Dear Aria,
I know this will sound like a broken record as you get older, in fact I always thought that when adults would all say this to me, BUT I'll say it, I can't believe you are already 3 my precious daughter!
I will never forget the way I felt when I first held you after 22 hours of labor, an emergency scare and an unplanned C-section. All the pain and all the exhaustion just melted away as I looked at you. This was now your birth story, it was no longer horrific, it was the beautiful and special way you came into our lives and it became a beautiful story.
I remember fumbling through my first moments with you just trying to figure out how to do this 24 hour job called MOM. No one prepares you for it. But one thing I always knew through exhaustion, worry, frustration, sleepless nights and mom fog, was that I LOVED YOU.
I know this will sound like a broken record as you get older, in fact I always thought that when adults would all say this to me, BUT I'll say it, I can't believe you are already 3 my precious daughter!
I will never forget the way I felt when I first held you after 22 hours of labor, an emergency scare and an unplanned C-section. All the pain and all the exhaustion just melted away as I looked at you. This was now your birth story, it was no longer horrific, it was the beautiful and special way you came into our lives and it became a beautiful story.
I remember fumbling through my first moments with you just trying to figure out how to do this 24 hour job called MOM. No one prepares you for it. But one thing I always knew through exhaustion, worry, frustration, sleepless nights and mom fog, was that I LOVED YOU.
I could go on and on about memories of year 1 and year 2, but I'll save that for another time (if I can remember it) Right now I'd just like to talk about YOU at year 3.
You are a BIG GIRL, as you like to say.
You'll do it. You want to try it. You want to hold it. You will be brave. You are a big sister. And when you get even bigger, you will drink coffee and have long hair like "Elsa".
You are my CHATTERBOX.
You make me laugh when you talk into my face with no bodily boundaries. You are literally often times, putting your mouth an inch from my face and speaking or spitting into my eyes just to make sure I hear you and my eyes see the words your lips are mouthing.
I often forget that you are just a toddler when I talk to you. You speak so clearly back to me and you know so many words now. I forget that that doesn't mean you understand all of the words you use.
Sometimes your mouth is moving so fast but your brain hasn't given you a new word, so like a broken record you say "I,I,I, I want, I want, I wanna, I just wanna"
You are the LOUD IMAGINATION I hear behind me in the car, in the house and on the playground.
You are the LOUD IMAGINATION I hear behind me in the car, in the house and on the playground.
You are in an enchanted castle at the park or chatting with 10 plus friends behind me in the car.
You make up a dialogue between your toys and suddenly you are singing, pretending to cry and laughing as you enjoy your new plastic playmates. Its amazing to me what you can do with a small back pack that holds only a plastic minnie mouse, a pig and a train.
You are my DAILY SHOW.
You are my DAILY SHOW.
"Ladies and girls, boys and gentlemen (in some kind of order like that). Prepare for Aria!" you shout as you step up on the stage (a small wooden chair) and sing us a song (probably Frozen's "Let it go").
You think everyone sings on stage for work. I say "_______ is at work." and you say "Is she singing mommy?"
You are my OPEN SPACES.
You are my OPEN SPACES.
Because every large space is asking for you and mommy to dance all over it. "Come on mommy, Dance!" you say.
I don't ever want to forget tearing up as we danced in an empty movie theatre in Nashville. You, Daddy, Mommy and Ireland all dancing because of your immediate enthusiasm to what looked like an open dance floor in the front of the movie screen.
You are my SWEET MOMENTS at bedtime when after wiggle worming into your pajamas, reading books, saying prayers and chatting your face off to me, you snuggle close to me sucking your thumb and sniffing your "Eli" blanket and you say, "Hold me momma." And at that moment all the tug of wars we've had and challenges you have given me for your independence that day, fade away in that moment. I am back to being your mama and you are back to being my baby girl.
Though I feel sad that my baby girl is growing up, I still look forward to telling you like a broken record on many birthdays to come that "I can't believe you are already ____!", because that means I will have many more moments to remember you by, many more things to learn and love about you.
I don't ever want to forget tearing up as we danced in an empty movie theatre in Nashville. You, Daddy, Mommy and Ireland all dancing because of your immediate enthusiasm to what looked like an open dance floor in the front of the movie screen.
You are my SWEET MOMENTS at bedtime when after wiggle worming into your pajamas, reading books, saying prayers and chatting your face off to me, you snuggle close to me sucking your thumb and sniffing your "Eli" blanket and you say, "Hold me momma." And at that moment all the tug of wars we've had and challenges you have given me for your independence that day, fade away in that moment. I am back to being your mama and you are back to being my baby girl.
Though I feel sad that my baby girl is growing up, I still look forward to telling you like a broken record on many birthdays to come that "I can't believe you are already ____!", because that means I will have many more moments to remember you by, many more things to learn and love about you.
So grow my daughter and amaze me at how fast you do it and I will always be surprised, amazed and your biggest fan always!
Your momma
