The Rock Star Turns 2

Hard to believe the smallest member of the band turned two today.  Now since this is my last child, I have consciously made an effort to slow down and enjoy the process.  I'm not as concerned about the house being spotless.  If sweet pea wants to read a book and the dishes need to be washed, well then the dishes wait until we read.  But even with all this meandering through life and smelling roses and what not, two years has still flown by.

I guess it hit me the most the other day when I went out to the living room only to find the big girls had taken Jess with them on their outside adventure.  At first I panicked.  "Be careful with the baby!"   But when I went outside, there was "the baby" hanging out digging with her sisters  just as content as could be.  And when I looked at them it wasn't like looking at my two big girls and the baby, it was like looking at my three girls.  My baby was not a baby anymore. She was holding her own. 

What I'm still a little stumped on is what is this little person going to be like?  I have to be honest, she has been such a joy to get to know.  Anyone that knows me at all, knows that I am completely enamored with my kids.  But this one has me completely smitten.  If the big crystal blue eyes (thank you my sweet husband) don't rope you in, then the infectious laugh and just basic love of life and music might win you over.  Anywhere we go that she hears music she gets that booty rockin and a big smile on her face.  Hard not to fall in love with that.  She has taken to trying to manage the radio from the backseat.  If she doesn't hear a song she likes I quickly hear, "No mama song".  After one car ride of hearing that from almost 20 minutes, well let's just say I always bring my own tunes.

Her vocabulary is expanding by the day.  According to all the grandparents she has the biggest vocab out of all the kids at this age.  Of course, I remind them that they said that about all the kids.  Jess isn't quite as pleased with her vocabulary though and when she can't quite find the right words has recently taken to pulling hair.  Very reminiscent of her older sisters.  Ah yes - one was a biter and one a hitter.  Good times.  So she has a nice strong will. I always say that isn't a bad thing.  Not so fun to raise, but definitely a trait you want your kids to possess.  One of the nicest traits I see so far is that she is easy to jolly along.  Jess can be screaming one minute and then the next she is laughing hysterically.  That is just a good natured baby to the core.

So if I've learning anything from my extensive seven years (hee hee) of being a Mother it's that I don't think I'm going to be able to figure out who Jess is yet.  Chances are I won't ever totally nail her down.  But I sure am enjoying getting to know her.  What a wonderful child and one that I am Oh So Proud to call mine.

I love you my week Dancing Queen.  Happy 2nd Birthday Jessamine Mae.

It's supposed to come naturally right?

I was talking with a friend about a mutual friend that just had a baby. She was telling me about how the new mommy is finally getting into the swing of the breast feeding and the baby is getting bigger, etc, etc.  This Mom is the epitome of an earthy Mom.  She wanted a birth at home, natural baby clothes and cloth diapers for the baby.  You get the idea. So to be struggling with something so natural as breast feeding was killing her.  I just remember thinking the same thing with Gabby.  Here I was with my first.  I got these HUGE knockers and just couldn't figure out how to make it all work.  Seemed like it shouldn't be that hard.  Screaming baby.  Big full boobs.  Yep that seemed like a 2+2 equation, but it really was not that easy.  But isn't that like parenthood in general?

I can tell you that my idea of being a parent before I had kids was so far from what it is now that I actually have my three darlings.  My pre-kid images definitely matched more of the Pampers commercials, Hallmark movie specials, kind of feel. Woman has a child.  Naturally fits into being the perfect Mother.  Kids grow into  overly intelligent/athletic/Olympians by the age of 10.  All naturally perfect.  The reality is the only thing that comes naturally to me is loving them. All the rest of this parenting stuff is foreign and half the time I think they can tell I'm making it up as I go along.   

I thought about my new Mommy friend for the rest of the day and I just wanted to tell her to give herself a break.  Yeah we were blessed (not so sure about that) with being able to provide but that doesn't mean we necessarily can or even want to.  Our baby won't think any less of us.  We aren't naturally going to know the right answer always, but as long as our kids know they have a brick to fall back on if they need it, they will be strong little people.  And if every day we try to help guide them into being the best people they can possible be then we have used our biggest natural ability, love, to it's fullest.