The Journey of Parenthood…

Meeting Spear

I will go ahead and get my big regret moment out of the way right at the start. Neither Zach or I thought to ask a nurse to come in and video tape the kids meeting Spear. Ugh I have cried real tears over this!!! Which is probably dumb. I mean most people probably don’t have videos of their kids meeting their siblings for the first time but I have it for all the other kids and I hate, hate, hate that I don’t have it this time around. With all the craziness of the day and how fussy Spear was and how rushed I felt b/c the kids took so long to get there it just didn’t cross my mind!

Us forgetting to get it recorded though makes me that much more thankful for Alex Michele Photography being there. I truly sat back and just ENJOYED the moment. I really, truly lived it. I didn’t worry about getting my camera (clearly I didn’t even think about it b/c duh no video ha!). I’m so, so thankful we had her there. She captured it all so beautifully. These images are simply perfection. You can feel the joy when you look at them!

Our journey to Spear wasn’t just about Zach and I. It was about our entire family. I remember writing the letter to Mama E when we submitted our profile book for her to view and in that letter I mentioned our kids. That they are just as involved in this process as we are and that they pray for their future sibling every night. Once we were matched sweet Britt would constantly pray “please don’t let the birth mom change her mind.”

The anticipation for this baby. This sibling. This moment. Was HUGE. Especially for Kye and Britt being old enough to have that deeper understanding about things. They were over the moon excited for Spear’s arrival. They did not know his name prior to birth and Zach always joked that his name was going to be “Ju Ju B Tick Tack” ha! Kye really wanted him to have a name like his. He wanted him to be named Tye so their names would go together or Luke after Star Wars. I have to say I was SO pumped for Kye especially to meet Spear. Seeing the instant love he had for Tess when she was born was just SO precious and I knew his reaction with Spear would be so special.

A lot of people talk about age differences and I will say I LOVE having the older children with the wider age gaps. Kye with Tess was adorable because he was old enough to “get it” and with Spear both Britt and Kye were old enough to understand how truly special this moment was for our family!

Zach’s dad was not happy about it but we had all non-siblings wait in a waiting area. We wanted to treat Spear’s arrival into our family as closely as we could to how the others happened and we ALWAYS have alone time with just the siblings. Those first moments as a family. Focusing on the kids and each other and just allowing our family to have that special time was important to us. I’m SO glad we did it exactly this way.

I thought I felt complete when those papers were signed. But NOTHING compares to the feeling I felt seeing all of my babies TOGETHER for the first time.

I encourage you to scroll through these slowly as I believe you can feel the moment through the images. You can literally feel the joy we all felt!

(Special thanks to Magically Made Tees for the adorable sibling shirts)

This is such a powerful image to me. My first born and my last. My sons. My oldest and the baby he’s prayed for so fervently. The brother he’s always wanted. 

Telling them his name 🙂 They were glad it’s not Ju Ju B Tick Tack 😉

Such a proud big sister.

I can literally hear her saying “Aw! He’s so cute!”

First photo as a family of SIX!

JOY.

Tessie took to him right away. I was the most nervous about how she’d do since she is so young and didn’t have a growing tummy to physically understand that a baby was coming but it made no difference. He’s her brother! 

My everything!

I just adore all the love in their eyes! 

Our Big 3. 

2 boys. 2 girls. Everything I ever dreamed of right here!

They ALL wanted to take turns getting to be the one to hold him. He’s never going to be lacking in the attention department 😉 

I tried to make sure to connect with each child during that moment. I always want to make sure EACH of my babies knows just how SPECIAL they are, especially in moments like these where it’s easy to get caught up focusing on one child. We had been away from the kids for a couple of days and I knew I was about to be away from them for much, much longer. I also knew that Tess would be the one making the biggest adjustment going from “the baby” to “the big sister.”

We’ve now added three siblings to our family and never once have we dealt with an ounce of jealousy. The love they all have for each other starts the moment they meet and it’s never faded. I love having so many kids. I love the love they all share and seeing their bonds grow over time. It’s so awesome to have Spear here and see these new relationships form!

I can’t even handle it. 

We spent a little time together and then Zach told his family they could come in. Mr. Rusty, Mrs Charlotte and Casey all made the drive down to meet Spear which meant a lot to us. This decision to adopt is a different path than most people take to add to their family and it has meant a different path for the extended family as well. It’s been so awesome to see how welcoming Zach’s parents and siblings have been to having Spear. I remember Casey saying “It feels just the same! He’s my nephew!” They love him like they did all the others and THAT means the WORLD. 

We tried to let the kids say the name. It was HILARIOUS because we tried to let Tess do it first. We said “What’s his name Tess?” and she said “Tick Tack!” hahaha!!!

Kye and Britt couldn’t really remember the name so we just kinda told them 🙂 I don’t think it was a HUGE surprise that we used Spear even though we hadn’t told anyone, as soon as they heard it it just made sense!

Showing off my necklace 🙂

Kye has just the biggest heart. He was SO pumped when he came in to meet Spear but after the initial excitement died down the emotions all hit him. He couldn’t stop crying. The men on my side of the family are emotional and I think it’s awesome that Kye inherited this soft side. He was crying his happy tears. Tears of thankfulness. Joy. Appreciation. And tears too of just the wait being OVER! I think the contentment of being complete wasn’t just felt by Zach and I but also felt by Kye. He’s waited so long for this moment!

The crew!

The guys 🙂 

Complete. 

Whole.

Content.

The Parker 6!


You can see our past sibling meetings here:

Meeting Tess
Meeting Britt
Introducing Kye to the family 

Thank you so much again to Alex Michele Photography!

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Emily Parker
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