nine months too. Why? Well, let’s just say we received a lot of flack and unsolicited advice when we were expecting our third child so it made sense to keep number four as our own little secret. Obviously the cat was out of the bag when Maggie was out if the womb though and official baby announcements are now in the works. That means Baby Pictures time!

Newborn portrait sessions sound fun in theory but in our household it entails a level of organizational skills and patience that, in all honestly, I seriously lack. Basically I just drape a white bed sheet over the couch… then struggle to fight a bossy 6-year-old, a jealous 4-year-old and an overly helpful 2-year-old while dressing, staging and photographing a tiny baby before her patience (and full belly) run out. Needless to say, there’s a lot of crying involved. From the baby too.

Cue the screaming…

In the middle of the chaos it suddenly occurred to me that the stress of the situation could be greatly reduced with a baby staging area. Somewhere safe and comfy I could lay Maggie down while dressing her and/or fighting her siblings.

Thank God for the Baby Box.

Once I had regained my sanity and nursed the baby, I was actually able to capture some very cute photos. Excuse the quality (these were shot in my living room… on my cell phone… while fighting my toddler to stay off the couch) but I’m happy with the overall effect.

…And thanks to Costco, I was able to order some pretty cute announcements! 🙂

In case anyone is interested, You can find Maggie’s adorable dress on Amazon and her pretty headband was part of this set. I highly recommend both. The quality is fantastic!