It's a boy!

Hey Babe,

It’s me. Just wanted to tell you that Alison had her baby today. Welcome to the world, Emerson Christopher! He’s named after a role model. He has a lot to live up to, but he’s off to a good start. He even beat you at the start at 10 lbs 15 ozs.  Alison is already a heroic mom to deliver him so gracefully.  You’d have been so proud of her.

 I wish you were here. I remember the night you found out that she was pregnant. You were so worried and excited and protective, all at once. You worried about Alison and told me to take care of her while you were gone but that we would both be there for her when you came home. You told me “I’m so excited! We’ll help her and babysit and take care of her and the baby.” And then carried away by the excitement, you said “Can I be the Godfather?  It’s like we’ll have a baby but it won’t be ours!” You were so happy. I was laughing. I remember how proud I was and how lucky I felt to have you as my husband. Not everyone can think so selflessly about others and be so happy about the idea of a brand new life.  Do you also remember saying that you’d knock out anyone that hurt her or broke her heart? I do. The irony is that it was Alison who took care of me during her pregnancy. She watched me topple and caught me before I hit the ground.

I loved the idea that we were going to have kids together one day. You would have been the greatest father. My only worry was that a little girl would have you wrapped around her finger. You were such a softie. I know because you always melted for me. I always managed to get my way. Remember when I  was a brand new nurse and I came to visit you in Florida? You said I could practice starting an IV on you, but then you started getting nervous which made be nervous. When the needle went in you yelled and then I yelled back at you and then burst into tears.  You were so shocked and immediately softened and held me. Up until April 26^th, I think you only saw me cry a handful of times. I normally stood my ground and dug in, matching your own stubbornness, but that day I cried. I hated that I hurt you. You hated that you made a big deal of it and yelled out. I saw the tears in your eyes.

 I told you that I didn’t want to be pregnant when you were deployed because I didn’t want to do it without you. We both knew that I would be a bear when I became pregnant. We always joked about it; the midnight runs that you would do for me to satisfy a craving. We both knew that you would do them. We were always in things together, so this would be no different. We imagined that we had plenty of time for kids later on and wanted to get some us time in first. I guess we waited too long.

Love you much!