I know it's hard to imagine, but I was not the easiest baby. Ahem. In fact, to hear my parents tell it....I was a downright holy terror (in the nicest sense of the phrase). It's a running joke in my family and we laugh about it still, but it's true! I barely slept, I cried a lot, and I was all around high maintenance. I sure hope I have redeemed myself by now!
Sure, my parent's adored me (as any first-time parents do), and they felt blessed to have me, but I was a lot to handle. When I was only 9 months old (and even though it had felt like a very long 9 months), my parents found out that they were expecting again. Needless to say, it was a surprise! Dad was in residency and mom had her hands full with, well, me.
My mom prays a lot and is a woman of great faith. I venture to guess that she said some mighty big prayers during that pregnancy. Prayers for a different kind of baby (not that she didn't appreciate the one she already had or anything). One who actually slept, and who was a little less verbal, and maybe a little more, shall we say, laid back.
I do believe that the gift my parents got in my sweet sister, Rachel, is sufficient proof that God DOES answer prayer....
She loved to sleep. She loved to eat. She barely talked till she was two. She was a dream baby! (remind you of anyone???) She adored me and we were instant friends. It was like I had my own personal babydoll and we spoke our own secret language. I could translate her gibberish with brilliant ease and she turned out to be the most amazing gift we could have ever been given.
My confidante, playmate, partner in crime. It was always that way. It is still that way. Who could ask for anything more?
Happy Birthday, Rachel!
I love you, Shonkey (or Ponkey)....I can never remember which of us was which. You are beautiful and strong and I look up to you more than you will ever know.....
And in case you are wondering.....YES, that is her natural hair color. I know, she's too perfect!
He's our all boy, athletic, Daddy loving, amazingly messy, school adoring, people pleasing, ultra sensitive, fruit craving, mercifully giving, bed hopping, dangerously destructive, absolutely precious first born.
She's our extremely funny, big hearted, completely dramatic, very talkative, nurturing, terribly sassy, independent, fashion forward, chocolate craving, brown eyed, Mommy helping, sorta sneaky, beautifully stunning second born!
3 kind words:
That is soooo sweet!!! All 3 of you girls are gorgeous but, as the song says, "She got it from her mama"! (BTW, Katie had that played at her wedding! HAHAHA)....Beautiful girls you 3! (and Mama too!).....hugs jxxoo
P.S. Give my Lucy a big ole hug from GranJan when she starts kindergarten! I hate it that we didn't get the girls together one more time!!! :(
That's so funny to read. My mom had 3 girls in 34 months. I'm the oldest like you. Apparently, as I'm reminded often, I didn't sleep a full night until I was 18 months old and I cried a LOT. The kicker to that is that when I was 18 months and finally sleeping a full night my mom only had 2 months to enjoy it before my sister was born. Then 14 months after Allison she had our baby sister. She must've been awake for 3 year in a row. She used to tell her mom, "If you see me running down the street, don't stop me, just go take care of the girls." ha!
I was my sister's translator, too! I was the only one who could understand what she was saying.
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