09/05/2026
When we were little girls we used dream about building houses next door to each other in tiny Baird, raising our babies together and sending them back and forth between our houses like we got to do growing up visiting our grandparents.
Eight years ago, we thought those baby years were about to begin together. We got a short taste of what it would be like to be pregnant at the same time.
(I also didn't quite make it to Baird, but I made it to DFW which is 3.5 hours closer than I was.)
We didn't know then how different her road to motherhood would look, or how many years I'd spend praying that she'd get to experience this too.
And now, 8 years later I walk into her house and there she is.
Miss Ava Kate.
I had to remind myself multiple times during my stay that this is real life. Watching my aunt and uncle love on their first grandbaby they dreamed of having, and seeing my cousin nurse her baby and absolutely ROCK pregnancy, birth, and motherhood. So surreal!
I may not be in the newborn trenches with her, but now I get to walk alongside my cousin through the hardest and sweetest days, love on her baby, answer the "is this normal" texts, and relive just a little bit of those baby days!
