Dear Camille

Dear Camille, 

As I write this, I am 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant with “brother”. 
(We haven’t told you his name yet because we’re keeping it secret and you’re talking so much these days that daddy and I think you would slip and tell it if we told you). 
When brother is born, things are going to change so much for all of us and I just want to tell you what I hope for you in these next few weeks, months, and years.

When you were born, daddy and I were so excited. You were gorgeous from day one. You were born through a C-section and you were tongue-tied so we had trouble breastfeeding. You had reflux issues and as much as we thought we were prepared for you to enter our lives, it was hard work taking care of you those first few months. My body was healing and there was so much to learn about you; your likes and dislikes, how to best feed you, how to best care for you, and on top of that, we were really really tired. But you brought us so much joy and all of the hard times were so worth it. Month by month we established a routine and new challenges and joys occurred year by year and now you’re three. Mommy and Daddy had to go through a lot of changes and do a lot of growing but it was worth it and will always be worth it.

In a few days, brother will come and we will all grow and change again, including you. You will have to learn how to share mommy and daddy’s time and energy, which may be hard at first. You will see that mommy will be occupied with brother ALOT, feeding and caring for him, so I won’t be free to spend as much time with you as I have been. Brother will make sounds and noises that you may not like but it’s something you’re going to have to learn to deal with. These are just some of the things that may be hard, but now I have some good news.

Mommy and Daddy are going to try very hard to keep your life and your routine just as it has been. You’ll still get to go to school twice a week and hopefully you’ll get to go to Bridgekids (children’s program at church) soon after brother comes, too. We will still go on walks and play with your toys and read your favorite books. There will still be oatmeal for breakfast, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and graham cracker snacks if you eat your dinner. 

Mommy and Daddy will be in charge of taking care of brother and you can help as little or as much as you want. We will give you plenty of space and time to get used to him living with us and not force you to be with him and play with him. And even if you choose to keep your distance at first, I know the longer he’s here, the more interested in him you’ll become. And the older he gets, the more fun he will be to play with and I’m sure you’ll enjoy that too. Before we all know it, you’ll be running around outside together as if this is how it’s always been.  

I just want you to know, more than anything, that we are so proud of you and love you so much. You are growing up to be such a sweet, strong, funny, smart little girl. And even though you’ll have to learn how to share our time and energy, you will never have to share mommy and daddy’s love. The love we have for you is all yours. We will have a separate well of love to draw from for brother. 

We are so excited to add brother to our family. He is not a replacement for you. He is an addition to our family. We believe he will bring so much happiness and joy, just like you have and we hope you will become the best of friends. 

We will cherish and never forget the 3 years we’ve had with you all to ourselves but we are excited to see what great things brother will add to our family. We know it’ll be a big change and we’ll be patient with you if it’s hard to adjust at first. But before you know it, it will be hard to remember a time when brother wasn’t here. But I will. I’ll remember our walks, our times at the library, our times listening to music and our times, just us.

Love, 
Mommy 


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