Wednesday Cuddle

Edie,
  Just a quick post about a sweet moment that happened today. When I got home your daddy had to go get a hair cut so it was just you and me. You were SO tired but it was only 5:30 and that's awfully late for you to go to bed so I tried to keep you awake. I took you out to the front porch and set you out on my lap facing out to look at the yard. After a while you started to get fidgety so I turned you around to face me and leaned back, to let you raise up on your elbows on my stomach (you love to do this).  You started moving your head around and then some people out for a walk passed by. I focused on them for just a moment and then I looked down and you were SOUND asleep on my chest, arms and legs flopped around my sides. It was such a sweet moment and it made me smile. We stayed there for a little while so that I could soak up this time with you and I hated to move you!

 Thank you for the moment, baby!

Love,
Mama

3 months, already!

Sweet E,
 I cannot believe that you'll be turning 3 months in just a few hours. The last several weeks have flown by and you've grown so much, it is unbelievable. I am ending my maternity leave in one week and my heart breaks as I realize that I will likely never get such a wonderful and intimate opportunity with you again. Although my heart is breaking in a way that I never thought possible, I've also been joyously reflecting on all the last the last 12 weeks.

• You've rolled over stomach to back a few times, although it's not a common occurrence yet. 

• The way you position your leg and lean, I don't think it will be long before you roll over back to stomach! And your dad and I fear that moment because we're all still dependent on your sleep sack for both naps and night time sleeping!

• You've found your hands and I love the way you hold them <3

• It's a joke with us and Nana and PopPop that you HATE Rt. 3-- you still seem to like your carseat and the car but you cry a lot of times when we sit at lights.. and that seems to happen a lot on Rt 3!
• You've really started to "talk" with "ooohs" -- sometimes you really get going and you lift your head back and let out the "oooooo"s.

• Your smile is absolutely precious and contagious! It's impossible to see you smile and not want to smile right back at you. 

• Nana has come to stay with you twice and you've loved both times! The first time was especially helpful for me- she helped me get you on napping schedule, which was a game changer for you AND me. It's been great to see the relationship that Nana and PopPop want to have with you.

• It's been neat to watch you start to really enjoy your piano play mat. You now look at and talk to yourself. Tonight you REALLY kicked those piano keys and swung your arms at the dangly toys!

• We've taken you out in the boppy while we've grilled out. it's been fun to have you out there with us!

• You've started to sleep in your crib like a big girl! At first, Daddy and I slept upstairs in the guest room so that we could hear you but around March 3, we actually moved downstairs to our room and that's where we've been ever since. I think we're all sleeping better now!

• Since my last post you have slept through the night! It's not every night, but a few times you've slept from around 7 or 8pm to 4 or 5am! Usually though, you wake up around 1 or 2am and then again at 6 or 7am. The first night you slept through the night it happened to be the first night we slept downstairs and I slept HORRIBLY because I kept waking up thinking that any minute you'd wake up crying. Then.. when you didn't wake up I was convinced that something was wrong. Around 4am I decided that I just had to check on you.. so I went upstairs to make sure you were breathing and then came back downstairs to inform your Daddy that you were, in fact, still alive. 
• You still LOVE bath time. In fact, you've started to cry when we take you out and put you on the changing table to put PJs on!

• Speaking of your changing table, with the exception of post-bath time, you LOVE the changing table! You love to look and smile at Baby Fox, Raccoon, Penguin, and Bear, Baby Pepp and Hera, and Sophie. 

• One of my favorite times of the day is when I come to get you for the first time in the morning. When I come around the corner, you almost always have a big smile for me and it makes me so happy!
• You used to love cuddling on your Daddy's chest..and he LOVED that you loved to cuddle! In the last couple of months you haven't wanted to do that.. but tonight I brought you down to say goodnight and you laid on his chest and sucked on your fingers for just a few minutes. It made his day <3 

• My nightime routine with you currently is: bathtime, say good night to daddy, get a bottle, sing "Distant Melody" from the musical Peter Pan, and then sing and hum "My Old Kentucky Home."
• You really follow us around the room with your eyes. We still struggle to get you to look at us when we speak to you or make loud noises. 
• Just withing the last few days you've started to grab and hold on to toys! Okay... just one toy in particular! It's a pair of maracas.. it's so funny to watch you shake them around!

• I've enjoyed the simple things that we've been able to do on my maternity leave- walks on Fredeicksburg's Canal Path, tackling the Wegman's, little shopping trips just to get out of the house, walks around the neighborhood.
• Twelve weeks ago today we had never met. All I knew about you was that you had hair that flapped around, you got the hiccups a lot, and that you were going to make your grand appearance very shortly! Even though I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing most of the time, I do feel like you and I have had a wonderful opportunity to figure each other out and start to get to know one another.

Happy 3-month Eve, baby! 

Love,

Mama

Your First Smile

Edie,
 This week has been so exciting! We've started to see what we think are real smiles (aka not gas-related smiles) and it makes us so happy! A few nights ago we did not have a good night at all but that morning I was holding you and you gave me several big grins and they melted my heart and wiped away all the frustration!  You still don't smile very often but we're so excited when you do! We look forward to every single grin you give us in the future! <3

Love, Mama

Your First Easter

Edie,
 This past weekend we celebrated your first Easter! Your dad and I actually bought three very cute outfit options for the day: a onesie with the words "I Wanna Dance With Some Bunny" written on it with a matching pair of polka dot pants with a bunny face on the butt and two really adorable dresses. Well... you are too small for all three! So we went with another dress that is cute as well- a white dress with mutli-colored polka dots and matching little shorts.  We put a very cute pink cardigan over top and had intended on completing the outfit with white tights but.. once again... they were a little big on you so we skipped that as well.

  Even though we didn't go to church that morning, while we were getting ready, your dad and I played and sang along with a bunch of songs that we grew up listening to at Easter church services. Up From the Grave He Arose, Old Rugged Cross, Because He Lives. I think for both of us they remind us of our childhood and renders up sweet memories of small churches, sunlight beaming in through the church windows, Easter lilies lining the front of the sanctuary, family, and simple melodies sung from the heart and souls of those seated around us in the pews.

 We packed you up and drove the two hours to Aunt Cindy and Uncle Bernarr's house in Stuart's Draft. Your dad called Papaw, Mamaw, and Aunt Shauna on the way and they all asked about you and he proudly described your Easter outfit.

 I held you as we walked into Aunt Cindy's house and we were greeted with lots of excitement, hugs, and kisses. The love your family had for you the second we entered the room was tangible.  You had already met Nana, Aunt Cindy, and Uncle Bernarr, but this was the first time you'd ever met so many of your other family members: Great Uncle Billy and JoJo, Uncle Ed, Aunt Lindsey, cousins Alyssa, Christopher, Claire, Brooke, Kailyn, Wyatt, Mary Katherine, Alan, and Eva, and Aunt Cindy and Uncle Ed's dad and step mom: Eddie and Brenda. You were passed around from loving arms to loving arms the whole time we were there! We had a wonderful meal of ham, deviled eggs, rolls, green beans, potato salad, broccoli casserole, and more. After lunch there were several rounds of egg hunts with 200 eggs to be found!  You even "participated" :)  You received a cute little lamb from Nana and PopPop and a toothbrush and Pez dispenser from Aunt Cindy and Uncle Bernarr.

We said our goodbyes and headed over to Great Grandma Edith's house, where she and PopPop were waiting for us! She always seems to light up when she sees you- it's clear that even at 97 years of age she loves you very much! We talked about your outfit, how much you've grown, and your little feet.  We then all joked about how you, PopPop, and Great Grandma Edith were having a yawning contest. In the end I think it was a tie between you and Great Grandma Edith. Any time spent with her is a treasure and seeing the two of you together makes my heart full.

The next day, your PopPop told and I were talking on the phone and he informed me that on Easter after I texted him to let him know that we were leaving Aunt Cindy's and would be there in 5 minutes, he told Great Grandma Edith that you and I were on the way. He said that a few minutes later she turned her head as if she was talking to someone and said "Daddy, our granddaughter is coming to see us."  We can't really be sure if she was talking about me or you- but that doesn't matter. There aren't really the words to express what this means to me. Your Great Granddaddy Phil (who I called Pop) was one of the most astounding men to ever walk this earth (although I am biased of course). He loved his family more than anything and I know that his adoration for his grandchildren was something that could not matched. We lost him 2013 but I think about him all the time. I think about him whenever I have a song in my heart and it comes out in a whistle, when I tell you "Hey, hey, hey," any time there's a delicious chocolate dessert to be had, or whenever there's a good story that's made better with just a little (or a lot) of embellishment. Just like with your Great Grandma Julia, when he passed there was a hole left in my heart and life that will never be filled. But I like to think that he is here watching over you and loves you just as much as if he were still with us in person; to know that Great Grandma Edith spoke to him to announce our arrival only strengthens my gut feeling that he keeps her company and was beaming with pride as you entered the room with your poofy red hair and little polka dot dress.

                                      

Thank you for a wonderful first Easter, baby!

Love,
Mama