(Speaking about his baby sister) Labels: quips
"She hasn't been cleaned in weeks and she still smells good!"
They say there is no perfect time to have a baby. That if you wait for the perfect time, you'll wait forever. I always said I wanted three children, but after Alex was born, life was complicated and the time was just never right. And as time went on, and Ella and Alex got older, it seemed like the time to add a third child to our family had slipped past. Here they are older, and in school, and we are far enough removed from diapers and strollers and sleepless nights. Being busy running kids to ballet and swim lessons and Tae Kwon Do, I thought less and less about lullabies and layettes. The drama of elementary school out-shadowed the peacefulness of the nursery.
It was November 30th - a Monday. We found out that this new little person was going to join our family. It took some time for me to wrap my head around it. The thought of being a family of five was just... weird! Five of us?! I had done this all before, and I knew we would love this child just as much as we love Gabriella and Alexander, and yet it was hard for me to imagine at that moment.
My third pregnancy was my toughest. I was nauseous nearly constantly, and well into the second trimester. I was working full time, so when I got home I had just enough energy to lay down on the couch and fall asleep.
I worried about the age difference there was going to be between my kids. Ella would be nine years old when this baby is born. Alex would be seven. Could our new addition ever have a close relationship with them? Certainly not the same sort of relationship they have with each other.
Our baby was born, and it was only at that moment that we learned it was a little girl who would round out our perfect family. We named her Annika Cosima. Annika, a beautiful name that means gracious, and sweet faced. Cosima is after her great great grandmother. A little girl! Perfect!
Annika changed all of our lives, of course. I quit my job to go back to being a stay at home mom. My "older kids" as they are now called, had to adapt to sharing me with another child, and one that demands quite a lot of attention at that. We had to go back to diapers and strollers and sleepless nights.
Annika is now nine months old. She is dealing with her first cold, and learning to stand on her own. She babbles and waves, and lights up at the sight of her big sister and big brother. We love her just as much as Ella and Alex, as I knew we would. She was absolutely meant to be here. She will do important things, and make the world a better place. We were always meant to be a family of five (which still sounds a little weird to me).
So as it turns out, that was the perfect time to have a baby. We didn't know it, but we didn't need to. Sometimes fate takes over. And thank goodness for that! Because it is easy to get all wrapped up in those ballet recitals.