Momma's Girl

So you've heard how wonderful my husband is and how amazing my D is. Let me tell you about my L. If you look up the definition of momma's girl you will see a picture of my dear L. She puts a smile on my face even now as I think about her. As she is napping at this moment I am basking in the peace and quiet this house is experiencing because when she gets up it won't be this quiet again until about after both kids are in bed. I love L for so many reasons...even the ones that make me want to scream, because I know that even these moments are blessings.
L is our second child. Our pregancy with her was a much unexpected surprise. Nearly a year to the day she was born I began praying for another child. I know this is true because I can look back in my prayer journal and see it. Josh and I were sure God had adoption in mind for us again. We'd been on infertility drugs for almost a year before D was born without any thing happening so we didn't even begin to consider using them again until we experienced 5 failed adoptions within 2 months. Yes, I said 5!!! We even got to meet a birthmom (I'll tell you about that experience some other time). So anyway we went to meet with the doctor. I say we because I made Josh go with me this time. He'd gotten out of it before and if I was going to use those drugs again he would get to meet with the doctor too! So after our first time being on them a second time we got pregnant. We found out March 13th, a week before my birthday. SURPRISE!!! When I took the pregnancy test(s) I was in complete denial. I thought it was a fluke. Josh said I needed to make sure with a blood test but I told him I didn't want to because I was "afraid it would go away". But I had one done anyway late that evening. My BFF, Amanda, met Josh and I at the clinic and I had the results two hours later thanks to the very sweet lady who took my blood and was nice enough to break the rules and not make me wait for the doctor's nurse to call the next morning. The first person we told was D. We told him there was a baby in mommy's tummy and he smiled :)
Our excitement and joy became fear a few days later however when I began spotting. Thanks to the wise advice of a friend I quickly went back to the clinic and had my hormone levels checked. Sure enough my levels were LOW so the doctor prescribed progesterone pills and bedrest for my birthday and springbreak (my favorite thing about March). I was bummed but more than that I was scared to death I was going to lose our baby. So I did exactly what the doctor told me to. Thankfully I have a wonderful family who was completely supportive. Josh's parents were going to KC that week (a trip I had been expecting to take as well) so they took D along with them while I was cooped up in bed. From that time on I did whatever the doctor told me too. No matter what I was determined to have our baby.
I'm convinced to this day that God intervened but I am also convinced that L would have been born regardless of whether I had followed doctor's orders or not. She is a fighter! Strong-willed and independent. She will have her way or everybody suffers (so she thinks!).
She is a happy little girl though too. She loves to dance and sing. She has a little princess nightgown that she likes to wear to bed. Whenever she puts it on I swear I think that she literally turns into a princess. She will spin and spin around the room while singing at the top of her lungs.
She is a tomboy too. She loves to wrestle and drive her brother crazy. More often than not I am pulling her off D instead of the other way around. She loves to play in dirt (something which drives her mother crazy)and I am constantly trying to get stains out of her clothes.
She is curious. She gets into and wants to know what everything is. I hear a lot of "What's that?".
She has her daddy's sense of humor! Just the other day I was changing her diaper and I said "Stinky diaper". She quickly retorted, "Stinky Mommy" with an enormous grin and gleam in her eye.
She is creative. She has had an ability to do things with her hands since she was little that I could never get D to do. Sometimes I think she is an artist in the making. She loves to draw, color, paint and play with playdough.
She does things her own way and refuses to stick to anyone's idea of how a toddler normally progresses. There is a storybook called "Ruby in Her Own Time". It's about a Mother Duck and Father Duck who are worried about their duckling, Ruby. As the littlest duckling of the family, she learns to eat and swim long after her four sisters and brothers. Father Duck frets that Ruby will never catch up, but Mother Duck calmly reassures him that Ruby will flourish — "in her own time." I keep telling myself I'm going to buy this book and mark out the name Ruby throughout the book and replace it with L's name!!!
This is my girl. I am tightly wrapped around her finger. I love her with all of my heart. She is a gift from God, and in a way I think God's way of humbling me :) I pray one day that she will grow up to be a woman after God's own heart who lives to serve and glorify our wonderful Father who gave her life.