After much discussion and debate (and urging by me), Cecil and I decided to have another baby. A lot of people have expressed concern (i.e. think we are crazy) for having a fourth child when we already have 3 year old triplets. A lot of people assume this baby was an accident. But she is definitely no accident. We had to work very hard to get her. I endured many weeks of shots and hormones, lots of anxiety and worry, and were ultimately told we had a 15% chance of this pregnancy succeeding. So we were very excited and relieved when we found out it was successful.
There are lots of reasons why we decided to have another baby. One is that I love being a mom. I love babies, and I love raising kids. It is an enormous amount of work (hard work), and I love going to my full time job just so I can get some rest. But it is also the most rewarding thing I have ever done and will ever do. My family is my greatest accomplishment in life. Yes, we already have 3 children, but with them all being the same age, I only got to go through each life stage once. And surviving with triplets is all about just that - survival. I think the first year was so busy and so much work that I did not really get to enjoy the baby stage as much as I wanted to. And I know Cecil did not since he was gone for the first 10 months. So I wanted to get to experience the infant stage again, but this time without all of the worry about being a first time mom and having to juggle 3 babies at once. I also wanted to do this again with Cecil around this time. The infant stage is not his favorite, but a guy with 4 kids should at least get to experience the infant stage once!
I also wanted to have a stress free normal pregnancy. Now I can look back and say that everything went smoothly with the triplets and that they are all healthy and happy and thriving. But 3 years ago I did not know that was going to be the case. Every day and every doctor visit I braced myself for the inevitable bad news. And my husband was gone for the hardest part of my pregnancy, so it was not like I was able to enjoy getting to watch him have to take over everything. It was a very scary time and not what I would call an enjoyable pregnancy. So I decided that if we were able to have another child, I would not worry at all. I had done enough worrying the first time for both pregnancies. And that has been true - this has been a truly boring and uneventful pregnancy. Every test has come back negative. Every ultrasound shows a perfect and thriving little girl. I have been able to continue working full time and do all of the things that I had to stop doing last time. It is so much easier than being pregnant with triplets, and so much more enjoyable! I am not stressed or worried - and having already survived three babies, I feel pretty good about being able to handle this one.
We also wanted the kids to be able to experience being a big brother and big sisters. They already have siblings, but it is a different dynamic when there are age differences. Helen is very excited about having a new baby to take care of. Ella is happy to have someone new to invite to her tea parties. And Alex is excited too, but I think it will be hardest for him since he is still very much a mama's boy. Getting a little less lap time with mom is going to be hard for him. But he agreed to share his room with the baby - as long as she does not cry too much :)
We've made some big changes in anticipation of the baby. About a month ago we moved to a new house on the base where Cecil works. Cecil has been driving an hour each way to work for the past 2 years. We decided to move closer so that he would have more time to help and be closer. We also plan to sell our house and eventually move into an even bigger house closer to Cecil's work. I'm taking the summer off from work for maternity leave, and going back part time in the fall. And my parents have now retired and moved to Florida. They will be here for the summer to help with the baby, the kids, and whatever else comes up.
I try not to underestimate the work of a newborn and a fourth child. But so far, I have not been worried or overwhelmed. I am very excited to have a new baby and am pretty sure that we can handle one baby at time if we can do 3 at a time. There will definitely be some major adjustments and some stressful times, and I never thought we would have 4 kids, but I know it will all work out in the end. I'm so excited for this little girl to get here. She is due any day now (which is why I am sitting at home with nothing to do and time to finally catch up on the blog!) Hopefully we will have some pictures of the newest Cauley very soon!
Once we knew we had a baby on the way, it was time to get serious about potty training. So we put up a sticker chart, got out some incentives (i.e. bribes) and got to work. Helen was the first to go poopy on the potty so she got a big potty party with her very own potty crown!
Ella and Alex got the benefit of the party too - and hopefully incentivized them to get one of their own!
Helen was so proud! (and then failed to go on the potty for the next couple of days)
Helen's potty prizes
Baby Hunter is walking now! Sad news - in February Heather and Hunter had to leave us. Heather's husband got transferred to Maryland, so after two awesome years, we had to say goodbye! 
Baby Hunter is walking now! Sad news - in February Heather and Hunter had to leave us. Heather's husband got transferred to Maryland, so after two awesome years, we had to say goodbye! 
