Welcome to the world, Baby Everly!

Our darling son, Everly, 

You are nine weeks old now, and I've finally got round to writing a blog post. 

Welcome to the world, sweet boy of ours. Welcome to the life we've made for you, and welcome to your family. We've loved you for a very long time now and have been anticipating your arrival for around nine months! 

I think you will be a wind up merchant like your daddy because for two whole weeks you made us think you were coming out to meet us, but it wasn't until five days after your due date, you decided to join us! Such a tease! You decided to wake mummy up at 1:30am on the 15th January, and entered our lives at 05:40am! You weighed 7lbs 4oz and just like your sister, you were the most perfect little thing we had ever seen! You were tongue tied, and later on found out you had a heart murmur.

When I was 24 weeks pregnant with you, your grand-nanny passed away. She tried her hardest to make it to January just so she could see you. That's why you are named Everly. You see, Nanny's name was Shirley which means "Bright Meadow". Obviously we couldn't call you Shirley, so we searched for a name that bears the same or similar meaning. We already had "Everly" in our heads if you were a girl but spelt "Aibhilie". When we saw that Everly came up with the meaning "Grazing Meadow", we knew it was meant to be! Another thing that made this meaningful was that one of her favourite bands in the 60s were the Everly Brothers. And I love them too! So it just seemed like your name was meant for you, either way. We told your nanny whilst she was sleeping that we were calling you Everly after her. She already knew that your middle name "Joseph" was after her, as we told her at our gender reveal party. Nanny's middle name was Josephine, and her fathers name was Joseph, as is your daddy's. And Mummy's middle name is "Jo". Your second middle name is "Jack", after your uncle, daddy's little brother who passed away when he was a few days old. So all in all, your name is so very meaningful. And that's what makes it so beautiful. 

I hoped you would be born through the night so that we didn't have to leave your sister for too long (we had never left her overnight before, you see), and you must of heard me because that's exactly what happened, it all happened so fast that Aoife didn't even really know we had left the house! 

As soon as she woke up that morning, we told your nannies (who were looking after her) to bring up to see you. Aoife came to all our scans and appointments whilst you were in my tummy, and she knew all about her baby buvva! At 7am on the 15th January, you met your beautiful big sister for the first time. She was so happy to meet you. 

We came home later that day, and we all settled into being a family of four! 

You are (at the moment) such a good baby! You are breastfeeding so well and gaining so much weight! You are already in 0-3 month, and starting to go into 3-6 month clothing! You are in such a good routine that you cry exactly at the same time every night for bath time - your favourite! Then it's bedtime story with Aoife, then bedtime! You love your massage after a bath. You get called baby brother more than you get called Everly because that's what we all called you inside mummy's tummy, and it's just stuck! Or daddy and dean call you Kevin (don't ask why) but don't worry because Aoife has been called Keith by them for nearly two years! You like to be carried round, and you like to be held! You like the sound of the Hoover and hair dryer. You love to be on your legs and you are so strong! 

You are growing so fast! And I wish it would slow down a bit! I want to keep you as "baby" as I possibly can! I forgot how quickly it goes! It seems like you've been apart of our lives forever. Like I've always seen your beautiful eyes looking back at me. From that first moment, it was as if I'd known you forever,  because I loved you whole heartedly and unconditionally already. You were just meant for us. 

I can't wait to see the bond between you and your sister grow. And I can't wait for you to be in love with her just like we are. She loves you so much already and she is so protective over you. I feel so lucky to have such perfect, healthy children and I promise never to take that for granted. My life is perfect because of you two. I will do anything in my power to make sure you two are happy. Because no matter what happens in life, with you two I'll always have my happiness. 

Welcome to your family, handsome little man. I hope you love us, just as much as we love you! You are loved more than you will ever know. And we are so incredibly blessed to have you. 

Loved and adored, always,

Mummy.