Parkes Family

Baking you cookies to coax you to come out! Sweet son of mine, you are already exhausting my patience. Sometimes the excitement of meeting you and the discomfort of the pregnancy together make it hard to wait. I know it will be worth it, but I'm so anxious. I tear up just thinking about the first time your big sister sees and holds you for the first time. Allison cannot stop talking about how she is looking forward to snuggling a baby everyday. She wants to be a part of everything. Not only will it be different to have you join our family but she is taking on a new and different role as an older sibling and I think you'll be quite enamored with her. She's very special and we know the two of you will be lifelong friends. Your father and I changed our minds in having another by going through things over the past years where we leaned on our own siblings. We came to a point where we could no longer justify not 'giving' Allison a sibling for life's journeys.

Here's the love story, simply stated. Girl meets boy. They fall in love over the weekend in Ca.  The two spend hours on the phone like teenagers trying mend the distance between them.  They see each other every month. Within a year, girl decides to move  from Long Beach Ca. to LeRoy, MI to be with boy.  Within two years they are married. Less than a year later, they have a child they adore. Wife supports husband with his business. Husband supports wife finding new job and getting settled. Husband and wife continue to fall madly in love with their little family and their most perfect life. As one would have it strife hit and the husband stepped up to support the wife through life's tornadoes that tried to beat her down.  Amidst the impending doom of losing her mom, the wife and husband decide there is room in their hearts and on couch under the oversized blanket in their home for another being. After two years of trying,

Moments after the big SURPRISE! Within the past two weeks, I have had two surprises that made me feel on top of the world! I love being surprised with events, people, gifts, etc. I love planning surprises and watching someone react happily surprised! My last surprise was my 30th birthday party and I still hold tight to those memories so it's been almost 7 years. On my drive to the baby shower, I was overcome by a longing to be with my mom and sisters. I tried to push it aside so it wouldn't make the day difficult but it persisted. It wasn't all in sadness, mostly missing them and needing to be showered by their love. Little did I know, my two sisters came from CA and CO to stay with Diane the night prior in order to surprise me at my shower. As you could imagine, immediate tears fell when I saw their beautiful faces! What a blessing. I felt so special knowing they did this just for me! Wow, I am still on a high even though they left last week! These girls made