Letter to baby from Aunt Tracey

Hey there little cutie- This is your Aunt Tracey! I am SOOO excited to meet you. I have been friends with your mom since high school and she is an amazing person and I know you are going to be too! No matter how far apart we live, or what is going on in our lives, your mom is one of those rare friends that is always there for me and when we see each other, even if its been 6 months since the last visit, its like we just saw each other yesterday. You will see as you grow up how special that is and I am so blessed to have such a true, caring friend like your mom in my life. One thing that really stands out to me when I think back on my friendship with your mom, especially in high school, was how much fun we had together and how random we acted.  There are so many pressures out there related to boys, relationships, and being popular that its easy to miss out on great times with your friends and great memories if you are obsessing over guys all the time or always worried about fitting in. Of course, we had our crushes and our insecurities, but more than anything we made time for our friends and families and had a lot of fun and those are the memories that last. I hope that you will do that too. For some reason we always want to grow up so fast and the very best advice I can give you is to slow down!! Enjoy life, make a difference, be a good friend, do what you know is right, and don't settle! A lot of times we are too impatient to wait for God's plan in our lives and we try to take charge and handle it ourselves to create the outcome that we think will make us happy. I hope when you are tempted to do this you will remember these words and even though its SO hard to do, wait on the Lord and his direction and timing in your life.  It is so worth it when you see His plan unfold in your life. Your mom and I have helped each other through hard times, but also through many great times including starting our careers, marrying our soul mates, and now she is becoming a mother!  I am so happy for her (and your dad too!) and cannot wait to meet you and hold you and watch you grow up. Ive been trying to convince your parents to move back to Michigan, specifically Oakland County, but so far Ive been unsuccessful. Im hoping that you can get them too- Im sure that you will have them both, especially your dad wrapped around your finger from day one, so lets work together on this ;) I love you so much already and cannot wait to see your cute little face! Please remember Im always here for you! Love, Aunt Tracey (and uncle dale!)

Okay where to start? Well one more day of school for me which means tomorrow I will be done teaching for the year and have my summer to look forward to. I think my summer will consist of a lot of rocking you back and forth, and trying to get you to go to sleep at night so we can all be a happy well rested family. Your mom went to the doctors today in Santiago and was going to use some of her birthday money, and baby money to purchase you a new car seat! You are so blessed with such a wonderful thoughtful mother, and such wonderful friends and family that support us here. Your grandparents on both sides are such awesome people and your aunts and uncles are too. I really look up to my family for all their unique talents God has given them and they use for his glory. I can't wait till you meet all of them. They are a bit spread out but that is good because you will be able to visit them some day and will be a well traveled individual. Your Aunt Pam lives in Boston, but goes on crazy adventures all over the world get in good with her and maybe she will take you with some day. You also have an aunt Brittany in California which I've never been to see there but maybe someday we can make it out that direction as well. Its always been one of my dreams to go and see the redwood forest, and northern pacific coast. You have one grandma that travels there often as well and who knows might some day live there as well? One of your grandpas lives in Detroit, which is awesome place to go and visit to look at cars, and also is good for the four seasons. Your uncle Brad too, he knows all the hot spots. You have an aunt and uncle James and Lisa and cousins in Grand Rapids area which has kind of been my stomping grounds, and I really love the area and can't wait to take you there to ride bikes, and show you all the cool places to go there. Your Uncle Tim and aunt Paola and cousins live here on the island and hopefully we will see lots of them together for play dates and beach outings. You have Grand Parents who live in Mexico too but they are like your aunt and love to travel around and go to new places so who knows where they might be when you arrive, but they do have a homestead in Kalamazoo where your great grandmas live also.
So you see baby K you will be well traveled just to see your family. And I hope someday you will have such awesome friends like your mom and I that live all over the world. We have learned a little something from each one of these friends about different cultures, and so much more. They have all been such a blessing to our lives and yours, hopefully someday you will be able to meet them all. Some advice for you when you are a bit older is to surround yourself with wonderful friends and family that will always be there for you to build you up and not tear you down. Surround yourself with positive people who love you for who you are and love God. Like your grandpa always says "its not what you know its who you know", so get to know allot of people. Well baby I guess its about that time to give away the second piece of the puzzle and I think your mom is really going to be mad at me for this one but Im going to do it anyways. Baby KE..............

37 weeks and 38 weeks

37 weeks
Baby Girl, You are the size of a Swiss Chard!

Hi baby,

I've been a little behind on blogging so I'm going to combine two weeks into one.  This week I celebrated my 30th birthday, I can't believe I'm 30, I feel so old.  On Monday night, it was Jaci's birthday and so some friends from church had a double surprise birthday party for the two of us.  I feel so blessed to have such good friends to make my birthday special.  
Here is a picture of us about to blow out our candles... can you guess what we are wishing for?

  Jaci said she was wishing that I would go into labor during the party (she didn't get her wish).  I am keeping my wish a secret, but of course it was about you!  Wednesday was my real birthday and it was very special too. (I was really wishing you might come out to see us that day, but I guess you wanted your own bday, can't blame you for that). Your Uncle Tim and Auntie Paola drove up from Santo Domingo and brought me a beautiful wooden rocking chair for my birthday that they bought on their last trip to Haiti. I love it and I can't wait to rock you in it all the time!  

 On Friday I went into Dr. Simon here in town, and we saw that you did a flip!  Everyone says you are going to be an acrobat.  Now you are head down again.  I wonder what made you decide to do that.  If you were listening to all your dad's firm commands, or if it was the crazy exercises I did that made me feel like I had a bowling ball rolling up into my diaphragm.  Whatever it was, I am happy that you did it.  But now that means I just have to keep playing the waiting game until you are ready to make your debut.  I hope it will be soon.  


We are finally in the month of June now.  It seems like all school year, I would tell people our baby would be born in June and it seemed like it was so far away.  I can't believe June is finally here and that I'm going to meet you so soon!  I can't wait to see what you look like and hold you and start our lives together.  There are so many things I can't wait to do together.  This weekend I had a pajama party with a bunch of the girls from church.  Your dad made pizza, we played hide and seek, went out for ice cream, danced, colored, painted nails, and stayed up late watching movies.  I can't wait to do all of these kinds of things with you.  Judging by how much you move and how strong you are already, I think you are going to be an active girl and keep us running.

Pajama party with the girls from Templo Bautista!

Everyday lately I wonder if today will be the day.  I over analyze every pain and movement and symptom wondering if this could be it.  It has been so hot here.  My wedding rings got stuck last week cause my fingers were so swollen from the heat so I can't wear them anymore.  It's been 100 and up, and I've been rotating through the same 3 loose dresses everyday, I don't know what I'll wear if I grow any bigger!  Please come soon chica!! :)  

Okay well your dad is going to write the 38 week letter.  Love you baby girl.   

Water Day at OANSA with the firefighters... yes my eyes are closed and not a good pic of me, but it gives a good illustration of the beach ball I've got going on underneath my dress!

 

 

 

38 weeks

Baby Girl, you are the size of a leek! 

 

Here is a letter from your dad.... 

Dear baby girl,

Sorry it's been so long since I've written you, there is a lot on my mind that I want to tell you.  I think your mom is going to explode and she is having difficulty moving around, but by the sounds of it, you aren't. You were right-side up then upside down, and who knows but I think all around.  We are trying to figure things out with our lives these days and you are a big deciding factor in our future plans. However we try very hard to leave that up to God and hope you learn that from us some day. Some days its very difficult to understand His ways but in the end it becomes all the more clearer and always, always works out for the better. So right now we are anxiously waiting for your arrival. Your cuna (crib) is ready and I just purchased your mom a vehicle for her birthday the other day so she can drive you around in it (that's if she learns to drive a stick and doesn't have problems with driving you around in a junker for the time being, but its better then El Negro ( my motor)  Who knows if we are still here when you become of age, it might someday be your vehicle, but maybe you will start out on El Negro first if your mom will let you.
 It was your mom's birthday the other day, and we thought it'd be really cool if you and your mom shared the same birthday but it looks like God had other plans for you. I think its cool that you will have your own birthday but we will see, there will probably be someone out there that shares that special day with you, I'm sure of it. I am really looking forward to that day and I think you are too judging by how much you are bouncing around. It sometimes feels like you are going to jump right out of your mom's belly. 
I am almost done with school for this year which is kind of sad, in some ways, but looking forward to what God has in store for us these next couple weeks and months and years. Anyways I thought I'd close this off with giving you and everyone else out there the first letter of your name since your mom really wants it to be a surprise but she has already told like all of HER friends and I haven't told anyone. So I figured I'd drop a hint to everyone else out there of what your name is one letter at a time. Every day or so until you're born which means you should be coming very soon hopefully I will give a new letter of your name and well if I did it every day it would take 15 days so that's your count down.  Don't come before that or no one will know your name. Look forward to see you very soon. Baby K..............
Love, Dad

Letter to baby girl from Jaci Baily

Baby girl, you are LOVED!

Hey beautiful baby!  I am so excited to meet you (and learn your name).  You are going to be so loved here!  First, you have amazing loving parents.  Second, all of the girls at church are so excited to meet and hold you.  Finally, me!  I already plan to take you so your mommy and daddy can go on a date.  Baby girl, we live in a mean world, and people will hurt you and let you down, but the good news is that there is a God who also has so much love for you and He will never let you down!  I'm praying for you!  Keep growing strong in mommy's tummy. :)

Love you,
Jaci

Letter to baby girl from my favorite French friend, Julie Jamin

To baby girl:

It has been a long time I wanted to write you, I have read the different posts and didn’t know what to add, then I think that maybe what I will say will be similar to others but it doesn’t matter as it will truly comes from my heart.

You are a lucky one.

I met your parents when volunteering in the DR. It took me time but I finally realize how much they changed my life. Your parents are truly amazing, they have so much integrity, patience, they are very open minded, fair and so full of joy and love. They believe, they believe in change, in the future, they have faith no matter what, they never stop loving and I believe they always know what to do.

I did ask them advice more than once because I trust them and they became an example to me in so many different ways. They give me hope, and through their beautiful experience, faith in life and much more.

My dearest wish is to be able to visit and meet you. Help them and learn from them.

You are a lucky one because you will grow with everything a little one needs and so much love that I believe you will have no choice but to share it.

Little miracle of life, I wish you the very best which is all about happiness.

See you soon hopefully, in the meantime I send you many kisses, hugs and I promise to be here if you need me.

Julie Jamin

BIG NEWS - Finally here!

No it's not baby girl, she is still cooking.  I know, I'm so mean that I would trick you.  BUT, don't go away.  I do have news, and something I want to share with you.  I know some of you know already, but for those who have been asking about the future and our plans, here they are....

We are starting a home for girls who are victims of sex trafficking.

Yes, I know it will be challenging.  And yes, I know a lot of you probably think I'm crazy.  But I am also SO excited about it and have so much hope.  And I hope that you will help us.

And as for, what's finally here?  This video.  This project has been on and off hold for the past month since I'm not incredibly tech-savvy or good at this stuff, but I've been working really hard on it so please watch it and share it with everyone you can.  This is all about the country I've spent the past 3 years living in and that I love, and this comes straight from my heart.  Learn about our mission and share it with other people.  Pretty please?  Hope you like it.  :)  You can watch the video below, or if you prefer, or if it's not working, you can click here to watch it on youtube.

And one more piece of news.  God willing, we will be coming to the states in August for a couple of weeks to visit with baby girl and try to raise money for our project here.  So, please let me know if you would be interested in helping us fundraise.  We would love to come share with your church, workplace, sports team, college group, family, friends, and whoever else might be willing to hear us and help us.  So please let us know!  You can email me at kristin.deyoung@gmail.com.  You can also follow our ministry blog at www.laalianzadr.blogspot.com.

Thanks for watching and sharing!  I promise no more tricks about baby girl. (but please don't spoil with any facebook comments :) She should be here really soon and I can't wait to share about her with you too!

Love, peace, and prayers,
Kristin  

36 weeks

Baby girl's first trip to Burger King :)

Baby Girl, you are the size of a crenshaw melon this week! (whatever the heck that is..)

Baby girl,

We've made it through another week - and now we are full-term!  So the reason that you are wearing your crown way up there is because you flipped!  When I went to see the doctor on Tuesday, your head was pushing right up between my rib cage, we could all see and feel it pushing right out.  Which means you are breech standing/sitting straight up (Jaci says I'm not allowed to use that word breech).  We have been looking up ways to flip and spin you around.  

Last night we could see what we thought was your head (we are always guessing) pushing through my upper stomach and so your dad got right against my stomach and was coaching you to move down in his firmest daddy voice, saying "This is your daddy talking, MOVE DOWN - RIGHT DOWN HERE, COME ON BABY, RIGHT THIS WAY"  It felt like you may have been listening to him cause I felt a lot shifting around (but we couldn't tell where exactly you went).  I know I have extra amniotic fluid in there so for all I know, you could be doing 20 somersaults a day in that extra space.  And on the ride back up the mountain with Pastor Wesley the other day, it felt like you could have been flipping the whole time (he drives a little crazy but we love him ;)  So, quien sabe.... 

It says online that you will gravitate toward voices and music, so it is good to play music down near my nether regions to see if you will move down that way.  Your Auntie Johanna was trying to think of  a playlist to get you to flip, here are some that she came up:

"Pop, lock, and drop it" Huey

"Get low" by Lil John

"Drop it like it's hot" Snoop Dogg

"Headfirst" Selena Gomez

"Face drop" Sean Kingston

"Bottoms up" 

These aren't really appropriate songs for songs for you, but we'll see what you think about it and if we can get you to move. :)

I'm also trying to make a playlist for the hospital today.  I'm not up on new music anymore being down here, but so far I've just got a lot of classic old stuff and am looking for ideas.  My friend Jonelle from college suggested "Push It" by Salt n' Pepper.  These aren't really baby songs, but I think you might get a kick out of reading this someday? 

 

It has been so hot these days, especially on days like today, the electricity goes out for hours and I just sit in my sweat wishing for the fan to come back on.  I take cold showers and am hot again within 5 minutes.  I am tempted to go blow up your kiddie swimming pool I got from your baby shower and sit out in the front yard.  My bathing suits don't fit anymore so I'd have to go in my underwear - wonder what all of the construction workers would think about that? :)

Well girlie, sorry this is such a silly letter this week and I don't have a lot of deep, meaningful stuff to write about on this hot sticky day.  Mostly I just want to say 

 I cannot wait for you to get here!

But I know you will wait until you're ready and that's ok.  In the meantime, I think you've gotten to be pretty darn strong these days.  I imagine you inside playing on my rib cage like a xylophone, jumping on my pelvic floor like it's a trampoline, and playing bumper cars against my bladder.  I don't know what you're really doing in there, but that sure is what it feels like.

So little chica, feel free to start somersaulting down at any time.  Your dad and I will keep with our creative ways to get you to do a flip.  But if you don't, you are scheduled to arrive via c-section on June 8th.  We'll see if that ends up being your birthday.

We love you lots and can't wait to meet you soon.  We're feeling all ready for you to come now - yesterday I hung the letters of your name above your crib.  Your Auntie Paola made them and they look super cute.  Just a couple more weeks now, I can't believe it's so soon! 

Love,

Your momma