i told you we had great friends

dear little leah, 

your dad and i jetted off to new hampshire last weekend to check out our soon-to-be stomping grounds. you know that. you spent three nights having sleepovers with a few of your sweet little friends under the care of their amazingly generous parents. um, i guess you know that too. but, the fact that we can leave you for an entire long weekend and not even fret is a feeling i can't even describe. when you were first diagnosed i really wondered if your dad and i would ever be able to travel again at all - let alone leave you with someone else while we did so! 

if you're wondering, i'm 110 percent certain you had more fun at home than you would have had on our red eye flight, freezing "spring" weather {it snowed and hailed while we were there!}, and delayed flight that turned into nearly 12 hours on the way home. 

we got great texts and picture updates throughout the weekend that helped us to be at ease and also made us smile and miss you oh-so-much. 

hot tubbin' it with em, syd and aubo {yes, you're giving em kisses}

 nice {lack of} coordination on the facial expressions, girls. guess we packed the wrong swimsuit otherwise you could have been triplets!

 swinging with miss emery - apparently you both thoroughly enjoyed the ride

 i'm glad no one else knows what to do with your braced arms on the swings either.

 twinner jammies with syndey

 snuggling up in your ever-popular blow up bed with waverly and emerson. apparently waverly followed you around all weekend calling out "eah! eah!"

 modeling your "yo yo's" before church with emerson

sunday, while dad and i were waiting for our plane at the boston logan airport, i got the following email from one of these sweet friends and i thought you might enjoy it.

Hey Maren,

I hope you had a good trip and get to catch up on some sleep tonight.  The jet lag from coast to coast can be terrible.  Leah was such an angel this weekend.  I was actually very sad to drop her off at Jaimi's.  Just wanted to share with you a few things that I learned about Leah this weekend.

1. She thinks it's hilarious when I sneeze, even if it's the 20th time I sneeze, it's still just as funny as the first time.
2. She really, really, really likes Ritz crackers.  She seriously ate half a sleeve of Ritz crackers at the park on Friday.
3. She doesn't mind sharing her swing with Emery.  She seemed to love being able to combine two of her favorite things, swinging and babies.
4. She makes really cute sighing and humming noises when she's falling asleep.
5. She definitely prefers the pool over the hot tub.
6. She loves to give Emery kisses.  Emery's head bore the evidence all weekend (so cute).
7. She's a good sharer, she happily allows two other toddlers to snuggle with her in bed.
8. She loves chocolate pudding and boy does she get excited over a cheeseburger.
9. She can move those little legs of hers so fast.  She kept up with the quickest of them during Music Makers.  I think she really enjoyed herself.
10. She's one darling, lovable and smiley little girl. 

Okay, I already knew that last one.  Thanks for trusting your little one with us this weekend.  We had a blast.  I really hope Leah has as much fun as we did.  

Kristen

i love you little leah. thanks for being a sweetheart this weekend. and thanks for being so cute. that helps too.

love, 

mommy

just call me a slacker

go ahead. i deserve it. just call me a slacker. a month and a half with no letter to my little leah!? it's absurd, i know. because i'm such a slacker, you might never have known that you...

got a haircut, 

 had a birthday,

 dressed up a bazillion times with your friends,

 got sick,

 rocked the rain gear,

 went to work with dad,

 got caught looking at inappropriate menswear at the store,

 had lots of picnics with mom in the front room while it rained,

 had a birthday party {yes, a month late}

 had your four year checkup {and only cried one tear after your immunizations!},

 watched lots of march madness with dad,

 practiced dressing in winter gear in preparation for your move to new england,

 fell asleep in funny places,

 became impatient when mom didn't feed you fast enough, taking matters into your own hands {or mouth?},

 played the wii with dad,

 chased your new bubble bug,

 smelled the pretty flowers,

 were the cutest green leprechaun we've ever seen,

 had your third visit at the natural history study in oakland {this time with dr. nuel},

 sabotaged mom's emails on multiple occasions {you think it's hilarious to haphazardly whack the keyboard},

got you first pair of flip flops,

swam like a fish for your first {and second} pool days of the year,

and fell asleep in more funny places.

 

really, it's been a fun-filled month. we've jumped in puddles and jumped in pools. grown a year older and blown a year's worth of boogers. fought a fever and partied and played. sorry to slack off on you miss leah. it shouldn't happen again. thanks for putting up with me, sweetheart. 

i love you bunches!

love, 

mommy

I love you miss leah beah...

dear little leah,

Aside from your mother, you are the most precious thing in my life. You are one of the things that makes life enjoyable. Even though your condition has at times cast a dark cloud over life, you have a unique way of shattering that sadness with your bright rays of happiness. Here are some of my very favorite things about you:

1. I love the way you follow me around the house on Saturdays and Sundays. During the week, I leave early for work and come home late. I don't always get to spend the amount of time with you that I'd like. Believe it or not, when you follow me around the house on the weekends, it makes me feel important. I love getting up to walk from one side of the house to the other and hearing the pitter-patter of your little feet hit the kitchen floor only seconds after mine. You're my little buddy, and I hope you always will be.
2. I hate (and I mean really hate) hearing people chew their food. It grosses me out. It takes over all the sounds in the room. It's disgusting. BUT, I love hearing you chew! It is one of the cutest little sounds I know. I'm not sure why it doesn't gross me out. Maybe you just know how to chew with style.
3. I love after you've taken a bath, and you're in your fresh jammies. You're adorable and you smell so good. I can usually smell your shampoo on my hands for hours after, and I love it!
4. I love rocking you to sleep in our wonderfully fashionable orange rocking chair. If I could, I'd hold you and rock you in that chair forever.
5. But, if I held you in the chair all night, I wouldn't get to see you wiggle in your bed. That's how you settle in for the night, and it cracks me up.
6. I love when we're sitting at the kitchen table having dinner and you keep looking at me out of the corner of your eyes until I look at you. Once I see you, I lean my head over until my forehead touches yours and you just stare into my eyes and smile. I love that.
7. Last but not least, I adore your squinty, smiley face. You know the one. It always makes me smile.
   

Your mom and I are very lucky that we have our own personal angel living at our house! I love you so!

Love,
Daddy

a special helper

dear little leah, 

as you well know, you are now a sunbeam at church! this is big news. for awhile, we weren't sure how involved you were going to be able to be. but, thanks to some wonderful leaders {ahem, amy baugh} who took the lead and a very special helper, you are able to go to singing time, sharing time and class for the full two hours each sunday. 

sister z goes with you. and you love sister z! she helps you be involved in the lessons and songs and helps you to control your little body. if you're too agitated, she gives you a break by walking the halls or heading to your old stomping grounds in the nursery for a quick snack. 

oh, little leah. you're a sunbeam! in more ways than one, that's for sure. i'm so happy to have such wonderful people in our lives who love you so much and help you do all the things we know you can do. 

love, 

mommy

p.s. sister z writes you a letter each week detailing all you did in class and sharing/singing time. how cool is she!?

sleeping beauty

dear little leah,
your daddy loves you.
a lot.
today you fell asleep on our bed while you and i were snuggling.
and he couldn't resist taking pictures of you after your eyes fluttered shut.
he was in there for 20+ minutes.
and captured you in your element.

we love seeing you so peaceful.

love you, little girl.
love,
mommy

shades

dear little leah, 

you haven't always like sunglasses. you were born liking them. 

and we were hard pressed to find  you without them for a few months. 

then your body went crazy on you and you haven't let us put them on you since. at all. 

until claire changed everything. we went to dinner with her over the holidays and the owner of the restaurant came out and presented you all with your own pair of heart-shaped sunglasses. we tried to put them on you. you pushed them away. claire let her mom put them on. and you liked it. so we tried again and voile! if i'd only known it would be so easy.

a few weeks later, you picked out your very own pair that actually fit your head (your old velcro pair make your eyes bulge out of your head - sorry about that). and you love when you transform from "leah" into "shades" when we're in the car. it's perfect. your hands don't work so you can't ever block the sun from your eyes. so your shades do the work for you. and you look fabulous in the meantime. 

and can i just say how much i love this picture? you're like, "yah, mom. i know the sun is shining. a lot. and i don't care. it's not in my eyes. and i look cool. bring it on sun."

love you bunches, shades. 

love, 

mommy

not today

dear little leah, 

i know i haven't updated in awhile. 

i was planning to post something new today {other than this}. 

but now i'm not. 

because today i'm mad at you. 

and it's not fair for me to write about you when i'm mad at you. 

i'm only allowed to write about mean strangers when i'm mad. 

i'm tired of your mealtime antics, so you're in your room until piano starts. 

and i'll update tomorrow. okay?

will you be nice tomorrow?

i think it's a good idea. 

love, 

mommy

secret friends

dear little leah, 

i don't think it's a secret that you have lots of friends. so many people like you. everyone knows who you are and you seem to bring a smile to many faces. but, i bet you didn't know that you have special secret friends. friends who watch you - and you don't even know! friends whose days you brighten just by being you. 

at christmas, our dear not-so-secret friends, the mcphies, handed us a beautifully wrapped gift. red with white polkadots and beautiful ribbon. they said someone dropped the gift off at their house and asked them to deliver it to you. and they asked to remain anonymous. so, on christmas day, we opened up this beautiful gift. and inside we found the loveliest of lovely fairy princess dresses. a full, frilly, fabulous tutu with the softest, daintiest pink leotard you have ever seen. 

also included was the most darling book "the jellybeans and the big dance." we've already read it lots. 

and then there was a letter, addressed to you. the letter made me cry. in front of my friends. on christmas day. 

"Dear Leah" it started. "Christmas is such a wonderful time of year. There are so many things about it that make me smile. I love the decorations and the good things to eat and listening to the story of the baby Jesus and the angels and the star that appeared when He was born. The music is also one of my very favorite parts, but I also love the present part and seeing the smiles on people's faces. You probably don't know this, but you make me smile every time I see you! I love your bows and your beautiful hair. I love watching your mommy and daddy and how much they love you and I especially love your beautiful eyes. So, since you give me so much to smile about by just you being you, I hope you won't mind if I give you a little gift for Christmas. I know lots of three year old little girls and they seem to like dressing in pink things...and they usually seem to pick something with lots of layers, so when I saw this in the store I thought it might be something you might like..."

The note then went on to say, "We also heard that there is some amazing technology that might help you, so we wanted to give you something to add to your technology fund. Hope it might help in some small way. I hope you have a very wonderful Christmas. Thank you for helping me smile! Much love, Your Special Friend"

included in the card were some stick-on earrings and jewels and a much-too-large sum of money. leah, i'm not sure what it is, but you get to people. you make them smile and you brighten their days. so thank you for being you. 

and a sincere thank you to your special friend: you put a smile on our faces and brightened our day.

love, 

mommy 

what a day!

dear little leah,

i love days like today! miss jenn said you approximated "white" and "blue" and "more" today. multiple times. and at the right times! woo hooo!

and then she said you went potty in the potty! yippee!

and then you took a great nap. alright!

and then we had a dance party in the front room. yee haw!

and then we colored pictures and made cards for some of our family. yay!

and then you used your switch to sing happy birthday to aunt kb. and she cried. woot woot!

what a day. let's go pick up dad and eat some dinner. mmkay?

love you,
love,
mommy

one tough cookie, you are

dear little leah,

 

you are very brave. very, very brave. and you have a high tolerance for pain. and you do pretty well around strangers. these three things combined {plus, the fact that you're cute and giggly} make for much more pleasant experiences at doctors' offices than i would otherwise have. so thanks in advance for that.

over the holiday break we dragged you into two separate offices to have glue and wires stuck to your chest and head and strung back to a machine that drew all sorts of funny lines on a piece of paper {for the ekg on dec. 22nd} and the computer {for the eeg on dec. 29th}. and really, you didn't do much protesting.

you kept relatively still for the ekg and didn't scream nearly as much as a three year old should have when the tech ripped those 15 electrodes off your chest. and you kept super duper still when the tech glued 23 wires to your head {okay, you were sleeping}. and, while we're at it, thanks for being a champ of champs for only getting six hours of sleep the night before that eeg.

i know it's not fair, but in the words of mothers everywhere, "life isn't fair." you can quote me on that. and my mom. and my mom's mom. and everyone's mom. it really isn't fair. but thanks for pluggin' along with a smile on your face. and thanks for dealing with my idiocy on a daily basis. you are truly a joy.

and i love you.

love,

mommy