Gae - which means home in Sepedi (Northern Sotho) is a short docu depicting my experience of going home. I don’t think I can explain how special this kind of love language made me feel.
Jamie Foxx set to play first ever Black Lead in a Pixar Movie
A new animated film called Soul starring Jamie Foxx will be Pixar’s first ever animated film with an African American as the lead actor. The film will also feature the voices of Phylicia Rashad, Daveed Diggs, Questlove, and Tina Fey. Directed by two-time Academy Award®-winner Pete Docter, co-directed by Kemp Powers and produced by Academy Award®-nominee Dana […]
BRIDGET “BIDDY” MASON ex slave turns California real estate pioneer
Bridget “Biddy” Mason, born a slave in Mississippi in 1818, achieved financial success that enabled her to support her extended family for generations despite the fact that she was illiterate. In a landmark case she sued her master for their freedom, saved her earnings, invested in real estate, and became a well-known philanthropist in Los Angeles, California. Although born in […]
Another family portrait! This time it’s the Noble House of Black! I’ve worked really hard on this so I hope you’ll like it ♥ I’ve always been intrigued by all the past era in the story, and I’m sure there’s a lot of interesting history about Black family! It would had been nice to know more about Sirius’s childhood and his relationship with Regulus, but as always it’s up to us to fill the gap :’D
“sirius was a brave, clever, and energetic man, and such men are not usually content to sit at home in hiding while they believe others to be in danger.”
you’ve been blessing my life for four years! I am so lucky that God chose me to be your momma! You are full of humor and spunk! I couldn’t imagine living my life without you. You bring so much joy to everyone around you. You were such a threenager, always keeping me on my toes, but you had an amazing year!
You were a tree hugger…
and a lady.
You were full of excitement…
and had your very own glam squad.
You were a raver…
and you were HAPPY!
You were a clone.
and a snow bunny…
You were an ice cream devourer.
and the the world’s best cuddler…
You were a Don King look alike.
and mastered your mean face.
You rocked accessories.
and learned to put people in timeout.
You ruled the playground.
You were the hostess with the mostess…
and you bent it like Beckham!
You were a chef…
and a friend to everyone.
You were a star student…
and an amazing housekeeper.
You were an honorary Jew…
and the cutest yogi ever…NAMASTE.
You were ready to fly…
and you nursed me back to health.
You were a dentist…
and a pyromaniac.
You could see the invisible…
and man did you love Galahat…
and Leo.
You wore it better than the Weeknd…
and mommy!
You were shocked…
and could sleep ANYWHERE.
You were the cutest nerd EVER!
YOU WERE HAPPY!
You were quick to give the side eye…
and strike a pose.
You were a selfie queen…
and a lizard lover.
You were FULL of expressions…
all of the time.
You were a baker…
and excited about literacy!
You were a tour guide who loved to show people around your city…
and your broad squad was nothing but royalty!
YOU WERE HAPPY…
So happy!
You were Target’s most adorable shopper…
and the cutest tiny dancer.
You rocked school fashion…
and night time fashion….wear that head wrap girl! #teamnatural
You were NOT afraid of heights…
or creating your own makeup trends.
You were a master of imitation…
and serious about your fitness.
You were an architect…
and the best radio intern EVER.
You were team natural…
and born to ride!
Did I mention you were HAPPY!?
You were a protector…
and “Brock Obana’s” biggest fan.
You woke up in the city that never sleeps…
and fell in love with the bright lights.
You were a beach bum…
and a humanitarian.
You were a lover…
a swinger…
and the center of attention.
You were down with the swirl and you LOVED your Jacob
YOU WERE SO HAPPY BABY GIRL…
and you were loved!
Mostly though, you were one little’s girl best friend…
National Daughter day! Who knew there was such a thing?!
My God there really are no words for how much I love you two. For how much joy you have given me. I am so blessed to be your momma! Thank you for helping me grow and for pushing me to be the best version of myself. You are more motivation than I could ever ask for. I love you, I love the love you have for each other and as much as I celebrate you today…I celebrate you everyday. My beautiful baby girls, you give me life!
She looked at me from the opposite side of the monkey bars and screamed “You can do it mom!” She had me really believing that I could. Her three year old mind believes I can do anything. So I hopped up on those monkey bars only for my mind and body to fail me. As I was holding on for dear life she screams out, “I KNOW I CAN COUNT ON YOU MOM!” I hold on tighter, I nervously giggle…at this point I really don’t want to let her down. I feel my hands slipping and give out and I land with a thud on the ground.
I look up at her apologetically, “Sorry babes, I tried” … It’s been on my mind for weeks. Randomly I hear it in my head, “I KNOW I CAN COUNT ON YOU MOM!’
Yes, you can. I may not always get it right. I may want for you things that you don’t even want for yourself, but you can count on me. You can count on me to help you grow-mind, body and spirit. You can count on me to remember that I too was young once.
You can count on me to bail you out of tough situations, even if you are the reason you got there in the first place, but you can also count on me to let you know it better not happen again.
When the whole world seems like it’s against you, when you feel you have even let yourself down, I will be there to remind you that it’s fine to be your biggest critic ONLY if you are also your own biggest fan.
You see as I looked across those monkey bars at you I was fully aware that I couldn’t make it across…but I knew you were counting on me and I didn’t want to let you down.
I didn’t make it across those monkey bars baby girl, but you can ALWAYS count on me…
Count on me to ALWAYS try for you, your sister and your daddy. and do me a favor, please always try too, because I am counting on you too kid. -mom
When you were almost 6 months old, we hopped on a plane, just you and me, and headed to St. Lucia (The Motherland). You were the ideal travel companion. I was scared to travel so far alone, but I had to be strong because you were with me and I knew it was something that I needed to do.
Though, the trip was for mommy to do some soul searching, our one on one time will FOREVER be something that I cherish. You were so happy in the sunshine and you loved the ocean.
My little beach bum! You smiled the entire time. I can’t even describe to you what it does to my spirit when I walk into a room and you smile and laugh at me, but you were loved up like crazy by EVERYONE in The Motherland, not just me.
The live slow lifestyle of the island agreed with you and you were HAPPY!
I wasn’t expecting your happiness to rub off on me the way that it did, but it did me wonders. We cuddled together, laughed, lounged on the beach, sang songs and I fell so deep in love with your perfect little spirit. You helped me more than you will ever know. Your love is magic and I will forever be thankful for the time we spent in paradise together…just the two of us!
It’s true you’ve seen paradise, but I see paradise and a constant reminder of finding inner peace EVERY TIME I look at you. Thank you.
How lucky am I to have such an amazing friend that she documented BOTH of my girls’ births. Here you go little one, your birth story as told my Auntie Bear, with frequentinterjections from Momma :)
Dear DC,
One day you will look back on your life and think, “Time flies…” You will not know exactly where it went, or how you got there, but every experience in your life will have led to that moment. I want to tell you the story of your first experience in this thing we call life. I can’t wait until you are old enough to hear this story told by me, you will laugh hysterically, we all do every time I tell it. Truth be told, the beginning of your story actually occurred prior to your earthly arrival. It was over the Christmas holiday in Saint Lucia, your daddy’s homeland, and your parents decided to give MJ a sibling. By the time I came to Washington DC for your mama’s surprise 29th birthday party, we knew you existed. I now look back on those days and think, “My, how time flies…” It seems like just yesterday we were dreaming of your arrival. Though it feels as though it flew by, a great deal of thought, energy and effort went into the 41 weeks that passed before your birth.
Mama worked very hard to nurture you and provide the perfect home for you to grow in. She loved you so very much, and her expression of that love was evident in the way she loved her body. She ate well, exercised, and learned everything she could about being a strong vessel for your entrance. Her pregnancy and labor with MJ was very difficult, and she wanted to do everything in her power to cultivate a better experience for the two of you. She and your daddy went to hypnobirthing classes so they could learn calming techniques for management of her labor. I took doula classes and an additional hypnobirthing class so I could help your mama and daddy through your birth. By the time your due date rolled around, we were all ready. I arrived in DC 17 days before you did :) and you sure gave us all a lesson in patience. The funny (or not so funny) thing was that your mama thought the hard part was waiting for *my* arrival. She was having contractions all the time, and laid still all weekend so that she wouldn’t have you before I came from Minnesota. However, she did such a great job of preparing for you that you were quite content to stay put in her belly.
I arrived September 29th, but you had other plans for your grand entrance so we had some extra time to get ready for you. We finished decorating your nursery, cleaned the house, and spent each evening and nap time practicing hypnobirthing scripts. I became pretty good at putting your mama in the relaxation zone! It seemed as though you were pretty relaxed, too… We decided to kick things up a notch and tried EVERY trick in the book to get you to come. We had spicy Indian food. We took walk after walk. We went to Great Falls in Virginia and your daddy made a little home movie. Mama got foot reflexology three times! Auntie Bear is forgetting she even baked some type of eggplant labor inducing meal LOL, child we tried EVERYTHING! The night Grandma Judith and our friend Jess arrived, Mama was having strong, consistent contractions. Then, nothing happened. Your due date, October 8th, came and went. Everyone kept asking mama about when it would be time And momma wanted to punch all of those people in the throat. In our culture, we have moved away from nature’s timing and focused so much on “our timing.”
Mama felt a lot of pressure from this, but she resisted. She wanted to wait for you and her body to decide how your story would unfold. Sunday October 12th, we went to the hospital because mama was having consistent contractions again. The midwife thought it sounded like it could be time, and told us to come in. Grandma Judith and Daddy came with, excited that you would arrive before she went back to Minnesota. Mama was dilated to 2cm and the nurses told us to start walking to see if she could make any more progress. Mama was so determined; she walked like an Olympic speed walker. Then, nothing happened. Don’t forget that I also dropped it like it was hot a few times too! They told us it wasn’t time and sent mama home with some sleeping medicine, thinking maybe the next day it would finally be time. Your daddy already had to leave on the weekends to DJ a couple of weddings, which was really hard because mama had to mentally prepare for giving birth without him. Your daddy knew he might have to miss it, which would have been really sad for everyone. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. Because Mommy probably would have NEVER let Daddy live it down. Each night, mama would have hours of contractions. Then, nothing happened. Your mama got to 41 weeks and as another weekend was approaching, everyone agreed we should make a plan to get you here before he had to leave again. Plus, the midwives didn’t want mama to go much past 41 weeks. On Tuesday, we made a plan to go into the hospital at 5:00pm on Wednesday October 15th to see if we could get things rolling! Alas, you were determined to choose your own birthday.
After the false alarm on Sunday, we started thinking maybe you weren’t quite in the right position because mama was having a lot of back pain. We started doing stretches and exercises to make sure you were in the right place. We made an appointment with the chiropractor for Wednesday morning and on Tuesday afternoon decided to go to Virginia to see Lindsey, mama’s hypnobirthing instructor. Lindsey got mama nice and comfortable and read a beautiful script to her about opening up and allowing to you come peacefully. Mama started having contractions during her session. Lindsey did some more stretches with mama and sent us home to rest. Little did we know, there wouldn’t be any rest until we got to meet you!
Mama’s contractions continued during the car ride home. We didn’t even acknowledge them this time. We continued our conversation, she would pause to breathe through them, and I was secretly keeping track of time. They marched on through the long rush hour drive, becoming closer together and lasting longer. By the time we were home, we were both pretty sure this was it Oh I knew it was it, I literally had my feet up on the dashboard, trying to find some relief with counter-pressure. I was so terrified that I was gonna have you in the car because we were, of course, stuck in crazy DC traffic. She had me call the midwife Tara, who could hear mama in the background and told us we better hustle in! I told your Daddy it was time and of course your big sister decided to throw a tantrum in the rush to leave. Jess helped Daddy get everything ready, and I yelled that I was leaving with mama. While mama and I were waddling through contractions to get in the car, the neighbor yelled out to ask if we needed help! We were quite a spectacle. I remember thinking it was a sweet gesture, but seriously what the hell was he gonna do LOL.
We made it to the hospital and they rushed her up in a wheelchair and straight into a room. The man pushing the wheelchair was so sweet, he was giving me a pep talk the whole time. I love people like him. When Jess and Daddy arrived, Tara the midwife ran past them in the hall. After all the commotion, we found out mama was still just 3cm! Thankfully she had time to get her antibiotics in and calmly breathed through contractions for the next four hours. She was so serene, trusting her body and allowing you to work your way into the world. At midnight, Tara checked and told mama she was 4cm. At this point, mama decided she wanted to have her water broken. Since we had gone to Virginia, this was the one day mama hadn’t taken a nap. It was getting late, and mama felt like she had the strength to keep going at this point, even if it got very intense, as opposed to working all through the night and being too tired if you didn’t come until morning.
Mama and I went in the bathroom and I gave her a pep talk. I told her it was about to get really intense, and she had to mentally prepare herself for the change of pace. She said she was ready. Tara broke mama’s water, the sac that held you in place in her womb. We were all braced for the next contraction thinking it would be pretty hardcore. It came and went without much fanfare. We all looked at each other wondering if things would speed up. We didn’t have to wonder for long! In the next hour and forty minutes, mama went all the way through active labor and transition, which is the last phase before pushing. One day you may learn this, but that is A LOT to go through in such a short period of time. She was so incredibly strong and brave. She didn’t complain at all, and soon enough she was showing all of the classic signs of transition, shaking, throwing up, riding an emotional roller coaster, all the fun stuff! She barely got any time between contractions and just as the thick of it hit, she told us “I did it guys, I did my best!” She kept repeating, “I’m all done now, I did my best, I’m done now!” I was pretty confident mama WAS pretty close to finished, since she had already gone through so much and was acting like a woman who is on the verge of pushing a baby out.. We were encouraging her and telling her how awesome she was, and she WAS doing it. Tara even said, “You’re so close! You sound like moms who’ve already had a baby and are just about ready to push!” She asked mama if she wanted to be checked to see how close she was. Mama said no. At this point, I realized that despite everything she was feeling, mama was afraid she might hear she still had a long way to go. It’s impossible to rationalize with someone who is going through so much and working so hard, so we all just kept encouraging her.
Mama put her hand up to my face and tuned me out! She was all done with me at that point. She turned to Daddy, thinking he would support her. He DID support her, by encouraging her and trying to help her relax, but of course, that’s not what mama was looking for. Truth be told I was looking for the weakest link LOL, in this situation Daddy was the weakest link and since Auntie Bear and Tara were hanging tough and doing what I asked of them, I thought for sure I could lure Daddy to the dark side. Daddy doesn’t like to see me in pain so I was hoping he would say, give her the meds now. But Daddy held strong too and in my head I literally said, they are all against me. She just wanted to meet you and be all done! She went in the tub for awhile, and we had a calm hour. She was really so strong and focused, just as she had been for her whole pregnancy. Then, mama started to get really antsy. She said it felt like she had restless legs, but Tara and I could tell she was ready to have you! We asked her if she felt the need to push and she emphatically said “NO!” followed by, “GIVE ME THE FLUIDS!” because she knew she needed fluid in her IV before she could get an epidural. As the fluids went in, she stared at that bag of IV fluid like it held the potion for eternal life! We kept asking mama if she had to push and she kept saying no, even though it looked like she definitely had to. Oh I definitely had to. It was in the tub that I realized it was time to push…I literally could feel you coming out but I was terrified. At this point there were no logical thoughts. I knew it was time, I knew you were coming out and I still begged for medicine.
When she walked back to the bed, I could tell she was squeezing every muscle in her body trying to keep you in, so I was massaging her, trying to get her to relax and let you come. She still said she didn’t have to push! I was literally clinching my butt together as Auntie Bear was massaging it trying to get me to relax. All the while in my head I am straight cussing her out, I can’t relax crazy if I do she’s gonna fall out LOL. She was so focused on getting relief she didn’t realize she could have pushed you out and been done with everything right then! A mean man came in to do the epidural and made mama sit still. He was pretty rude and I whispered, “He just doesn’t understand!” Hell no he didn’t understand, this fool actually asked if I could stop moving and acted like what I was doing was no big deal, he also almost got choked out. while mama was holding on to me. She later told me that’s when she knew I wasn’t disappointed in her for getting an epidural. Then, we waited awhile, but her epidural didn’t even help! So I called the nurse so she could get more medicine, and mama really knew we were on the same team again :)
Mama finally got to rest for a bit. I was so sure you were almost here that I lifted the covers to make sure you weren’t halfway in the bed! Tara said she’d come back in an hour or two to check on mama’s progress. Mama was pretty bummed because she didn’t realize she was going to have to wait even longer to meet you. I remember wanting to cry at this point, I knew you were ready to come right then, I had been holding you in for an hour. When Tara asked to check me I said no because I knew if she looked, she would see your head coming out, but at that point I needed some relief. I had gotten to ten centimeters with no medicine and I was exhausted. After about an hour, she sat up, bright-eyed and ready to push! She told us she had to push all along, but was so freaked out she just squeezed you in! I couldn’t believe it! Well, I could, because she LOOKED like she was ready to push you out, I just couldn’t believe she had a meltdown at the end. But hey, labor is quite a trip!
Thank goodness she confessed though, because we all got a really good laugh and mama was in a great mood for meeting you! I literally apologized to Tara my midwife when she walked back into the room to have me push. “Tara, I have a confession, this baby has been ready, I could have pushed two hours ago…I’m sorry my mind failed me and all rational thought disappeared somewhere.”
After 13 hours of labor, and a whole lot of tomfoolery, shenanigans, and bamboozlement, she pushed for 25 minutes while Daddy stood by her side and we all cheered her on. Then the most amazing thing happened: At 6:25 in the morning on October 15th, 2014, YOU ARRIVED! It was such a beautiful moment. One of the greatest moments of my life. All of the preparation, anticipation and waiting finally came to an end with your glorious entrance. You were absolutely perfect, sweet girl… All 8lbs 5oz and 21 inches of you! You snuggled with Mama and started eating like a champ! Then your Daddy got to hold you close (and show off his muscles at the same time!) DC, the world is a better place now that you are here. I can’t wait to see who you become; you’ve already made such a difference in our lives. But don’t worry my love, we won’t rush you… time flies.
I grew up in a dysfunctional household. Don’t get me wrong, we definitely put the FUN in dysfunctional, but dysfunctional none the less. Since I was little I have dreamed of my own family. A dysfunctional upbringing will make you CRAVE stability and normalcy, it will also give you daddy issues but we’ll get into that some other time.
TRADITION! I wanted family vacations and movie nights. I wanted scenes from the Brady Bunch, huge Christmas dinners, and family Christmas Eves. I WANTED you my beautiful daughters.
On one of many trips back home to the Motherland, daddy traveled ahead of mommy with MJ and I overheard the Little Mermaid playing in the background while talking to him on the phone.
I straight panicked. “NO!!!! She was supposed to watch that for the first time with me!” I yelled at him. The Little Mermaid is mommy’s favorite Disney movie and I could not believe daddy thought it was acceptable to let you watch it without me. I wanted that to be our thing, our tradition.
Tradition means so much to me. Sometimes I push it a little too hard. I mean I forget how old you both are and sometimes the fun traditions I try to start are really just for me. I have to admit that yes, sometimes I am living vicariously through you.
You have a beautiful home, and a mommy and daddy who are extremely present in your lives. I want to give you so much of what I wanted as a kid. There’s an elf on the shelf, Mj named him Douglass but neither one of you have any idea what he’s doing there. But that’s ok, one day you will and it will be just one of our many traditions.
Christmas is mommy’s favorite time of the year and this year, with my two beautiful daughters, we kicked off our Christmas Eve Family tradition. As a family we cooked homemade pizzas and we had a blast. I cannot even put into words how excited I was.
I hope as you get older you realize that having you means that Mommy’s dreams are literally coming true and that you continue to participate in our family traditions because it makes my soul happy. I have you both, I have daddy and on Christmas Eve our family makes homemade pizza! OMG this is the life!
Hi sweet baby girl! We are anxiously awaiting your arrival. It’s so strange playing the wait game. I know this may sound crazy, but the longer you are in there, the more scary things seem.
I want you in my arms, I want to look into your face, feel your breath, I want our worlds to finally collide!
You are clearly on your own time lol. Momma and auntie Bear have attempted every so-called home remedy to naturally induce labor and you, my child, are not having any part of it.
So before I get the amazing pleasure of meeting you face-to-face, I wanted to take the time to tell you of our love story.
We spent Christmas of 2013 back at momma’s second home, Daddy’s first, in St. Lucia. It was there that Daddy and I knew we wanted you. We spoke you into existence. You were thought about, wished for and planned.
I still remember the moment I found out I was carrying you, I remember the shock, the excitement, the happiness. I remember the love.
Instantly I fell in love with you. Before I ever laid eyes on you, before I ever even heard your heartbeat, I loved you completely.
I will ALWAYS love you completely. I will always see you, I will always hear you, and it will ALWAYS mean something to me.
This world can be a big scary place, often hard to navigate. Lucky for you you were blessed with a daddy who has the patience of a saint and a mommy who is never afraid to speak up for what is right. I hope like hell you inherit my spirit, and daddy’s logic.
Last night I was so excited. My contractions picked up and we headed to the hospital, even our midwife thought you would be making your appearance. I walked like crazy all the while telling you how much I wanted to meet you, but snuggled inside of me, so close to my heart, seems to be your comfort zone right now.
I love you little girl so very much, but I will continue to wait until you are ready. Just know that Mommy, Daddy and big sister MJ couldn’t be more excited to bring you home and love you up.
Life’s only real requirement, baby girl, is that you breathe. So just breathe baby girl…and breathe easy! The rest you will learn, you will be taught, you will be amazing.
I wish for you so much laughter. Those kind of laughs that make you scream at the same time and lead to tears flowing.
I dream for you a spirit of integrity, a fighter’s spirit.
I hope for you life lessons that never break you but serve to help you grow and become better.
I pray for you everyday, for your happiness and your health.
I want for you love on every level, the obvious unconditional love from me and daddy, a sisterly love with MJ, a soul-mate love like I have with Auntie Bear and even the scream it from the mountain top type of love that Mommy has for Daddy.
I need for you to recognize your self worth, to understand the impact that you can make on people and the world. It’s a choice little girl. You can be someone who is content with just going a long for the ride, or you can be the master of your own fate -staying attentive to the journey and actively participating.
I’d love for people to always treat you amazing, I am terrified of the thought of seeing you hurt or sad. Inevitably it will happen though, please don’t let people steal your sunshine. Understand that YOU decide what can and can’t affect you.
Yes, even when people try to break your spirit, keep on loving, keep on caring, just keep on and remember that what you put out, is always going to come back.
So put out positivity, put out love, put out intelligence, put out handwork and dedication, put out faith and hope.
Sometimes the world and people will seem overbearing. In those moments I hope you take the time to sit in silence and just let life speak to you. Listen to your heart, your mind. Now I will be perfectly honest and tell you that sometimes there is a disconnect between what the heart feels and what the mind thinks, but always trust your gut. Listen to your intuition it will NEVER lead you astray.
I want you to know that you are pre approved! We are waiting for you, ready to love you, naturally we are already in love with every thing that you are.
So as you continue to take your time. Sweet girl just know that I’m on the other side waiting. Ready to be for you whatever you need of me. Daddy is here too! He can’t wait to hold you close and make you laugh. Big sister MJ talks about you daily. She spends so much time rubbing and kissing my belly, she can’t wait to make you her best friend for life.
Take your time baby girl, but we are more than ready for you. The world is ready for you! You may not know it yet, it may take you a very long time to comprehend it, but I will always be here to remind you that you my child will change the world!
It’s official, you are not a little baby anymore. Daily I am amazed by you. You are so loving! Constantly declaring that every person you meet is your friend. I love that you want to be friends with everybody, but I swear you are a kidnapper’s dream :)
I wanted to take some time to tell you how special you are to me, to tell you the story of our forever love. I met you on December 31st, 2011 on a cold night in Minnesota and it even snowed a little bit. I remember thinking how perfectly beautiful the night was.
I loved you way before we met though! From the moment I knew that you existed, EVERYTHING was about you. I literally have lived for you since I discovered I was carrying you. I work harder for you, I love deeper for you, I pray like I have never prayed for all things good for you.
The first time I held you in my arms, I cried the ugliest cry ever. It was loud, emotional and mama could barely breathe…I was overwhelmed by you. That you had come from me, that you would love me instantly and that I would get the chance to love you just the same.
Sometimes, out of nowhere, I still cry the ugly cry for you. I had no idea that I could love you more than I loved you that night, but every day, somehow, I love you even more!
It’s been me and you and daddy for almost three years and it has truly been special. you have taught us so much and we are so proud to be your parents.
There is nothing that your deep little voice, or your kisses and hugs can’t fix in our world. Your little spirit is so bright and you radiate so much love, we are forever grateful to God for picking us for you and you for us…
Things are changing around here. It won’t just be the three of us anymore. Our little family is growing and we will no longer be a trio. Can I be honest? It’s scary, but it’s also exciting.
It’s been just you for so long and I am sure that it will be hard to adjust to, but just think…All of this love mommy and daddy have for you, how cool will it be to share that with your sister? How amazing will it be to always have someone in your corner who is not mommy or daddy?!
Just as I loved you instantly, I love your sister already too, but something awesome happened…I became so excited for you to meet her. I think about you having a best friend for life, I think about you being able to tell her secrets that you might not tell us…and I’m ok with that.
I think about this crazy world and how I would never want you to have to navigate alone. YOU WILL NEVER HAVE TO! You will always have me. You will always have daddy…and you will always have your sister!
I need you to know that even though you are getting a sister, we will always have a special relationship, I don’t have to take any of the love I have for you away from you to give to your sister. Mommy and Daddys are magic. We can keep producing love without taking it away!
I have a favor to ask you. Will you help us? When we can’t take care of your baby sister, will you always look out for her? That’s what big sisters do and I think you will be the best big sister ever.
Will you protect her and love her so much? It would really mean a lot to mommy and daddy. We are all kind of in this together. The 4 of us, always looking out for each other.
We love hard in this family. I love you and Daddy so much sometimes it hurts. I love your little sister that much already…
You were my first real unconditional love, and you will always be…never forget that…
But thank you for sharing me…and thank you for being excited for this next adventure!
A Little Note From Daddy:
Hey baby girl,
I wanna start off by saying how much I love every bit of everything about you. I never truly knew the meaning of unconditional love till you came into my life. Even in the times u do things u know u shouldn’t the one thing that remains the same is the love I have for you. I am doing my best to make sure that daddy is someone you’re proud of, someone u can look up to, u can aspire to be like. I want to make sure u never have to ask for anything, make sure u know that all your dreams can come true with some hard work. You’re a very special little girl and will always be. I want u to know that no matter what happens whatever it may be, u can ALWAYS count on daddy. There’s nothing u can’t bring to me, nothing we can’t fix, nothing that will be too big of a problem I can’t help u with. With all of me, I want you to know that I truly, deeply, sincerely, love u! All of you!! ~ Daddy
Here we go big girl! She’s coming, and just like we did…I KNOW she will love you instantly and you might not even realize it yet, but you definitely love her already too!
Mommy is in no way creative, I have never been, but when you become a mom you realize quick that kids and creativity go hand in hand. I am fully aware that you will have no memories of your very first birthday party, but I don’t care! This first year was a milestone for us all. You turned into a walking, talking little person and mommy and daddy survived so I knew we had to do it big!
Since before you were born I have been collecting great ideas on my baby MJ board on Pintrest and I was finally ready to put them to use! I stayed up late making treats and I have to admit I really enjoyed it! I may not be creative, but for you I will do anything! Daddy took me shopping for your decorations and nothing was too good (or expensive) for his baby girl. He loves you so much.
You were late to your own party because not even your first birthday should interrupt your nap time (and because you are my daughter lol) but when you showed up dressed as Minnie Mouse, everybody was so excited.
There was great music, a face painter/balloon twister and lots of games and treats. You played, laughed, and ate cake for the first time! It was a day I will never forget (you will get to learn of it through videos and pictures.)
I can’t wait to plan all of your birthdays. Parties are kinda mommy’s thing :) Your first Birthday party was awesome! Here’s to another year sweet girl!
![Mr. Smith and Sons Cairo, NC [Smith Family Album] ©WaheedPhotoArchive, 2013](https://64.media.tumblr.com/54bb389553a6d7791ebfc16aaa95d4b9/tumblr_mvp9v7HQRn1qhljlao1_1280.jpg "Mr. Smith and Sons Cairo, NC [Smith Family Album] ©WaheedPhotoArchive, 2013")
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