Letters To My Children | June 2018
Letters To My Children | June 2018
thursday, june 21, 2018
my babies,
more and more lately, i am enjoying these letters because they help me remember what this particular season of motherhood looks like. i can’t wait for you to read them one day, as i have written them every month since i was pregnant with big sister! right now, you are both sleeping soundly as i edit your beautiful sister session from this month and put my love for you into words. last night, as i was closing my eyes, i said to your daddy, “i just love our girls so much.” to which he replied, “i know, me too!” it’s funny to say it, but it is overwhelming how much i love you. and last night was another late night scrolling through photos of you, while you slept. it’s as if i miss you the second you go to sleep at night and must relive every moment of your life, through photos. daddy will say, “are you looking at pictures of the girls, again!?” and laugh as i nod sweetly back and get nostalgic.
to my oldest:
every moment of the day is a learning opportunity for you and you crave learning. your current favorite thing to do is look around our environment and name everything that you know, while pointing. yesterday, we sat outside on the ground playing with chalk while daddy washed his truck and you kept looking around saying, “tree!” “truck!” “wash!” “snake!” (wait, snake!?) “color!” “sky!” “sun!” “hot!” “shoes!” “sit!” and so on and so on. and you do this when we are riding in the car, reading a story or playing in the playroom. daddy says that you are experiencing a language explosion right now and it’s so true! you love to talk and it’s simply awesome. lately, all animals have a -y at the end and their noises are repeated when you talk, and you have adopted this all on your own. “puppy, woof-woof!” “horsey, neigh-neigh!” “sheepy, ba-ba!”
last week found us at the doctors office because you stuck a noodle up your nose! you sure know how to make mama panic, and it was a family field trip to see the doctor and get a million stickers from the nurses who just adored every bit of you. by the time the doctor came, you must have swallowed the noodle down the back of your throat because it was nowhere to be seen. good golly, girl. it’s really the only mischievous thing that you do, but i hope this nose phase ends soon.
you are so completely in love with your little sister, it’s so heart warming! this just in, you are obsessed with hugging her. and holding hands with her. and helping her to do everything! and giving her kisses! you love to grab her hand and show her how to grab toys or turn the page of a book. you are such a helper and she loves each and every second that you spend with her. you are the first one to tell her goodnight and the first one to charge into her room once nap time is over. you open her door, run over to her crib and happily chant her name. you are both all smiles when you do that, as you have a little mini reunion from your couple of hours apart.
we are having such a fun summer so far, going out to ice cream with daddy and spending last weekend on the ferris wheel at the pier. you really enjoyed going high up into the air and waved at everyone when we passed them on the ground, before going up into the air again. after, we went to dinner together and, as always, you and your sister created “oooohs and awes!” in the restaurant with your cuteness. we are so proud of you girls and how well behaved you are. daddy and i love taking you out to eat because it is not only a fun experience but it allows us to practice our manners. you are so perfect with your “please’s” and “thank you’s.”
we have started a summer curriculum together and we are loving our time together. once your little sister goes down for her morning nap, we do our calendar, read a story, look at the weather outside and do an activity. right now we are learning about apples and you are having so much fun having one on one time with mama. you are learning your shapes and, so far, you know oval, diamond, star, circle and heart! we just started learning our colors and you know blue and pink. you have learned to say your name and age and can already count to five! you have also mastered sorting! mama keeps trying to give you learning objectives to strive for this summer, but you are quick to learn and master the goals we set for you. and most importantly, you are having a lot of fun learning which makes us so proud.
we are working our way through our summer bucket list and having so much fun! we love playing with sidewalk chalk and you love it when mama draws shapes for you to name. when i draw a smiley face, you say, “happy!” we just bought popsicles over the weekend so we are going to let you try one of those for the first time after dinner sometime this week. we think you are ready for your first tricycle so we are going to get you one for this summer! we are still deciding on the perfect one and can’t wait to surprise you with it!
our days together are just so sweet lately. we play on the floor a lot so your little sister can roll around and you love to come up to me and give me big hugs and kisses. it makes me feel like the most special and loved person in the world when you do that. and then i have to return the love with kissing you only a million times in a row, which you laugh like crazy! love you so so much, sweet girl. you truly are the sweetest.
to my littlest:
happy 5 months! it’s like you are an entirely new baby lately! so many milestones, where do i start!? you are an excellent sleeper! you take two really great naps during the day and sleep long stretches at night before wanting a little feed. once fed, you fall asleep really good again all on your own. you have learned how to roll over from your back to your belly and love to sleep on your belly every once in awhile. you really love to sleep on your side or on your back with your arms up. daddy laughs because when he checks the baby monitor in the morning before leaving for work, you and your sister are both fast asleep with your arms above your heads. and then he looks over at mama, asleep in bed, with my arms above my head too. i guess you girls get it from me!
you are such a great swimmer! in fact, both you and your sister are both the best in your class. you have a few more weeks in your swim class before you will graduate to the next level and you are so ready! it’s so great to see how much you love to swim and love the water. and you look so darn cute in your swimming suit!
we started feeding you solids around 4 months but you didn’t seem too eager. we decided to hold off for a few weeks and, when we tried again just before you were 5 months old, you were much more interested! you quickly became good at swallowing your food instead of spitting it out, as you learned to keep your mouth closed once you got a spoonful of food. you like to eat rice cereal and avocado. today, you tried a sweet potato puree for the first time…which you liked! it was your sister’s absolute favorite puree so we are thinking you are going to love it more and more!
you are now sleeping in your own room! we have a bedtime routine of pajamas, feeding, books, prayer and bedtime and you are such a great sleeper! when it comes to books, you love them just like your sister! you love to look at the pictures with wide eyes and sit patiently while you listen to the story. you love story time with mama before bedtime and really love it when mama reads stories to you and big sister in the playroom. you love it when your sister sits next to you for story time and you try to grab her arm and hair, which makes her giggle. even when it seems like you have quite a handful of her hair, she just laughs and laughs. it’s so great how much you get along!
when it comes to breastfeeding, you have completely mastered it! i have both of you girls on such a great schedule that your feedings are naturally timed so that you know mealtimes really well. we naturally came up with the schedule ourselves, as i learned when you liked to eat and sleep. you eat really great, when it is your idea! so i have gotten us on a great schedule, based on your feeding cues. you have been on this great routine for about month and it’s been really harmonious. in the middle of the night, when you are ready to eat you will start talking away in your crib. it is really funny! i will know you are hungry because i will hear you jabbering away! then, once you are full you will start humming. it’s so so funny! it’s your way of telling me, “thanks mama! i am all done now and ready to go back to sleep!”
when you aren’t asleep, you are smiling. your daddy and i are completely convinced that YOU ARE THE HAPPIEST BABY THERE EVER WAS. seriously. you smile so wide that we often wonder how it even possible to smile that big. and you smile all day long. even all night long. sometimes, i have to look away during the night feeds because if i look at you, you will want to smile instead of eat! you are just too happy. i am so blessed to have you. your happiness is just so humbling. whenever i worry about little things that honestly don’t matter, your smiles gently remind me that our family is the most important and that we have so much to smile about. for that, i am so thankful.
being a mama and loving you both is what i was made to do. i love our days together and do everything i can to slow down and savor our time together, daily. thank you both for being the best baby girls and for teaching me too be my best self every day. i feel like, even though i spend most of my day teaching you both new things and skills, you are equally teaching me things. like how to slow down and take it all in. like how to not worry about the little things, but simply enjoy today. like how our family is where it is at!
love, mama