A mother's thoughts the day before baby #3

Little man, I can't even describe how connected I feel to you. You have been my constant companion for 9 months now. You and me have already been through a lot together. We've been through, nausea, a blood infection, cravings, aversions, pains, anemia, sleepless nights, conversations, walks, airplane rides, and everything in-between. 

We call you our little radish because of the crazy amounts of radishes I eat on a daily basis (talk about low iron). You love Mcchickens from Mcdonalds and gave me the blessing of being able to tolerate water this pregnancy (no coke this time!- yay!). 

You are by far my strongest and biggest baby yet! I have gained the most with you, feel you the strongest and have never been told you are "small" by doctors like I have been told with my other two pregnancies. I can't wait to see what you can accomplish in the outside world! Thank you for making me stronger, more patient,  and more humble than ever (I am more aware now of all the things I can ask for help with and also the things I need to let go of). You have not been easy to grow, but I can promise that I have grown along with you this last year!  Cheers to making each other better and striving to be better each day! 

You have the invaluable blessing of having a dad that you can trust, learn from, and want to emulate. He knows just as much as anybody else in this world how difficult life can be, but chooses to rise above and turns to God always. If you desire to be a man of God, I pray that you watch your father closely and learn from him. As you do so, you will not find perfection, but you will undoubtedly find strength and power in a man who is persistently happy to follow a righteous path of worthy living. I pray that you will choose to follow the righteous examples of your earthly and Heavenly Father. 

I want you to know more than anything else how much our Father in Heaven loves you! As I have prayed, grown and carried you these last months, I have felt His love for you on levels I can't even describe. I know He is watching over you and wants you to be happy. I know He has big plans for your life here on earth and I promise that if you actively search out God and grow a relationship with him, that you will find happiness and you will never be alone.

As your dad and I prepare for your arrival tomorrow, we are anxious, excited, but mostly grateful for your soon to be permanent role in our lives.  We don't know what we are going to name you, how your siblings will welcome you, where and if you will sleep and in general what changes you will introduce to our family but we are thrilled to find out and love you forever! Welcome to the Stevens family!

Let the games begin..Leo is TWO!

Our Leo is TWO years old! For months now when people ask me how old Leo is, it has been so hard not to say he was two. He is growing up so fast and has acted, talked and insisted he has been two for a while now. Two years ago on April 14th, we were on our way to meet a sweet boy that would change our lives and family dynamic forever.  We are so lucky to have Leo in our family. He is loved by all of us so very much, especially by his big sister. I am grateful everyday for their bond, friendship and loyalty to each other. Let me describe Leo for those of you who don't have the pleasure of knowing him.. Leo is determined to do everything his sister does. Yet he puts his own "Leo/boy" twist on everything he attempts. If Jade is playing princess dress-up, you better bet Leo will demand to put on some high heels but he doesn't plan on participating unless he can bring a boyish contribution to the fun. He doesn't copy Jade's story line and instantly transforms the high heels into monster claws and chases the family mercilessly around the house. Dresses become ghosts, necklaces become weapons, unicorns become furocious and tea parties become water fights. Leo is as sweet as they come. He is polite, snuggly, obedient, giggly and happy. But don't you leave him out of ANYTHING. Shrill screams burst out of this kid like streaming fireworks on their way to combustion if he thinks just maybe he is being wronged, left out, or slowed down. 

The boy can EAT! He is never satisfied with just one avocado, banana, sandwich or snack. Concluding his last bite, you can always count on a persistent slowly amplified song of "mo please mo mo mo" following you around the house.

He loves to lift, carry, flip, push and rearrange furniture. I'm always surprised with how much he can lift and carry. 

He has this odd inside joke with himself where he picks a task whether it be chasing Jade, eating, cleaning, climbing or walking, and attempts to do it with his eyes closed. It isn't uncommon to see him just walking around the house with his eyes closed giggling to himself as he runs into things and trips all over the place. It's a strange yet entertaining hobby that is probably one of my "Leo favorites".

Our favorite Leo quotes, words and moments: Up until about two weeks ago Leo was consistently calling water "Waz". It was kind of our favorite to have him hand us his empty cup and emphatically say WAZ WAZ WAZ!

Leo has THE CUTEST "amen" you'll ever hear. It's so enthusiastic that we can't help but giggle every time.

He either calls his sister Jade or sissy and we love that he knows her by both.

When Daddy leaves for school or work, you will hear Leo from his bedroom whimper "Daddy gone". It is SO sad but also very telling about how much he adores his Daddy. He has the opposite reaction when he hears Daddy drive into the driveway. He exclaims "Daddy home"!  Squeels and hoorays always follow and the wrestling begins immediately when Dad opens the door.  

Our favorite qualities about Leo: sweet, gentle, curious, persistent, silly, obedient, observant, happy, enthusiastic, playful, hard working, independent and boy boy boy!!

Some of his favorite things: JADE (but really..he is a wreck without her- Preschool on Tuesday's are ROUGH), books, learning, spiderman, batman, bananas, cookies, outside, puppies, babies, snuggling, baths, making messes, avocados, corn on the cob, growling and other sound effects, running, hiding, slides, wrestling with Daddy, Aladdin, watching Daddy play the guitar, music, dancing, meat, oatmeal, lotion, sanitizer, jumping off of varying household objects, praying, singing, being tickled and tickling others, vitamins, brushing his teeth and sitting on his baby brother- OUCH!

Some of his dislikes: haircuts, getting dressed, watching Daddy leave, trees, baby gates, star wars masks, being left out, Moana, waiting for food, the sun in his eyes(he will scream like a vampire exposed to the sun), dirty hands and coming in from outside.

We love our Leo and can't wait to see him fulfill the big brother role! This year Leo has grown so much! He took his first steps, started talking small sentences and almost has the same shoe size as his big sister! Happy birthday to our Little Lee, bad boy, lion boy,  Ee-oh, brudder and Monster Leo!