before you

One of the prompts in Claire's baby book begins "Before me....."

I really liked the idea of this prompt, but for a long time, I was stumped as to what to say or when to write it. I didn't know the approach to take. Should I write it before she is born to have the 100% accurate viewpoint of what life was like? Or, should I write if after she is born so that I could compare one stage in life to another?

I decided to go ahead and tackle it because I really don't know how much time I'll have to write after she's born, plus there's plenty of other pages to fill at that time.



Before you, your dad and I were married for 9.5 years. That's much longer than we thought we'd be married before you came along, but it's given us more time to wait, prepare, and anticipate your arrival.

Before you, your dad worked for Grainger for 10 years and has received several promotions during that time, but always chose to keep a job that brings him home at night so he would always be home to play with you in the evenings, eat dinner, and tuck you in to bed. I worked for 5 years with a pharmaceutical company, taking one promotion that kept me away 4 nights a week. During that time, we learned we would have to have fertility treatment in order to become pregnant. Since that was most important to us, I left that job to work full-time for Studio Calico. I wanted to be home every day to play with you, eat every meal with you, and tuck you into bed at night.

Before you, your dad and I traveled to many places: Egypt, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Bahamas, St. Croix, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, and many cities and states in our great country. Seeing all those places is such a blessing, but it doesn't compare to the blessing you will bring to us. We can't wait for you to grow up and travel with us so you can have fun memories of times on the road as well.

Before you, we made the decision to move from the city to the country. We like the idea of you having lots of space to run and play. There's so much to do in the country, we're sure you'll have great adventures here.

Before you, we only had Addy and Jett as part of our family. They keep us entertained with all their antics. Addy loves to chase frisbee and rocks. Jett loves to be held and cuddled. Both love to chase turkeys and any wild animal....Addy even got sprayed by a skunk!

Before you, we've had a lot of experiences and learned so much. We've worked on our relationship with one another and grown closer to God. We've prepared for you to be a part of our family and are excited to meet you!