When Celeste Anderson, a single mom of two teenagers in Texas, learned she was expecting her third child, she felt scared. Anderson wasn’t planning for another baby — and how would her sons react to the news?
“I knew it was going to be a lot of change,” Anderson, 37, tells TODAY.com.
She had nothing to worry about.
In a now-viral TikTok video, Anderson's sons J.J., 17, and Tylen, 15, are shown coming home from school and smothering their 2-month-old sister, Serenity, with kisses. Anderson points out that Serenity is sleeping, but they refuse to put her down. At one point, the brothers are practically playing of tug-of-war over who gets to to hold her.
That same scene unfolds every day, according to Anderson, a certified nursing assistant.
“They walk in and kiss my forehead and then it’s all about Serenity,” she explains. “They help me with diaper blowouts and bath time. The other night, she slept in Tylen’s bed and he was on the floor. It was the most beautiful thing. They want to be with her all the time.”
Anderson recalls how Tylen insisted on coming to her first ultrasound appointment.
“Having him there by my side and listening to her heartbeat was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life," she says.
The high school freshman proudly taped Serenity's sonogram to his dresser. Throughout Anderson’s pregnancy, both Tylen and J.J would talk to their unborn sister.
“We always had love between us three, but it’s only deepened since Serenity was born,” Anderson shares.
J.J. and Tylen were in the delivery room when Serenity came into the world on Aug. 25. Anderson confesses she didn’t know how it would go — after all, giving birth is messy.
“I wasn't sure how it would go, but they refused to leave my side,” she says.
And lucky for little Serenity, they'll never never leave her side either.