The Original
Cael Thomas Rambo, the boy who made me a mother - wow, it has been a fun ride. The original owner of this piece of my heart. We had you all to ourselves for four whole years, which was so special. You changed me as a person in such a good way. I feel so blessed to watch you grow and flow through all of the milestones and new adventures. And you do it all so effortlessly that sometimes we have to take a beat to remember that you are only 6 years old, but you've always been our little man. Your imagination and creativity astound me! When you giggle, the room can't help but smile. You are an amazing big brother. Like - better than I could have ever expected, especially given the age differences. And when I have a baby in my tummy you are probably the most excited in the family and treat me like a queen - always hugging the baby and talking to my belly.
You are awesome.
The Remix
My sweet Larkin Olivia, you are so beautiful inside and out. You are the smartest, sweetest and sassiest girl I have ever met. You have been forming sentences since you could speak...so it's no surprise that you could not keep this little secret of ours. Daddy and I laugh so hard recalling the day at your brother's baseball game that you announced to the whole stand of parents that "Mommy needs to just have a quick snack (I keep book, so she was warning them I needed to take a break from paying attention) because she has a little baby growing in her tummy and she is really hungry" :)
The struggles it took to get pregnant with you are some that I will never forget. It tested our marriage after we had just rebounded from the cancer diagnosis and treatment into remission. To think that we were only one month away from a scheduled hysterectomy to remove any chance of the cancer ever returning - but that third round of fertility meds worked like a charm and you have been our lucky charm ever since. I have no idea what we would do without your sweetness in our life.
The Encore
This world needed an Archer Elaina - no matter what hell fire I had to go through to get you here. Your pregnancy and birth story is not one I am emotionally ready to tell completely yet (hence the silence on this platform). You were a surprise pregnancy that we were so excited for from the beginning. It took a quick turn and tested my soul and spirit more than I thought was possible. But you have given me life everyday since I held you in my arms. Nobody better get in your way in this life because you have already climbed mountains! It was such a blast not finding out your gender until we met you. You are happy, curious, and almost always content....everything anyone would hope for in a child! I am in complete denial that you turn one in less than a month. But, you were the babe that allowed me to stay home and watch every milestone happen. We always knew if we ever were blessed enough to have a third, the costs of daycare would outweigh my paycheck enough to justify being home for a few years. You have been the best surprise yet.
Mic Drop!
No - this was NOT supposed to happen. In fact, the exact second that I had an inkling I was pregnant (begrudgingly setting down my red wine on the coffee table to go up and take a test) - the sound of my midwife in the delivery room almost stopped me in my tracks. I cannot even count how many times she said to me, Daniel and my mom "we cannot do this again....you CANNOT do this again!!" And again at my 6 week post-partum appointment, "in my medical opinion - you should not have another baby and we should schedule a hysterectomy as soon as you are done nursing next winter." Then, guess what - positive. Freaking positive. To not go into too many details - I am here to personally attest that IT ONLY TAKES ONE TIME folks. Or at least in my post "infertile" life - this has now happened TWICE. God is funny like that. After we wrapped our head around this, we had to go to the
We are due on December 19, but will be delivering at 37 weeks exactly (hopefully) on
Thanksgiving Day. Let's do this baby!!
