In spring of 2014 I woke up from a dream in which I had found out I was pregnant with our 3rd child and we had named the baby Zealand. I remember waking up from that dream thinking well that was odd and I bet Ian would hate that name there is no way he will ever go for it. To satisfy my curiosity I sent him a text that read something like this, “I had a crazy dream last night, we were pregnant and we named the baby Zealand.” He responded with a simple question, “was it a boy?” With a simple “yes” from me and an “I like it” from him, Zealand had unofficially became our next boy name. I wish I could go back to that message and check the date because for all I know he may have been safe inside at that point. On January 26, 2015 Zealand Alexander entered our world.
The name Zealand had a special place in my heart and for me it was like a commemorative memorial stone for my time spent in New Zealand with YWAM back in early 2009. To me his name was like a living marker for a place where God had altered me, my biggest transformation to date at that point was from my time in YWAM and now with much gusto I can say my greatest alteration has been since Zealand’s arrival. As I prayed for the life inside of me throughout his pregnancy I would see waves with “breakthrough” written in them. I heard “zealous one” over and over. I strategically picked Alexander because it means defender of men (and its Ian’s best friend’s name). He has been all of these things and more. The boy is filled with zeal for life in a way I can not describe, he leaves breakthrough in his wake and he will fight you if you hurt the one he loves. I could not be more proud.
As a mom I could continue gushing OR I could inundate you with images, I figure everyone would prefer the latter so…
He was my only babe with jaundice and so we were hanging out in the van while chasing the sun.
Levi instantaneously embraced his role of big brother. He would ask for Zealand to be in his bed all the time.
Zealand quickly embraced the brother life and would fuss unless he was by his brothers!
Nothing quite like father son talks over pickles at Twisted Root.
Then there was that time I dyed my hair and Zealand didn’t take it all to well. Poor thing.
Biggest brothers and laundry baskets for the win!
I was nervous at first on how Zealand would react to his little brother but thankfully he embraced his big brother role quickly! Phew!
Then last spring when we had matching shiners, both of which were given by the Z-man himself.
All of our boys LOVE them some fashion. Those polar bear pajamas are his all time favorite.
If you have made it this far, thank you for indulging me and my slight Zealand obsession. I hope you enjoyed taking in the sweetest 3 year old I know. Happy Birthday Zealand Alexander!!! I love you little dude more than you know!!
