Letters To My Children | August 2018

Letters To My Children | August 2018

Letters To My Children | August 2018 | Bethadilly Photography | www.bethadilly.comLetters To My Children | August 2018 | Bethadilly Photography | www.bethadilly.com

thursday, august 16, 2018

dear babies,

i thank the Lord every single day for your little lives and for giving you to us.  having babies has reinforced the idea that life is a pure gift and we should be thankful each and every day for our family.  so i am.  i am thankful for every diaper, every nursing session, every early wake up, every never ending chorus of “baby shark,” and every set of sticky fingers.  i am so thankful!

as happens each month, you are both turning into completely new girls.  each of you has grown so much in just 30 days and i am always so astonished by how much growth can occur in the short span of a few weeks.  every single day is a new adventure full of learning in your eyes and your fast growth has me clinging onto every single day in an effort to keep you little.  for i know tomorrow you will be older and a little different than today.  sometimes i literally just stare at you and breathe in your baby smells in an effort to slow down time.  they say that there is nothing that drags time like waiting for water to boil or waiting for paint to dry, so i am trying it out by staring at each of you to see if the time will slow, even if just a little bit.

to my oldest:

we’ve long lost count of the number of words you know, as your vocabulary is absolutely huge!  not only are you talking in 3 or 4 word phrases, but you are singing songs and learning at least a couple new words every single day.  your favorite songs are “the wheels on the bus”, “this little piggy went to market”, and “shake it off.”  you love to talk to alexa and tell her to play music for you or to stop playing music.  🙂  our playroom is often full of disney music and giggling and it is the most beautiful sound.  as for colors, you know every single color now!  (except gray, but we haven’t introduced it yet).  you are now very descriptive when you talk and say, “mama white shirt!” or “puppy brown hair!”  you love identifying colors and showing off how much you know.

i love way you say “fuh-fly” (butterfly), “pock-ette” (pocket), “ma melon” (watermelon), “fa font” (elephant), and “shurl” (squirrel).  since your great grandma is Shirley, it sounds like you are trying to say her name when you say “shurl”.  because of that, we have lovingly named the squirrels who come eat from our bird feeder, Pat and Shurl.  (Pat is your great grandfather whom you won’t meet this side of Heaven but whom i am sure gave you to biggest hug and kiss before sending you to mama and daddy).  mama had dreams about him often while pregnant with you and, in one dream, danced with him and asked him to tell me if you were a boy or girl!  he said he was tempted to tell me because he was tired of watching me read old wives tales about gender prediction, which i did daily while we were expecting you.  i am certain he and Papa Joe held you and your sister so tight before we held you in our own arms.

you are very empathetic to your little sister and when she rarely cries you will say, “sister, no cry” in the sweetest, comforting voice.  usually she cries if she loses sight of mama or if it is too close to bedtime and you are quick to comfort her, if only by getting close to her to let her know you are right there.  you love to rock her in her nursery chair and you laugh like crazy when she tries to pull your hair.  if she tries to pinch you, you calmly say, “no, please.”  everything about your mannerisms are so sweet and polite.

we have been enjoying a lot of new friends lately and you love having friends over to our house.  you immediately take your friends’ hand when they arrive and take them to your playroom.  you are very good at sharing and allowing others to play with your toys, as you say, “share.”  mama is so proud of how you share so nice, especially at your young age.  you are quick to share your things with your sister and if you don’t necessarily want to share something, you will go to her toy box and get her a toy of her own.  i love that about you.  it’s definitely okay to not want to share everything you have, and i love that you offer an alternative to your sister so she can have fun, even if it is by playing with something different.

you had your very first dentist appointment last week and you were very brave.  the night before, mama practiced saying “ahhhhhh!” and counting your teeth.  you were really excited to see “the teeth doctor,” but were quickly over it once you saw the dentist chair.  thankfully they had a flat screen tv on the ceiling for you to watch and they put on your favorite show, “little baby bum!”  there were definitely a lot of tears during your cleaning and fluoride, but you got a pretty heart ring with a blue stone on it as a prize at the end.  plus, you got a brand new pink tooth brush!

at this point, you have memorized some of your favorite stories at night time and can name your favorite books.  we let you read books to us at night and you practically know them, word for word.  your daddy and i look at one another with wide eyes, in astonishment mouthing “can you believe this!?”, as you read away.  you are so smart and we really enjoy showing daddy all the new things we learn.  it’s really no wonder, as we started reading books to you every single day when you were about 6 weeks old.  you are teaching your sister to love books too and you both love reading them.

mama surprised you last week by taking you to story time on an actual school bus!  you were so excited as you climbed onto the bus and got to sit with your sister and i on the rumbling bus.  you looked around and around, with such curiosity.  when we got off the bus, we went into the library to say hi to Squirt the turtle and you made mama so proud.  sitting in front of the turtle tank is one step stool.  you sat down and watched Squirt swim around and when a second child came up to the tank, you popped off the seat and happily offered the stool to the other child, saying nicely, “sit!”

in that moment, i realized how right we are raising you.  while i love how smart you are and how you are so independent, my favorite thing about you is your kindness.  you are so kind!  and if there is one thing that we truly want for you and your sister, it is for you both to be kind humans.  to put others first and offer a smile.  to sit with the lonely child in the lunchroom.  to always include others.  to be empathetic.

so far, you are completely impressing us with your social skills.  your calm reactions humble me as a mama and your eagerness to learn and help thrills us.  you are happiest when you can be a helper throughout our day, whether it is helping unload the dishwasher with mama, getting your little sister a toy, putting your cup in the sink upon finishing your milk, or cleaning up the playroom, you are so happy when we acknowledge your helpfulness.  i love you so much, sweet girl.

to my littlest:

oh, sweet pea…you have been awarded the happiest baby there ever was.  you smile before you open your eyes in the morning and when i peek into your crib, your legs are happily kicking about when you see me.  you are still sporting a toothless grin and it is officially the only thing you have not accomplished faster than your sister (her teeth came in around 5 1/2 months).  i love your little gummy grin and am cherishing it.

you are now sitting up!  mama still likes to be right by you when you are doing it, to offer quick support, but you are getting better and better at it every day.  you are also so close to crawling!  you will get up on your knees and rock back and forth, before plopping down on your belly again.  you army crawl really well and zoom across the room!  gone are the days when i could set you down in one spot and expect you to be there when i return.  you like to scoot towards your sister and grab her shirt, pull her hair or grab her toys.  you do it all with love and she just giggles at you.

i find myself taking in every moment with you, as you are growing so fast.  after your morning feed in the morning, i love to just rock with you in the dark before we get dressed for the day.  i rock you back and forth and just take in your sweet baby smell and kiss your chubby cheeks, long after the feed is over.  i hold you tight and just enjoy the feeling of you being small in my arms.  time is so fleeting and i want to remember this time with you, so i am being so intentional with our moments together.

you are such a great swimmer!  you graduated to a new swim class and you went under the water for the first time 5 days ago!  you did it perfectly and the teacher was so impressed!  you didn’t swallow any water or anything!  after that, you went under water a few more times before we did some back strokes and then played with the balls in the pool.  you love to pick up the balls and then we take them to the basket and plop them in.  mama has to help encourage you to drop the ball into the basket, as you really want to hold onto it and bite it.  but you will understand the game soon enough.

your schedule is golden!  you take two great naps during the day and you sleep about 12 hours at night!  you are asleep by 7:00pm every night, after you have milk, read some stories, and say your prayers.  you sleep until about 5:00am, when you want a little more milk, and then fall quickly back to sleep until around 7:15.  your sister had the exact same schedule at your age, to the T!  she liked that early morning feed too, before going back to sleep for a little while.  mama loves it too because it encourages me to be up for the day and allow myself some time to myself to either do bible study, edit pictures, or work before you both wake for the day.

you are a blondie!  your daddy was really blonde as a young boy and you are his spitting image!  we can’t wait to see you continue to grow and grow.  every day with you has been full of happiness.  your smiles are contagious and good for the soul.

as the summer is coming to an end, we are enjoying talks of the months ahead.  we are excited to be surrounded by family as we celebrate a baptism, make memories as we pick out halloween costumes, enjoy warm evenings on the front step as we wait for the mailman, and give proper names to each animal that enjoys our bird house.  we love you girls dearly.  sometimes i get a little teary eyed thinking about it and allow myself a moment every once in awhile to cry happy tears.  you are both more than we prayed for and i can’t fathom how much God must love us to be blessed with the both of you.  so, so blessed.

love you more than anything,

mama

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