Letter to Noa & Sena- My Girls 2012

Dear Sena & Noa, Whirlwind. I'm not sure where to start. The year ended with us celebrating New Year's Eve in Asheville, after a week-long visit with your cousins whom you adore, your aunt and uncle, and the first peek at Aunt Tanya & Uncle Charles' new restaurant, the Junction. Returning home, I'm shocked. I have no idea where the last month went, let alone the last year. Noa, you're walking. You could walk completely but still move quicker on all fours, so that tends to be your preferred method of transportation. Sena, your interests are expanding as quickly as your mind will allow. Although books and imaginary play are still your favorite things, you're starting to want to play chase, tag, and hide and seek. And you're starting to understand that when we play hide and seek it is more fun if you don't tell us where you're going to hide. As I look forward to 2012, I know a lot of things are going to change over the year. Noa will move from walking to running. She'll move from being my last baby, to being my second toddler. Wait, Sena will also be turning four and will be becoming less of the toddler she is and more of a little girl. My little girls. In the fall, she'll start her last year of preschool, while Noa may start her own "toodles" sometime over the next year. Its hard to believe. I still stutter when I talk about my girls. My babies. My loves. Anyway, your papa and I are so excited to be on this journey with you. To watch your adventures unfold. To try and protect you as much as we can, while letting you learn and navigate and explore. But girls, it is really hard. We just want to hold your hand and keep everything closeby. Stay close. At least this year. Okay? Love, mama

Letter to Noa Month- Almost 14

Dear Noa, In a few days you'll be turning 14 months, and it appears you're ready to make some major milestones. Although you've been "walking" while holding fingers for a few months now, you haven't been ready to venture out on your own. But this weekend, you took 3 solid steps between papa and mama.. and I imagine more are soon to come. (Although as soon as you realized you were doing it on your own you sat down. Your fearlessness only goes so far.) You're also trying to talk more. You seem to want to talk the most when no one is looking, but lately you've been trying more to imitate what we say. Just yesterday, papa had you saying open.. with a big emphasis on the O. O-pen. Second Thanksgiving under your belt and I cheated again. We went out to eat. I'll try to cook next year. I do love to cook, but for some reason I've been terribly daunted the past two years. Last year you slept thru your Thanksgiving meal. This year, we went with Grandma & Grandpa Montana and Carey, Craig and Caleigh to dinner. You were pretty excited to see Caleigh.. but Caleigh was more interested in eating than you were. We finally were able to get you to eat the roasted beets and apples, but no potatoes, turkey, or stuffing. (And of course cheese. You and Sena are seriously helping the dairy industry two-handedly.) We are getting really excited to be taking you to Asheville for Christmas, but also trying to come up with really clever toys that you'll find interesting for longer than 2 minutes. Thus far, electronics are occasionally a hit, or whatever your sister has. We know better than to think you might sleep. We love you honey. love, mama

Happy 1st Birthday Noa

Dear Noa, This time I really can't believe my daughter is turning one. When Sena turned one, it had passed both slow and quickly, as your father and I learned how to navigate parenthood. But with your first year behind us, I'm in shock. And it isn't because we've become pros at this parenthood thing either. I think having two children makes time fly even faster. The two of you keep us very busy! The last year you have brought us such joy and added a dimension to our family that we hadn't realized we were missing. I remember wondering last year- late September- who you were going to be. I imagined a daughter that did have your looks- bright blue eyes, dark hair (didn't realize it would be curly), but couldn't put a spirit in my imagination. When you arrived you came with such a rush. You were ready to be in the world, to navigate the world, to meet your family- and we were ready to meet you. Over the last year, you have brought us many smiles and laughs as we watch you try so hard to keep up with Sena. It won't be long. You are a mover. I have all of these "baby carriers" that I never used with you. You wanted mama, but only in your vision. Being held by mama is only of interest for moments at a time. Otherwise you have a world to explore. Your latest adventure is watching our reactions as you crawl off as quickly as you can for such things as the stairs, the hallway, or the bathroom. You'll pause half-way there, "Is anyone seeing this?!! Hee hee..." And off you go. I can only imagine what this will look like in a few years. I'm preparing myself for needing to keep you quite active. Your sister will want to read to you, and hopefully you'll listen, but you'll most likely want to be kicking a ball or jumping up and down at the same time. We love you honey. We cannot wait to see how the next year unfolds, but as I've said several times before. You CAN slow down. We'll wait. love you, mama

Letter to Sena- 42 Months (aka 3 1/2 years)

Dear Sena, For the last few days you've battled your first real bout with the stomach flu and were such a trooper through all of it. And although papa and I have tried to explain that everyone gets sick and that it is okay, each time you got sick over the weekend, you'd look at me with your sweet and sad eyes and apologize. Sorry Mama. Oh honey. Last night as you sat eating crackers and soup, while your sister had macaroni and cheese, you asked me if you could call the doctor. I told you she wasn't in and you said, "I want to talk to the doctor and find out what is going wrong with me." I told you that you'd be better soon, and you said. "When you talk to Dr. Samuelson can I talk to her too?" Normally, your days are filled with an extraordinary imagination. Your daily activities revolve around Princess, and although I'm trying to stress to you that princesses are also smart and creative, you're mostly interested in the clothing they wear- which for you means ALL of your "princess" attire at once, aka a shirt from grandma, an old cheerleading skirt, a real princess dress, a crown, shoes, and TONS of jewelry. You've got your sense of style and I suppose in a way it is more stylish than mama right now, as I hear the 80s are in. And you're rocking the 80s for sure. Watching your personality continue to develop as you become such a little person is pretty amazing. You hear everything and see everything. Just yesterday we were driving to Target and you were talking, but I didn't understand you. So I asked you, "What did you say honey?" And you said, "I was just talking to myself." Got it. I love you honey and am so thankful everyday that I get to be your mother in the easy moments and in the difficult ones. You make me a stronger person, as well as a softer one. So thank you. love you mama

Order in the World

Sena started preschool (for the 2nd time) this week, and it is going so well. She is so eager to be there and play and learn, although the two things she talks about when she comes home are the boys in class (is it an all boys class??) and snack. My daughter.

Creating order in a world of chaos.

Letter to Noa Month 11

Dear Noa, The last few months have flown by. I can hardly believe that your birthday is around the corner. Where did the last year go? It doesn't seem possible that last year I was oh-so-pregnant at this time, wondering when you were going to arrive. And when you did.. you were ready to go! We just returned from your first trip- at least via airplane. We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Montana. As per usual, on the plane your sister was the one relaxing, lying on papa's lap, while you- my mobile, on-the-go girl couldn't be still and didn't want to be contained (and it was your nap time). You stayed happy most of the flight and only at the very end started tossing your snack on the floor. I apologized to the stewardess, who just gave me a faint smile... You were an awesome traveler otherwise. You adapted to the modified schedule so easily, to the pack and play, and smiled at all of the new faces. It gives me encouragement for our flight to Asheville in December. Although I'm not sure what we'll do on the plane to keep you entertained! Although you are only 11-months-old, you're ready to be a big girl. You're trying to feed yourself with a utensil, and want to play with anything that isn't technically a baby toy- focusing especially on whatever Sena is playing with. Sena is a good sport about it though.. and the two of you laugh when you look at each other. You have a similar laugh.. one that makes me smile with a joy I can't put into words. Milestones? You're waving now. And babbling... a lot. love you mama

{this moment}