Get ready

Dear Baby T #3,

Today marks t-minus 12 (or fewer days) until we officially welcome you into the world.

This is a blog that we use to share with our friends and family around the world the love and dreams we have for you, your big sister, and your brother. Your mom and I have been busy during the last few months. A lot has happened in our lives and we’ve not been able to find the time to update this blog as regularly as we’d like. Nevertheless, I’m taking a few minutes before the rest of your family wakes up this morning to tell you how excited we are to bring you home.

#3, you should know how amazing your mom has been during your pregnancy. You should also know about the amazing family and friends you will inherit, the tremendous opportunities and challenges in this world, and about the expectations we have for you.

First and foremost, you should be so proud of your mom. Since your conception, we have bought and sold a house, driven 1,500 miles across country from DC to Austin, lost and grieved for a parent, moved a truckload of stuff into a rental house, started new and challenging jobs, and have done our best to raise your sister and brother. Your mom is the leader of our family and managed all of these major life changes with the perfect balance of grace, humor, strength, and humility. I’m surprised that my heart has the capacity to love her more every day, but I do and I know you will too.

Along with your mom, I’m so excited for you to meet your big sister Maya and your older brother Ben. They may not look alike, but they are very close to each other. Maya is thoughtful and creative. Ben is funny and sensitive. Good luck getting a word in during dinner or at any other time for that matter. Maya and Ben talk A LOT. They are learning to become good listeners and they can’t wait to hear from you too.

Surrounding all of us are a loving and fun Grandma Nancy (a.k.a. “Wah-kah”), a loving and colorful Grandpa Gene (a.k.a. Grandpaji), four sets of aunts and uncles, seven cousins, an extended family of great aunts and uncles, and second and third cousins who live all over the world.  Not to mention friends of your grandparents from the time your mom and I were in utero to new friends we’re making here in Austin. They make up a strong and diverse community that will shape you and the world in which you’ll grow up.

This community will also be a great source of strength for your mom and me as we welcome you into a world with the spirit, but without the physical presence of your Grandpa Bob (a.k.a. Pop Pop) and your Grandma Wendy (a.k.a. Shu Shu). While your community of friends and family will do their best to share great memories of these amazing people, your mom and I will shed more than a few tears as we struggle with the inability to hug Pop Pop or call ShuShu immediately after you are born.

The cancer that took your grandparents is an example of the imperfections and challenges in our world. When I blogged about bringing your sister Maya home from the hospital, I wrote that she’d “be born into a world that still has war and disease, and where millions are hungry and don’t have a safe place to live today. As you are born, the headlines in our newspapers show that our country is struggling with high gas prices and a faltering economy, which hurt the most vulnerable.” More than four years later, most of those challenges persist.

Our dream for you, #3, is that you enjoy the beauty and the challenges of this world. Your mom and I expect you to help solve these challenges, but at the same time not to take yourself too seriously. We want you to work hard, but also to play hard. We share the belief of your Pop Pop and Shu Shu that while there will be many mountains to climb in your life, it will often be the more difficult trials that end up being the most rewarding.

The good news is that you have a fabulous mom, awesome siblings, and an amazing community of extended family and friends right next to you during the journey.

We all can’t wait to meet you.

I love you,

Dad

P.S. We’re building you a new house. The foundation was poured yesterday and we’ll move in early next year. Check it out: