Dear Lily (Two Months) and Dear Rose (Twenty-Nineish Months)

Dear Lily and Dear Rose,

Mama here.  I am writing to the two of you because whew! life is busy with the two of you!  I would not change a single thing, except the possibility of more sleep.

I'll start with you, Rose, since it has been a few months since I wrote to you.  You are now a little over twenty-nine months old.  Your world was just turned upside down two months ago, with your sister's arrival.  I have to commend you, though, beautiful daughter, for learning to share your Mama and Dad with her.  In this past month, you have become more loving towards your sister, kissing her, touching her, and wanting to help with caring for her.  We have diapered many of your stuffed animals and the reports from Montessori indicate you are very much into baby play there - feeding, rocking, putting dolls in strollers, diapering, and loving up on the play babies.  You and she will become good friends, I think, in the future, and I truly hope that you will take care of her throughout your lives.
 

Something else I want to tell you Rose, and I hope you remember for a long time:  we went to an indoor play place and it had all of these fun things to climb on, and slide down, and jump on, and run around in.  You enjoyed being there, and you were a great explorer.  And then you saw the large climbing and exploring tower.  You were interested and excited by it, and as you went up, you were very nervous.  Cautious, you tried climbing over a bridge and the first time, it took you quite a while.  I cheered you on from below.  After that first try, you were more and more brave until finally you were flying over that bridge and scooting down the net slide to see me again!  I was so proud of you.  I love seeing you try new things, testing them, to see if it's something you can do, something you want to do, and once you try it out, you go at it with gusto!  I love that about you, Rose, and I hope you carry this curious and brave spirit with you throughout your entire life.

And now, you, Lily.  Well, two months old!  Tomorrow is your two-month check-up and we anticipate  a good weight gain as you are growing out of your 0-3 month clothes (your newborn outfits are a thing of the distant path!) We realized that you will need to be in larger diapers shortly, too.  In this past month, you were much more alert and awake, taking in the world around you.  You spend more time awake during the day (punctured with lots of naps and eating, of course) and you started to sleep longer stretches (YAY!) at night too; five-six hours is more common and Daddy and I are very grateful for this.  You are able to roll from your tummy to your back during tummy time.  Your eyes are so big, Lily with a gigantic smile to match.  You coo and talk to me during the day too.  You make us all laugh with your squeaks and snorts and toots.   Rose delights you.  You watch your big sister very intently and are fascinated with her.  We love that you are so into your big sister!  You are a great baby and are so easy-going.  Mama is so happy to have you in our lives.

And together now, girls.  June was a wonderful and busy month for us! During the second weekend in June, your cousin Jake came up from Iowa, along with your uncle Chris and aunt Lisa.  Grandpa Barry and aunt Carolyn came up too!  Along with your cousin Lucia, uncle Joe, and aunt Katie, and aunt Sarah we had Farberfest and spent some great time together!  Rose, you and Jake had a fun time together, playing, laughing, and dancing.  We were so happy to see so many family members together.

We also celebrated Father's Day with Daddy too.  We spoiled him with some nice gifts (Rose you made a guitar for him, with your handprints) and had some brunch together.  Later that afternoon, uncle Joe and Daddy went to a movie tougher and then we all had dinner together, with aunt Katie and Lucia too.  It was a nice day.

We've been busy too, with lots of playing and exploring.  We are excited to travel to Iowa in July to see more family and we are making plans for Lily's red egg party in August.  This summer is flying by so quickly and we are so happy to be enjoying our first summer together as the four of us!

All my love,
Mama