Amy

Dear Avery,

It's been a while since I've written and I'm sorry. Life just gets busy. And well, sometimes I get a little lazy. I am 7 months pregnant now and you are just about 11 months old. So I guess that's my excuse. You are keeping me very busy and your little brother or sister is keeping me very exhausted. And I love you both more than anything.

When you were about 5 months old you got to meet a beautiful person. Her name was Amy. She was the warmest person I've ever known. She and I did our master's program together at UVM but our friendship went so much deeper. Somehow she became my family. I called her Auntie Amy. I think I was like a daughter to her. Silly as it sounds, she kept a picture of me on her refrigerator.

That's the thing about Amy. She was silly. But she didn't care who laughed at her. You couldn't not laugh in Amy's presence. Because Amy was always, always laughing. And her laugh was contagious. That was her greatest gift.

Amy was in the middle of her chemo treatments when your daddy and I got married. She wasn't sure whether or not she'd be able to make it to our wedding. It was a 4-hour trip for her. I'll never forget it though. Daddy and I had just said our "I do's" and were walking along the beach with our photographer. And there was Amy -- yelling "hi Ani!" (that's what she called me) at the top of her lungs and waving her arms frantically and laughing and laughing. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see anyone. A lot of things made my day that day but seeing Amy was definitely one of them.

Amy had a surprise birthday party in March. You were just 5 months old. It wasn't easy to travel with you at that age. You still hated the car and screamed all the way to Vermont. But I knew I had to go and I knew I had to bring you. I just knew she had to meet you. Amy was shocked by the party and even more shocked to see me there. I loved that moment when she saw you for the first time. It totally made her day.

I was only about 5 weeks pregnant at the time and wasn't telling people yet. But as I hugged Amy good-bye, I whispered to her, "I'm pregnant again!" She squealed and laughed and hugged me hard. She was SO happy for me. What a wonderful moment. The picture above was taken just after that -- what a special picture of all four of us. It was the last time I ever saw her. 

We have to cancel our trip to Nantucket this weekend so that Daddy and I can go to Amy's funeral. I was really excited to bring you to Nantucket. It was going to be a really, really fun weekend. But here's the lesson. There are just some things in life that are more important than fun. Honoring a loved one's life is one of them. 

I know that Amy will be looking down from heaven and laughing out loud at the site of me and Laurie together -- both with our big pregnant bellies. My hope is that she'll be feeling just as joyful and loved to see me at her funeral as I was to see her at my wedding.

That's what friendship is all about.

I love you sweet girl.

Love,

Mommy

Look Who's Walking

one-handed walking

No Hands!

Avery has started standing on her own and is just SO proud of herself! I'm thinking her first steps are not far off.

Family Weekend in Cape Cod

Dear Avery -- pee and poop

A lot of people got a good laugh out of these confessions last night so I'll write them out again here. Maybe Avery will have a good laugh some day too.

Dear Avery,

I always change you upstairs in the nursery on your changing table. Problem is you don't seem to like it anymore. You wiggle and kick your legs and toss and turn and make many attempts to crawl right off the table. I bribe you with hairbrushes and remote controls and puffs. But more often than not, changing you is a lot like wrestling an alligator.

So last night Daddy had dinner cooking on the stove and he announced that it would be ready in 3 minutes. You had already eaten and were stripped down to your diaper crawling around like a madwoman. I noticed your diaper looked very full and decided to change you real quick before dinner. In the interest of time I thought I'd do it right there in the family room instead of dragging you upstairs. I pulled a fresh diaper from the diaper bag and pulled your wet one off. I didn't even bother to lie you down first. Only it wasn't just wet. No, to my great surprise, you had yourself a giant poop hiding in there.

I was not prepared at all. I didn't even have any wipes handy. It was too late anyway. Little Miss Kicker that you are, you stepped right into it and then proceeded to step all over me. I shrieked, picked you up by your armpits and started to rush you up the stairs. 

Daddy came to see what all the shrieking was about and yelled out, "There's a turd hanging from her butt!!"

And that's when it happened. Right at the bottom of the stairs, that turd fell right off your butt and landed right in the middle of our tile floor.

I wasn't mad about it. Not at all. No sweetheart, I thought it was just about the funniest thing that ever happened. I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. I laughed so hard my side hurt. I laughed so hard I peed my pants -- which isn't that uncommon these days.

And while we're talking about pee, I have one other quick story for you. Last weekend we went to a 4th of July BBQ at Hunter's house. I peed my pants there too. I had to confess to Hunter's mommy because I kept going back and forth to the bathroom to try to fix it and she asked me what was up. She said she'd let me borrow a pair of maternity pants but she'd already lent them all to me. In fact, I was wearing her pants. Yes, honey, I peed Hunter's mommy's pants.

I guess this is what happens when you spend 17 of the last 21 months pregnant. I love you.

Love,

Mommy

Happy 4th of July!