Dear (Big Brother) Trent

Dear (Big Brother) Trent,

It’s no secret that you’re about to go from “Only Child Trent” to “Sibling Trent” in the next year.  Daddy and I talk about it a lot… it’s gonna be hard.  You’re going to have to learn how to share your mommy, your daddy, your bathtub, your old car seat, your toys…

Okay, so you’ve got a lot of sharing to learn.  And Daddy and I are going to have to learn how to deal with a toddler and a newborn while returning ourselves to the exhausting zombie-state of having a newborn who doesn’t respect that nighttime=sleep time.  We’re also going to have to learn how to remind ourselves that it was loving each other in the first place that brought us to this growing family and that the feelings of hatred are generally fleeting.  =)

We recently had gift-giving on our minds with your first birthday, and now Christmas is literally launching at us at a high rate of speed.  What do you put on your “want” lists?  We tell people money for your college fund, books, tractors and fire trucks.  But I think a sibling is the best gift we can give you.  You might not agree now… or 5 years from now… and most definitely not 15 years from now.  In roughly two decades, I pray you see that a sibling who has shared the life you’ve also lived is the greatest gift of all that Daddy and I can give you.  It’s the way we feel about our own siblings.

Here’s the tough life lesson: life doesn’t revolve around you.  Yeah, our daily schedules pretty much pivot around your naptime/feeding time/bedtime right now so it’s hard to imagine anything else.  But a little brother or sister will require some degree of our attention too.  Give us patience while we all try to figure it out!

Our greatest gift to you: a sibling.  You’ll be a big brother.  We’ll be a family of 4.  We will live and grow and learn together while we stay glued together with the unbreakable bond of love.

Thank goodness there’s lots of love.

Mommy