LOVING TWO

I came across this poem today...

LOVING TWO

I walk along holding your 2-year-old hand, basking in the glow of our magical relationship.
Suddenly I feel a kick from within, as if to remind me that our time alone is limited.
And I wonder, how could I love another child as I love you?

Then she is born, and I watch you.
I watch as the pain you feel at having to share me as you have never shared me before.

I hear you telling me in your own way, "Please love only me" and I hear myself telling you in mine "I can't".
Knowing in fact that I never can again.
You cry, I cry with you.
I almost see our baby as an intruder on the precious relationship we once shared.
A relationship we can never have again.

But then, barely noticing, I find myself attached to that new being, and feeling almost guilty.
I'm afraid to let you see me enjoying her -- as though I am betraying you.
But then I notice your resentment change, first to curiosity, then to protectiveness, finally to genuine affection.

More days pass, and we are settling into a new routine.
The memory of days with just the two of us is fading fast.
But something is replacing those wonderful times we shared, just us two.
There are new times -- only now we are three.
I watch the love between you grow, the way you look at each other, touch each other.

I watch how she adores you, as I have for so long.
I see how excited you are by each of her new accomplishments.
I begin to realize that I haven't taken something from you, I've given something to you.
I notice that I am no longer afraid to share my love openly with both of you.
I find that my love for each of you is as different as you are, but equally strong.
And my question is finally answered to my amazement.
Yes, I can love another child as much as I love you, only differently.

And although I realize that you may have to share my time, I know you'll never share my love.
There's enough of that for both of you -- you each have your own supply.

I love you both and I thank you both for blessing my life.

---Author Unknown

Preschool

The preschool class at Paige's current daycare starts at age 3. Paige's friend Rocco turned 3 this week, so he moved over to the other side for preschool. Paige is the only other kid that Rocco lets play with his Thomas trains that he brings from home. So you know they must be good buddies. Well, when Rocco left for preschool, Paige would stand over at the baby gate separating the rooms and just watch him. It sounded so sad. So they decided to give Paige a shot at preschool as well even though her birthday is another 4 months off. So Paige officially started preschool this week!

She's been doing very well. They are impressed with how well she talks, knows her colors and numbers and follows directions. The sad thing is we'll be moving her to a daycare/preschool closer to our new house after next week. I'm sure she'll be able to make new friends easily, I just hate having to transition her again. She loves her teachers a lot too.

Every time we talk about the doctor or the baby in my belly, Paige will say "The doctor will help mommy take the baby out of her belly". As if I somehow got it stuck in there by accident.

We're having a hard time coming up with a name for this little girl. Of course with Paige we were pretty unsure until the end what we were going to call her. I try to get Paige to give me suggestions, but she just says to call it "baby and sister". Not sure why she puts the "and" in there. If we leave the naming decision up to her, the baby will most likely be called "banana-pants". She has a very active imagination (and watches too much Dora).

Train Ride

I finally got all the pictures off of my camera and onto the computer from December. There are some really cute ones like this picture of her riding the train at the mall. I'll post more when I have a moment.

Go Steelers

Paige was very excited to cheer on the Steelers yesterday! Well, not quite. We watched the game while she watched Little Mermaid on the dvd player. But she did like singing "Here We Go Steelers".

It's a .....

GIRL!!!Here's a profile picture of her sucking her thumb!

Back Home Again

We finally made it back home around 4pm yesterday. It's been a long 3 weeks and I'm feeling like I need a vacation already! We had a really good time visiting with everyone and Paige made out like a bandit with gifts from all the various Santa Clauses.

I'll have to look through my camera to see if I have some pictures to post. I'm hoping I took some!

Things with the house have been moving along. The sellers have met their end of the contract with taking care of the few items we asked for after the inspection. Our close is scheduled for January 26th, just 2 weeks from today!

Paige is adjusting to being back home. She had a rough time going to bed last night, and this morning was a little tough getting her out the door for daycare. She really didn't want to be left there. Hopefully she did ok after awhile and was happy to be back with her friends.