For You, My Little Treasure
Dear Pip,
Apart from knowing the Lord, you are the greatest joy in our lives. Each day is a new, magical day of wonders for all three of us as we watch you explore and discover the world. Your fresh eyes and gleeful delight give me new perspective about life and living in the moment–right this minute. Not tomorrow. Not two hours from now. Right this minute. And it is smack-yourself-silly, pinch-me-cuz-I’m-scared-to-wake-up fun. Fun. Fun. FUN! We thank the Lord daily for the precious gift of your life, and I pray often that I will not take a minute of it for granted.
I saw a really great speaker last week at a church function for young moms. Her name is Janet Pope and her talk encouraged me to begin devoting my otherwise “thoughtless” moments (when doing chores, getting ready in the morning) each day to scripture memorization. Not just verses that are centered around “me me me” but long, sequential passages that really capture the heart and personality of God. She has a whole bunch of BOOKS of the Bible memorized and it was impressive to hear her recite. I started memorizing Psalm 1 last week and some of the girls in my group for mommies are going to start memorizing with me, too. I want to teach you to love the Lord, baby girl, and to “delight in His law”. That means that I need to lead by example and start delighting in it regularly myself!
God has been so good to your daddy and me–first by bringing us together, then by pulling us apart in order to draw us to Him, and then by drawing us back to each other again. We really needed Him and He showed up when we were desperate for Him–and He keeps on doing that. All the time. Undeserved grace. I hope you will see Him in me as you grow older, and I pray that you do not learn to walk with the same limp that I have. You will have your own struggles and hardships, but I pray that God has mercy on us and breaks some of the patterns that have afflicted our families on both sides for many years. Your daddy and I, with the Lord’s help, are working really hard to become more like Jesus. While we repeatedly fall pitifully short, I hope we leave you a legacy of good things. I pray you grow up watching us love each other deeply and well, in spite of our flaws and character defects. I hope you can learn what a healthy but imperfect marriage and family look like–by watching us and our close friends as we raise you and each others’ kids. By the way, beware the Tarnow and the Farrell boys–you can’t date until you’re in your 30’s–no matter HOW cute they are!
As for recent events, you were a great traveler and companion on the trip we took to New York two weeks ago. I was very anxious about finding a way to meet your needs while we were traveling but you were a little road warrior, and most of my anxiety-ridden concerns were wasted time worrying and planning. We did have a pretty funny moment in the bathroom on the plane while going through turbulence where you were squirming in my arms as I was trying to hover over and aim for that tiny little hole in that tiny little plane toilet… Thankfully, no one came out wet (and you got a clean diaper while we were in there), but we lost a pacifier and a burp cloth in the process… I love having that memory of us together. Needless to say, we went out and bought you a pacifier clip once we got to New York. And I decided to carry you in the Bjorn for the trip back so I could do some hands-free stuff if I needed to.
You also did great sleeping in a new bed (a borrowed pack-n-play) in a new room in a different house that Daddy wasn’t in. Boy, we missed him like crazy, didn’t we? He said the house was waaaay too big without the two of us in it. That’s the longest I have ever been away from him since we got married and I don’t like it very much. Neither does he. In spite of all of our shortcomings, we really like being together. God sure knew what He was doing when He matched us up.
Your Grandma Whitney did a wonderful job of setting up our rooms and putting together a comfy changing table for you. She is a wonderful hostess; always trying to anticipate and take care of every need that her guests might have. She is also a terribly smitten grandma who couldn’t get enough of you! She taught you to make the kissing motion with your lips and you squealed with delight whenever she made the face at you. Long after she had moved on to a new fun thing with you, you would wrinkle your lower lip as if to say “Do it again, Grandma! Blow me another kiss!” It was soooo cute! And Grandma loved feeding you baby carrots mixed in with some of Mommy’s milk and some rice cereal. Your sweet little bird mouth gets going and you just eat and eat and eat. So far, you’ve had carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, green beans… I think there’s something else, but I can’t remember. I will have to look at our daily log where I write down everything we do and keep track of your sleep schedule. That’s a real work of art if you can read my handwriting! Anyway, you finally got to meet Grandpa Whitney, too, and he made really fun Donald Duck noises that you liked. You also liked to stare with amazement at his bed head hair in the morning–it made us all laugh!
You also got to see your great Gramma Huff again and you met your great Auntie Carol and great Uncle Larry for the very first time (they are great, in addition to being great). They fell in love with you immediately, of course. Uncle Larry made the best and silliest faces at you, and you had a strange obsession with Auntie Carol. In this picture you’re trying to eat the side of her face–which we hadn’t seen before that day and haven’t seen much since.
By the way, you love to talk while you’re eating, which had your Grandma and me cracking up hysterically. Daddy thinks you get the talking part from me. That’s up for debate, though. He’s not exactly a quiet guy. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.
*video clip to be added*
Unfortunately, you had your first fever the day before we left for New York. Your doctor said we were okay to travel but to keep an eye on you. You were better for a couple of days, but the fever unfortunately came back on Friday and we decided it was best for you that we NOT drive to the city for cousin Heather’s wedding. I cried really hard to have to miss such a wonderful event, but I still think it was the best thing for you. When she gets home from her fabulous honeymoon trip, cousin Heather promised to call us and send pictures! We dressed you up in your sweet little yellow outfit from Aunt Lizzie and took you to church on Sunday instead. You sure were cute!
Your walker arrived the day after we got back from New York, and it plays a ton of music at the slightest touch, which you absolutely LOVE! Daddy calls you “clockwise” because your right leg doesn’t quite touch the ground all the way, so you only use your left leg to push yourself… that leaves you always going in a circle. You don’t seem to mind too much, though. And I just love watching you explore in that thing. We put you out on the back patio and you just play your tunes and go in circles, looking at shrubs and grass and leaves and the cats.
We also bought a blow up pool with a little cabana on top, so you and I go out and sit in it once or twice a day. You like to splash splash splash and giggle at the water. You just LOVE the outside–ever since you were a baby, it has been a calming, distracting influence for you. When you had colic and couldn’t stop crying, Daddy’s secret weapon was always to take you outside–regardless of the weather.
Speaking of Daddy. Boy, is he crazy about you. He goes in to check on you at least once a night while you’re sleeping and I often catch him holding your hand and beaming at you. I give him a hard time about not waking you up, but it is the most precious thing in the world to see how you melt his heart. I can’t imagine what it will be like in another couple of years if the Lord grants us all that long together. You have expanded our hearts in ways that we couldn’t imagine possible. I know you’re going to break our hearts a thousand times, but we are going to do our very best to keep them tender toward you. We are praying for the Lord’s help in this, because our human tendency is to harden up in order to keep out the pain and we have seen the destruction that this causes. I think we will need to do a lot of praying when you get to be about 14 years old…
Speaking of being old. Your daddy turned 40 last month and we celebrated by going to brunch at Mi Cocina. You were the star of the party, of course, and you made it all the way through brunch without getting upset until the very end. I am amazed at how much longer you are able to stay awake and am so thankful that you are still getting a lot of good sleep. You are so much happier now! Here’s a picture of the three of us that day:
Shashin error: Photo not found.
Your bottom left tooth is finally breaking through the skin after rumbling beneath the surface and agitating you for two months now! That might be the slowest-arriving tooth in the history of pipsqueaks! I can’t wait until it gets all the way in. It has been bothering you all day. It seems impossible that you could get any cuter, but I think the tooth will add a whole new level of cuteness to your repertoire. You are also making these really adorable jibber jabber noises these days and they are so cute! We are trying to learn the Language of Pip, but I’m teaching you sign language in the meantime to help bridge the gap.
I put you to bed not long ago–after a long, eventful day together–and I’m already excited to see you in the morning! Daddy and I will go into your room together to greet you, and you’re going to be thumping your arms on the mattress and kicking your feet with delight the minute you see us. You’re like having Christmas every morning. Sigh. You’re just the best, Pip. The best.
To the moon and back,
Mommy
Love y’all and hope to...
Such a sweet letter to your little Pip. She is so precious and it is so neat to see how she has stolen your hearts. Love it!
That gave me such happy tears! What a joy and a blessing!