2.1

To my spirited two-year-old,

We weren't sure when your little sister would grace us with her presence, so we celebrated your birthday with family a little late. I don't think you knew the difference. You were simply happy to see everyone.

You love to draw and paint!

You keep saying, "It's not funny!" with your arms crossed and the biggest frown on your face.

You call your blanket your "super duper".

You always ask, "I hold baby?" referring to your little baby sister.

You say, "What's that noise?" every time you hear something, even if you know exactly what it is...like Estella crying.

You've been talking a lot in Spanish. You officially know more than I do. Sigh...with the new baby, you have been watching far too much "Dora the Explorer".

When you call for "Mommy" or "Mama", you make big bubbles in your mouth with your spit.

I love the way you march. You kick your knees high and swing your hips and arms in perfect unison.

You keep saying, "Happy Birthday, mama!" and then you ask, "I open presents?"

You call your Gram "Dip". I have no idea where this came from, but I think it's endearing and your dada thinks it's hilarious.

Your most frequently used saying is, "Hmmmm....let's see."

You love hats and sunglasses. People always ask me how I get you to wear them..."she wants to." is typically my response.

You love to find a little record or disc or book and use them as "skates" around the house.

When your dada or I leave (sometimes just a room) and come back, you have been saying, "Hello mama! I SO miss you." It melts my heart, Greta. I want to bottle you up and keep you just like this for a little while longer.

welcome, my little plum.

To my darling little girl,

You came into this world early on a Sunday morning in August, two nights after a blue moon. Your big sister also decided to come on a Sunday. As did your mama. We named you Estella Plum.

Your dad and I had it narrowed down to three girl's names and every time we said, "Estella", you smiled. You even frowned when we mentioned one. So, in a way, you chose your name. Your dad felt it was right. He thought it was a "magical" one.

Four pushes and you were out. I held you right away. I thought you looked just like your big sister when she was born. You latched onto my right breast and peed on me while you were nursing. I didn't mind.

Daddy cut your umbilical cord. Our midwife, Nancy, said it was the longest she had ever seen. They even measured it...40 in...it was loosely wrapped around your neck a couple times when you came out, "like a necklace", Daddy said.

My sister got to witness your birth, which made it all the more special. I'm grateful she could be there to hold my hand. A sister watching a sister being born.

You met your big sister later that day. She was so excited to see you. She wanted to hold you and she kept pushing on your nose, saying, "Awuuuuuuga!" She was so gentle with you.

You are so beautiful. You are so little. You are so loved, my little Plum.

Love always,

Mama

To my curious 11 month old baby boy

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What a week!  It's no wonder you had trouble sleeping last week:  you got two more teeth (for a total of 4!), you learned how to crawl the stairs and you are starting to wave, "bye-bye".

You, sweet boy, have started getting into everything within your reach.  And, you are pulling yourself up to stand all over the house!

Regarding the stairs, you paid no attention to them and then, one day last week, you were curious and climbed all the way up your first time all alone (with us right behind you of course).  You are a pro going up...now, we just have to teach you to go down!

You love to plant your foot on my chest when you nurse as if to say, "don't go anywhere mommy".  :)

You want your daddy!  Even over milk!  LOL.  I love that you have bonded with daddy.  Daddy loves it, too.  Your brothers did not prefer daddy until they were about 1 1/2.

 

You are still eating everything mommy gives you (primarily fats, meats in tiny pieces, vegetables and fruits, all in tiny pieces).  You feed yourself.  Mommy did not let your brothers do this.  I think we are onto something.  I hope that you keep enjoying foods as much as you do.  You really like greek meatballs (made with lamb and beef, grated lemon, garlic and oregano).  You eat all your veggies.  You like grapes and unsweetened applesauce the best.  We seem to finally have your tummy issues under control.  The autoimmune paleo diet (that the rest of us started to heal from leaky gut syndrome, read more here) seems to be what you needed also.

 

Your brothers adore you and are enjoying getting to know you as much as we are!  I love to see you bond with them.

 

Oh!  How we love you so, sweet boy.

 

two.

To my sweet Greta Maeve...at two years.

When we surprised you with your slide for your second birthday, you were so excited. You kept saying, "Thank you!" You knew it was especially for you and showed such gratitude. That moment will forever stay with your dada and me.

We are still anxiously awaiting the arrival of your baby brother or sister. You both share the same due date...July 18. It melts my heart when you kiss mama's tummy and say, "Hi baby!" or when you sit on mama's tummy to try and slide down my legs and I cry out in pain and you say, "I sorry, mama. I sorry, baby."

You can count to ten in Spanish! I didn't even realize you could...I guess Dora taught you this.

You are kind, Greta. You are so smart. You always say, "Please" and "Thank you". As I write this, I"m crying because I am just so proud of the person you are becoming. You lightly touched my face, looked at me with those big brown eyes of yours and said, "Don't cry, mama. It's o-tay," which of course, melted my heart even more, you sweet girl, you. You continue to amaze me each day and I am just soaking up these last few moments we are having as a family of three and look forward to see what a great big sister you will be to this baby of ours.

23 months

To my almost two-year-old...at 23 months.

Whenever we get home, you walk through the door and announce, "We're home! Hi! I'm Teta!"

You swung on a big girl swing for the first time on the Fourth of July. You did really well until you forgot to hang on and fell right on your face. Never did I jump up and run so fast whilst pregnant to pick you up and console you.

You encourage dancing in our household. "Mus?" You insist on music during meals and afterwards?..."C'mon, Dada, let's dance."

You like to sleep with your baby. You also like to dance with your baby and give baby "dee-dongs".

When you are eating something you really enjoy, you close your eyes and say, "mmmmm...it's good."

You also will close your eyes when you listen to music and just sway and move your hands back and forth with the song.

You hide your Dora or your baby and then you close your eyes, count to five, and say, "ready or not, here I come!" and go retrieve them from wherever you left them.

You say who or what you like. Currently, you like Dada, cookies, ice cream, Papa, mus, beach, baby, and Dora.

You love your water table/ sandbox. You could play with that for hours.

You still like to nurse, which I don't mind. I have to admit I don't love it, but I love that we still share this special bond. I guess we'll see how the tandem nursing will go with the new baby due any day now.

You like to hide beneath my dresses, skirts, and kimonos. You call it your "tree house".

You like to grab mama and dada and say, "I got you!"

When we ask you why, your reply is always, "Because. Because."

To my 10 month old baby boy!

It is wonderful and beautiful to watch you grow.  You started crawling a few weeks ago.  You are taking your time with everything and that is OK with us.  You have started getting up on your hands and feet, with your butt in the air; and, you occasionally like to pull yourself to standing (just a few times so far because you aren't too sure about that).

Oh, my sweet boy, how you love to eat!  You have not slowed down nursing (and that's OK with me); and, you love to eat everything I put in front of you (and many things on the floor that I would rather you not eat).  This morning, you had some tiny wild blueberries for the first time and you loved them.  You often confuse the sign language signals for "more" and "all done"; so, mama is confused, too (sorry, buddy!).  But, you kept wanting "more" of those little blueberries! 

You like freeze dried and frozen bananas, but not so much the fresh ones. 

Just this week, you've started shaking your head (this is something you do for "all done", too...instead of shaking your hands); but, I don't think it means, "no".  I think you just like to do it.  You will mimic us doing it.

You like to carry things; and, since you are crawling, you carry them in your mouth.  We all think this is absolutely adorable.

You love to be with your brothers.  I love that.  I hope it never changes.

We took you to Wisconsin Dells last month (we left the day you turned 10 months old); but, because your brother was sick and we were at daddy's conference, we did not get to experience any waterslides together.  We did lots of other things, though!  You did well on the journey because I rode in the backseat with you.

Just this week, we showed you the Duplo blocks and you love pulling them apart.

Your top four teeth are on their way in.  So, sometimes you drool a lot.  My poor sweet boy.

You seem to put up with a lot of things, having two older brothers; but, when you want mama, you let everyone know.  I think you noticed how putting your hand to your mouth makes the "m" sound; so, I think that is how you tell us you want mama (besides crying).  You seem to only do it when you want to nurse to sleep.

When we ride in the car, you like to hum because you noticed that you make different noises as we go over bumps.

When you see your dad, you (almost, see paragraph above about wanting mama) always get excited.  That is awesome.  Your daddy appreciates it, too.

You are a gift, my sweet.  We all love you so much.