JCW

Dear Jada,

Thank you my sweet girl.
Thank you for being so wonderful.
Thank you for being so excited about my pregnancy, always wanting to feel the babies kick and kiss my belly and talk about possible baby names.
Thank you for being understanding when I was pregnant and on many evenings I was in bed with a headache and you had cereal for dinner and went to bed without a goodnight kiss from your mommy.
Thank you for lying to me, telling me every day that my tummy was only kind of big and occasionally when I was really upset you told me my tummy was little.
Thank you for hugging me and trying to rub my feet and scratch my back.
Thank you for getting me countless glasses of water and picking everything off the ground that I dropped because I couldn't bend over.
Thank you for being sweet to my mother when she came to take care of you because I was taking care of your brothers by being on bed rest.
Thank you for not complaining when you didn't even know who would be picking you up from preschool somedays and for happily going with them to wherever they took you after school.
Thank you for not being angry and disappointed when you woke up on your 5th birthday to find out your parents were at the hospital and you will forever share your special day with two boys.
Thank you for not throwing a fit and being mad at me when you were not allowed to go to the hospital and meet your new brothers for two full weeks because they were in the NICU.
Thank you for still not being mad at me when your baby brothers finally did come home from the hospital and you were only allowed to wave at them in their car seats as your daddy whisked them upstairs away from you.
Thank you for not hating me when I banished you to your room for two weeks after the boys were home because you, Jada, tested positive for RSV and were a threat to their very lives.
Thank you my sweet girl, for staying far away from your brothers whom you so desperately longed to see and hold and kiss so that you wouldn't cause them to "die" as you so horribly believed you could unknowingly do.
Thank you for obediently scrubbing your hands and arms and face still every time you come into close proximity to your baby brothers.
Thank you for not throwing a fit and protesting when I force you to undress and shower every single day when you come home from preschool in the hopes that you will not
contaminate our house with your school germs.
Thank you for still wanting to hold your brothers, and love them and care for them in any tiny way that I allow.
Thank you for being overly excited about every little baby sound or movement they make, and for pretending that you are having real conversations with your brothers in which they say 'I love you' and in which you say it back repeatedly, smiling.
Thank you Jada for not hating your brothers who came into your little world and turned it upside down.Thank you my sweet darling Jada, for being such a good example to me and everyone in our family of true patience and love - what a blessing you are in our family, what a blessing you are to your baby brothers.
What a blessing you are Jada, my first-born, to me.
Thank you Jada.

Love,
Mother