Letters To My Children | February 2018

Letters To My Children | February 2018

february 15, 2018

dear babies,

and just like that, we are a family of four!  and you are sisters!  after months of wondering boy or girl, we became parents to two girls on a monday night in january.  it’s such an amazing feeling to say, “our girls” when we talk about you and there is nothing in the world better than being your parents.  we are learning every day how to be parents to two babies under two years old and, honestly, each day we learn that it is simply blissful.  sure there are times when it seems like you both are trying to compete for who can dirty the most diapers in a day, but our days are filled with more smiles than they are tears.  we have been blessed with two very sweet baby girls who, thank goodness, rarely seem to cry at the same time.

to my oldest:

in an instant, you grew.  you will always be my tiny baby, but the moment we brought your sister home…you looked so much older to us.  becoming a big sister took a day or two to get used to.  while you love your little sister and are very curious about her, you were a little sad that mama and daddy were gone for a few days in the hospital.  it took you a few weeks to realize that we weren’t going to leave again and you were happy once it was just you, mama and baby getting back into our new normal of a daily routine.

being away from you while we were in the hospital was one of the hardest things for us.  while we were happy to meet your little sister and have that time, you were so missed every second.  when we finally left the hospital to come home to you, we were so ready to see you and to begin our new life as a family of four.  everything about those first moments of just the four of us where beautiful and will always be cherished.  i will always remember how daddy cuddled you while mama cuddled your baby sister and we all sat together to introduce you girls to one another.  we had been waiting for that moment for a long time and it was just what we hoped it would be.  your little sister brought you a big sister basket of goodies to enjoy, and you have loved playing with your new things.

your first month as a big sister has made us very proud.  while you were a little anxious about being close to mama and daddy, you were and are always really happy and sweet towards your little sister.  you love saying, “baby” and “baby night night,” and you love to rub her little belly and lovingly and softly say, “shhhhhh!” when she is rather fussy.  it makes my heart so happy to see you so sweet with your sister.  i, and everyone else, always knew you would be such a sweetheart of a big sister and you sure proved us all right.  we are so proud of you!

while these days are now different and our new everyday routine has changed a little, you have taken it all with grace.  you have shown mama patience when i’ve needed to feed the baby or given me a hug or sweet kiss when i have needed one.  it is so amazing that you always seem to know what i need, just like i know what you need.  it seems like your sweet spontaneous kisses and hugs always come in the moments when i need a little love.  it’s like you are saying, “mama, i know you have spit up all over your shirt and you are so tired, but we love you so much.”  you girls are my little angels and you always keep me smiling, despite the spit up and the endless dirty diapers.

becoming a mama to another little girl reminds me of all the wonderful moments we shared with you during your first year.  maybe it is because your little sister looks exactly like you!  seeing her is like looking at you!  it’s as if we are reliving our first year all over with you again, and we are blessed to do it twice with a second beautiful girl.

as you will always know, we love you so much and can’t even tell you have remarkably proud we are of you.  you have taken on being a big sister will grace and you are, without a doubt, the best big sister our little girl could dream of.  she is so lucky to have you to look up to, to chase after, to share clothes and shoes with in her teen years, to stay up late talking to, and to create endless memories with.  you, my sweet girl, are one of a kind and mama loves you so incredibly much.

to my littlest:

the moment daddy told me, “it’s a girl,” i thought sisters!  having grown up with two sister of my own, i can tell you that the best is yet to come.  not only are you blessed with the best big sister God could give you, but you are bound to have a special childhood that only sisters will know.  you are going to love everything about having a sister and she will be someone you can laugh with and rely on both today and for the rest of your life.  there will be things that only the two of you will tell one another, or understand and there is truly nothing like having a sister.  you are so lucky!

today you are one month old and i cannot believe we have already spent 4 weeks as a family of four.  it seems like the first weeks disappeared in the blink of an eye, but it isn’t surprising as these first weeks seemed to have been so busy.  while i will write out your birth story later so it is perfectly documented, know that you entered into this world perfectly.  and fast!  our first days in the hospital were beautiful and we will never forget them.  the only thing better than our first few days in the hospital with you was the first few days at home with you, where we introduced you to your big sister and began our new life as a family of four.

you, my sweet girl, had a little bout of jaundice that made our first week home a little stressful.  we had to go to a few additional pediatric check ups and you had to have a few blood draws at the hospital to monitor your jaundice levels.  luckily, the levels weren’t high enough to be admitted to the hospital for light therapy but it was still stressful, none the less.  the only way to get rid of it was to poo and pee it out.  which meant mama nursed you like crazy, every two hours promptly, for the first couple of weeks to get your diapers going.  while it seems to be under control now, i still worry about it from time to time, as i am a natural worrier.  daddy always reassures me that your color looks great and we are reassured with your wonderful weight gain and number of diapers that you are on the right track.

you definitely slept your way through the first few weeks of life and, honestly, just woke up this week!  you are now having more awake time, where you love to look around the room and try to lift your head up.  you are having more fussy moments during your awake time now and definitely went through your first growth spurt.  but you love being cuddled into mama’s baby wrap and it seems to cozy you just enough to calm you and encourage you to sleep away.

as i told your sister, you look exactly like her!  the only thing different about you two as babies is that your hair is blonde and her hair was darker when born.  knowing this, i made sure to take off your hospital hat during your newborn pictures because, if i didn’t see your hair, i knew i would surely mix up your newborn photos with your sister’s in the years ahead.  🙂  that is how much you look alike!  knowing this, we are so excited to watch you grow this year to see who you end up looking like.  if there is one thing for sure, you are a smiley girl.  you are trying to smile, from time to time, and we can’t wait for you to officially do it!

you are perfectly you and you are your own person.  even though you are taking after your sister in looks and sweet personality so far, we know that you will become your own sweet self and we are so excited to continue getting to know you, sweet girl.  know that you are loved immensely by daddy, me and your big sister.  she is going to teach you so many things in the year ahead and you are bound to have some of the sweetest moments that only sisters can share.  we are so happy to finally have met you and this first month with you has been everything.  happy one month, dear girl!

you, our sweet girls, are so incredibly loved and daddy and i will spend the rest of our days telling you and showing you just how thankful we are for the both of you.  often, throughout this past month, we have just stared at the two of you and told one another repeatedly how blessed we are with two wonderful baby girls.  daddy is always telling us all how lucky he is to be surrounded by such beautiful girls and daddy and i love one another even more today because we have the two of you.  having the two of you has shown us that love and family means everything to us.  not a day has gone by this past month where we haven’t been unbelievably thankful for this life of ours and for the blessing that is the two of you.  in all that we do, we will always love you with everything we are and we will spend our life showing you what it means to be a family.

in our dining room, we have a quote on our letter board saying, “a happy family is but an earlier heaven.”  and that quote is everything.  we are living in heaven today with you two girls, as you make us so happy.  life as we know it is just what we hoped and we can’t wait to start another day tomorrow loving you.

love, mama

to read more about our everyday with our littles, be sure to check out the posts that are trending below.