Thursday, October 31, 2013

Life Lessons Month of November: Blog 1- Letters from Mom & Mimi



Dear Ellie,

I’m not sure how time is flying by so fast… I can hardly believe it’s November 1st!  Your brother is 5 weeks old already!  

And now that you are back from Disney and into your routine again, you have definitely realized Will is here to stay.  For the most part, you are kind and loving toward him (still wanting to help feed, grab diapers, and let him be a part of bedtime stories) but once in awhile I think he crimps your style :)

You don’t like it when your Mimi holds Will… I think because you associate Mimi as yours and I am so appreciative that your Mimi respects your feelings.  She always gives Will back to me to turn her attention over to you after you ask her to play.  Not too long ago, I asked your Mimi to hold Will when I ran upstairs to throw in laundry and I could hear you saying to her, “Just leave him!  Put him down and just leave him!” as you were trying to lead Mimi into your playroom!  Last week, you told me that you wanted to change Will’s name to George so I said, “Ok, we can call him George tonight,” (thinking that Will really wouldn’t mind).  And you responded, “Not just for tonight.  Forever!”  Luckily, you forgot about his name change by the next morning.  Two days ago, I called Will, my love bug (which I also affectionately call you too) but you didn’t like sharing your nickname.  “Hey, that’s my name!” you yelled and then said I could call Will, “Just Buggie”.  And yesterday you told me that I needed to yell at Will for being mean to you so I had to ask, “What did he do?”  And you said, “I told him I loved him and he told me that he has to think about if he loved me back!”  I didn’t know how to handle that situation so I pretended to scold Will with, “In this family Will, we love everyone unconditionally so that answer is not ok.”  Oh Ellie!  I know you are trying to understand your new place but know that you could never be forgotten and our feelings for you have only grown deeper and stronger.   

I have to say though that I appreciate all of the well wishes that have been sent our way.  Our family and friends remember you and your new role as a big sister too!  This is such a huge transition for you (and for your Dad and I also).  The people we cherish the most have definitely honored that.  We had cooked meals for the first three weeks of coming home from the hospital and we have been inundated with congratulatory phone calls, texts, messages over Facebook, cards, presents, and guests.  We feel so very loved!

But as for my lesson this week, it stems from not forgetting yourself even in the midst of many changes.  

Life Lessoned Learned #35: Don’t lose site of yourself when your life becomes hectic.

Now that Will is a month old, I feel comfortable leaving him for a few hours.  Taking time for yourself after having a baby is completely necessary to do once in a while (although I love every second with you and your brother, children can make it difficult to remember your other roles aside from being a mom).  So as your Dad watched you and Will, I went over to your Aunt Sammy’s for a GNO (girls’ night out).  Samantha is a wonderful hostess… not only does she have the best homemade food and decorations, her parties are always themed in incredibly creative ways.  So on this night, she used Oprah’s Favorite Things as her subject matter.  All of the fifteen guests were to bring 2 of their favorite items they couldn’t live without but each couldn’t be over $10 (I brought my favorite book, The Book Thief, and a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc).  And the idea is that each woman would go home with someone else’s 2 favorite things to try.  And what’s more is that Samantha never lets her guests get bored… she always has activities (that have to do with the theme) on hand.  For this girls’ evening, we played her made up version of Scattagories revolving around Favorite Things (with questions like favorite date night spots in State College and favorite wine) and Samantha awarded the winners with prizes (of her favorite things).  Samantha takes pride in her social events and they truly bring people together.   I came home feeling reenergized and missing my two beautiful babies (and I must admit that I came home a little early as I can’t stay away for too long)!  Taking even a small time apart makes your head clear and your heart full.

I love you Ellie Bean!
Mom

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