Playing Catch-Up

I’ve been terribly remiss in not writing about the new baby we have on the way. As a second child myself – one who took note of things like thinness of my baby book relative to my sister’s – I know that my soon-to-be-born child will question this some day. “Weren’t you excited about me?” they’ll ask. “Didn’t you care I was coming?”

When these questions come, I’ll answer with the truth, “Absolutely!” I’ll explain how much more complicated and busy life gets between your first and second children. And that I’m just as excited this time – maybe even more so. After all, as far as I’m concerned, Avery shines light and goodness into the furthest corners of the world. And knowing that I get to experience it all over again makes me feel like the luckiest person ever. But I know that’ll only mitigate hurt feelings.

And so here, however belated, is my attempt to recap the events of the past few months and express the joy we’re all feeling about the impending arrival of our new baby.

Dear Child-To-Be:
Your dad and I found out about you in a rather unconventional way. I got a tarot-card reading at your Aunt Amy’s Halloween party this year, just for fun. The woman told me I was pregnant. Sure enough, she was right. She also told me it’d be a girl, and while I don’t know about that yet, I think she may have been right.

When I told your dad, he gave me a high-five and said, “Way to go!” I thought that was a funny response – it’s not like I was solely responsible. More on that later.

We tried to tell Avery, but she didn’t really get it. I think she’s since started to catch on. She tells Irene about the “baby pickles” in her tummy. Close. I have been eating a lot of pickles.

In any case, I’ve been very lucky to have an uneventful pregnancy so far. Just today, I’ve had people tell me that I’m starting to look pregnant. I’m starting to feel it, too. I felt you begin to flutter a couple weeks ago, but you’ve really been kicking a lot these past few days.

My one struggle so far is deciding on a name for you. I’ve read two baby-name books to no avail. I’m sure one of them contains the name we’ll ultimately pick; I just haven’t spotted it yet. I keep looking each night. Maybe you could give me a hint on what you’d like to be called, OK?

‘Course, I may get my hint tomorrow. Your Grandma Lynn is in town, so we’re going to try to go to Grandma Debby’s office to take a peek at you. We may finally be able to tell for sure whether you’re a boy or a girl. It’ll be exciting. But I don’t really care either way. I’m just excited to meet you.

Mostly, I keep wondering what you’ll look like. I wonder if your eyes will be blue like your dad’s, green like mine, or somewhere in between like your sister’s. Or, if your Grandma Debby has her way, brown like hers. I wonder what your hair will be like. And whether you’ll have dimples like your sister.

I know that however you look, I will love you with my whole heart and all my being. Just like I loved your dad when we first met. Just like I loved your sister when we first met. And just like I will always love you.