Baby West 3.0

Dear Sweet Baby,

We just found out you existed a few days ago. It still seems unreal! So unreal in fact, I took 6 home pregnancy tests within 3 or 4 days because I just couldn't believe it! Granted we planned to have you and knew in the past I got pregnant right away, so we figured you would come along within the first month, which is why I wanted to plan your birthdate 😊 You will be born sometime in the end of April or beginning of May! I'm kind of hoping it's the beginning of May because we have a lot of end-of-April birthdays in the family already. Plus, how cool would it be to have your birthday on May 4th since we had already planned to have your nursery a Star Wars theme?? Coolest baby ever. 

For the first couple days (especially the first day) of finding out you were coming, Daddy was in a pretty grumpy mood. But don't worry, he was pretty grumpy when finding out your brothers would be born too. With your brothers, I surprised him in finding out I was pregnant. This time he "forced" me to tell him before I was taking a test, so sadly I wasn't allowed to come up with a fun way to tell him he was going to be a daddy again. But to make up for it, I was just extra annoying and obnoxious toward him all day while he was in denial. It was definitely a plan that sufficed :)

We told our families pretty much right away that you were coming, but we won't tell anyone else for at least another 6 weeks or so. Family was of course so excited to have another baby coming! Your Aunt Karynn will be having a little baby sometime in January too, so you will have a cousin just a couple months older than you! We haven't told your big brothers yet. They don't know how to keep secrets :) But we have been talking about having a baby brother or sister with them for a few months now. If they had a choice they would chose a sister, and Trenton would name you Seekapoo. Clearly he is not choosing the name :)

 

So far things have been going well in the few days since finding out about you. I have been getting some pretty sharp pains in my side, but nothing too out of the ordinary. With Tucker, the round ligament pain was so bad I had to wear a support belt the last half of my pregnancy. I'm hoping I won't have to do that this time around. The pain prevented me from doing ANY exercise...! Not like I do much now, but I know I need to :)

We are so excited for you to be here. There are 3 other babies that will be born at Boys Town within 6-8 months of you, so it'll be great to have friends your age! 

 

This first week has been going by so slow! I have been doing a lot of research on where I want to have you born. Here in Nebraska, you cannot have a midwife assist you at a home birth. It is a felony for the midwife if she is caught. There are "underground" midwives, and I luckily did find one thanks to my contacts in the midwifery world! But with my history of bleeding so much and passing out at my previous births, we decided it probably isn't best to attempt a homebirth. I truly hope some of the laws change by the time you have kids. Nebraska lawmakers suck. Also in Omaha, the pediatricians have pushed all of the hospitals to not allow full water births. You can labor in the water, but cannot birth. So that was another huge downfall of what I really wanted. The third unfortunate event is that the only birthing center in Omaha that allowed full water births closed! I was devastated to find that out. However, after some more extensive research, I did find that a brand new birthing center just opened last month in Lincoln! I do have to travel almost an hour to get to the center however, so that is not ideal. But I will get to have a water birth like I wanted and not in a hospital, which is also what I wanted. I have my first appointment with the midwives in Lincoln in about 4 weeks and I have my first ultrasound to see exactly how far along you are in about 3 weeks. Thankfully, being at Boys Town, I can have all of my blood work and ultrasounds done for free at the clinic :) I think that is why this week has been going by so slow, just waiting until the first ultrasound and appointment, and then waiting until we are ready to tell our boss and everyone else that you will be arriving.

 

Your daddy and I have talked about names a bit already. It helped I still had my list of names from your brothers on my phone. We are so excited to meet you, little baby. I pray that you will be a healthy, happy little child. You will make our family officially complete :)

 

 

I love you sweet baby,

 

Mommy

 

 

Trenton - 4 Years Old - August

Trenton,

Well my sweet little boy....your wish has finally come true. Trenton, you have been asking for a baby sister for months now. Granted, we don't know for sure if you will have a baby sister or another brother, but you will have a baby sibling!!! Maybe that will make you want to stay in Boys Town instead of move to California; which you have insisted on doing for two weeks now. I know you will be the greatest big brother because you are already one to Tucker. Even though you can be mean for no reason but hey, what big brother isn't? You definitely love your brother. I cannot wait to see how much you love your new baby sibling, especially since you will be FIVE when he or she is born!! You love babies so much, but we will not let you help name him or her...You would pick Seekapoo. You keep saying you have a baby sister (for months now) and that her name is Seekapoo :)

I know it's been a long time since I've updated. It has been quite the year so far! We have been fortunate enough to go on one big vacation and a few different mini vacations this summer. We went to Colorado and Kansas City in May with GiGi, Pimpa, Aunt Brittany, Uncle Montez, and cousin Kennedy. Then Okoboji with the guys in June, Kansas City again and Chicago in July, we will be going to Branson, MO in October, and I will be spending my first time away from you since you were one in September when I have a girls weekend in Kansas City :) I've NEVER left Tucker before, so that will be interesting; for Daddy....We have been very blessed this summer!

I think one of the biggest things about you is your incessant reminder that you are indeed moving to California. You apparently have a new mom there and you will live there with your friends, Tree and Traintrack, but I still need to pay for your plane ticket, and I'm not allowed to cry, because he is leaving and I can't come. But I can call though! Yes, I have been fired from being your mommy. This has been going on for 2 weeks and you are still adamant about it! Silly, silly kid....

You will also be starting four year old preschool next month!!! Next week we get to meet your teachers. You will be going to school all day for three days a week! Mommy and Daddy are so excited. One, to see you thrve and grow and learn so much more, two, to help you continue making new friends, and three, because Mommy and Daddy will have three whole days with no children! Win for all of us!

This summer you have started to really love swimming, though you still won't put your face under the water. While we were in Okoboji, the water was still pretty cold but you were out in the water playing during every session! You love going to the pool at the field house as well. Hopefully we can get you in swim lessons soon too.

Your imagination gets better and better every day and I love to hear the stories you come up with and see your little personality (and attitude) come out. We are working on talking on the phone (or Facetime) more since you really don't like that. However, the other day, you did SUCH a great job! not only did you insist on calling everyone on Facetime and talk to them yourself, but the next day you called your friend (our neighbor) and asked him to come play. All by yourself! We were so so proud of you.

With school starting and a new baby coming, I am excited to see how you grow and change over the next few months. You are my sweet first born son who is so energetic, loves to wrestle, loves your Guys, and has such a wild imagination. You amaze me every day.


I love you my sweet boy,


Mommy

Tucker - 2yrs - July

My sweet Tucker,

It has been a very long time since I've last written. Almost a year! (I also didn't publish this apparently, so I actually wrote this in July but didn't publish until August) My little baby will be three in just a few months. Obviously you have grown up so much in the past nine months.

As far as school goes, you finally started to open up to your teachers toward the end. Back in January, your teachers told me that you were so quiet and never talked. Well just a couple months later, they happily reported that your personality finally came out and you were being really goofy and just talking away! That made me so happy that they could finally see the little goofball that you really are. One day, your teacher told me that there was a spider and she was afraid, so the rest of the day you would point behind her and yell "Spider!" then laugh hysterically.

Your goofiness has come out even more and you are such a weirdo. Your silly faces continue and now that you are talking more, the stories are coming as well. I love it. Keep embracing your weirdness :)

I keep wondering if you are going to grow up to do something with animals. Your puppy is your all time favorite thing in this world, it seems. You love to lay on top of him, grab his face and hug him, let him lick your face....and you walk around saying "Puppy! Puppy! My puppy! My Rose-a-bout!"

This May, our last two original guys graduated. You practically grew up with them and they watched you grow. But it seems that you don't really notice the change too much. You have more guys to paly with after all :) I'm sure that at least Michael will be back to visit while he is at college though. You love playing with all the guys and they love playing with you.

We also got to take a lot of vacations this summer. We met Gigi and Amelia in Kansas City and they took you to LEGOLAND and T-Rex Café. Both of which you loved! We also drove and met Pimpa, Brittany, Montez, and Kennedy in Colorado Springs for a few days, and also met up with Aunt Sue Sue for lots of fun in the beautiful Colorado Springs! You had a great time playing with Kennedy and spending some much needed cousin time with her.

A few weeks later we got to go back to Kansas City and meet up with Great Grandma Norma and Aunt Sherry who were driving through. They took you to LEGOLAND and T-Rex Café again and you had a blast! We love it when family can visit.

We also got to spend our annual trip in Okoboji with the guys! Of course you aren't a fan of water, but you did go on a kayak with me! One of the little kids who were there was our neighbor named Avery. She is five years old and she is a little mini-mother figure. She baby-ed you SO much and you just soaked it all up. She rubbed your back, held you, tried to pick you up, even spoon fed you! My sweet little boy, you were in heaven to have so much attention. You even let her pour buckets and buckets of water on you in the kiddie pool! You hate the water! I was amazed.

Trenton - 4 years - July

Trenton,

It has been awhile since I've wrote to you. Nearly six months! (I also didn't publish this apparently, so I actually wrote this in July but didn't publish until August) You finished your first year of 3's preschool and still talk about your friends during the summer, especially your best friend Korgan. At school for Mother's Day, you made me this very sweet necklace and I wear it every day! You drew a self-portrait and then your teachers shrunk it down and put it into a necklace. I love it so much! You always comment and laugh about how you drew yourself with pink shoes :)

This May was also the time of graduation for the big guys. The last two of our original guys left us! Surprisingly you do really well when guys leave for good, however you do still talk about Michael. I'm sure Michael will be back to visit while he is in college. You have been able to play a lot more with the guys which makes you happy. You've also been learning how to play video games....you are actually pretty good for a four year old at Minecraft and you also like to play a skateboarding game. Luckily though, you still fully enjoy going outside and playing and playing with your toys.

At the end of May, we also went on our annual big vacation. We met Gigi and Amelia in Kansas City and we had such a great time! We went to Legoland and to T-Rex café and now those are your favorite places to go. We had so much fun with GiGi and Amelia! Then we all drove to Colorado Springs and met Brittany, Montez, Kennedy, and Pimpa for a few days. We got to spend a lot of time with Aunt Sue Sue too and show everyone all the cool places around Colorado Springs. We really could live there. It is so beautiful. It was so nice being able to spend time with everyone and you and Tucker had a great time playing with Kennedy! You love your cousin time.

We also got to go to Okoboji again with the guys and this was your best year yet. The water was still pretty cold since we went in June, but you clearly didn't care. You spent the entire time in the water! You got to practice your swimming and I took you on a kayak, which you thought was so fun! Luckily this year there were a lot of other little kids, especially your Boys Town BFFs, Emery and Badynn. One thing I learned is that I need to clarify some things when talking to you. I told you at one point it ws okay to pee in the lake. However, I apparently needed to also explain that you keep your pants on :) You were caught TWICE walking up to ankle deep water, pulling your pants down, and peeing! Out in the open!

This summer has been full of vacation. We got to go to Kansas City again for a couple days to visit Great Grandma Norma and Aunt Sherry since they were driving through the area. We had a great time and they took you to Legoland and T-rex Café again :)

My sweet little boy, you have continued to amaze me. You can be so sweet and gentle and caring sometimes, and I love to see you genuinely care for your brother. It really does melt my heart. I also see you growing up so much! You love to help me cook (though I have to admit, I need to let you more often). I even worked on teaching you how to cut with a sharp knife and learn the safety skills needed in the kitchen. Another thing you are improving on is your swimming. The lake is one of your favorite places to go and just the other day in the bathtub you put your entire face in the water and held your breath! I was so proud of you. I love to see you learn new things and improve on the things you already know.

You are an amazing little boy. I love your crazy stories you tell. I love your (seldom) cuddles and kisses. I love your laugh, I love to see you play with your brother. I especially love every new phase you come upon. You will do great things, my child.


I love you,


Mommy