My heart is so happy!

Dear Will and Livi,

I am combining your letters this time because y'all are keeping your mommy so busy that I haven't had time to write each of you.  I want to begin by telling both of you how incredibly blessed I am to be your mommy.  There are days that I look at the two of you and my eyes well up with tears because I feel so undeserving to be your mommy.  There are truly no words for a mother to describe the love she has for her babies...so when y'all read this (when y'all are all grown up) please understand that this is the reason I tell you both ALL the time how much I love you.  I sometimes find myself sounding like a broken record :)-and ask me what a record is because you probably won't know.  Ha!  

Will-you are a little chatterbox these days!  For a child that started talking "late" you are certainly making up for lost time and words. I love watching you take it all in and love watching you learn new words and new concepts.  You are now sleeping in a "big boy" bed! We moved you into a big boy bed shortly after you woke me up standing at the side of our bed-you apparently dove right out of your crib and found your way all the way down the stairs in the night...only to scare the you know what out of your poor mama...so we sent you to Neeno and Doc's house and we began Project Big Boy Room!  The first night you were a bit reluctant about your new bed, so you slept in your old crib...but night number two was a success and every night since then has been too!  

You have really taken to all of your stuffed animals lately and you sleep with a small army of friends consisting of Mickey Mouse, Winnie The Pooh, Elmer the elephant, Mr. Snowman that you named Olaf, puppies of course (your loveys), a blue elephant, Harvey the dog, your baby doll (that you call "Libby!"), Mr. Monkey, Mr. "Raff" (a giraffe), and a huge Elmo doll.  You are so detail-minded that you know if any one of them is missing!  You are sooo very detail-minded and you hate for anything to be broken.  If something is broken, you talk about it non-stop until it's fixed.  I have decided  that you are going to be an engineer one day so you can fix things all day long :)  In the last few weeks, you have started saying your prayers with us at night, and have started singing all of our bedtime songs with us.  Your favorites currently are "you are my sunshine", "this little light of mine" and "Jesus loves me".  Your favorite foods continue to be cheese, fruit snacks, yogurt covered raisins, otter pops, and pasta salad-you especially love to pick out the feta cheese.  You LOVE diggers, big trucks, and all things machinery.  

You and your daddy have started a tradition of going to the farmer's market together on Saturday mornings and you love this so.  Daddy has emerged as your hero and you cry during the day asking where daddy is....and this breaks your mommy's heart watching you cry for him because there is absolutely nothing I can do to make it better.  The good thing is, you are extra excited to see his truck pull up outside-and you stand on the stairs to watch out the front door for him.  It's absolutely precious.  You have just started to really love your little sister.  The first thing you do in the mornings is come downstairs asking "where's Libby?"  You haven't quite mastered your "v" sound so she is "Libby" for now :)  You lay on the floor with her and make her smile all the time.  She coos so much when you come around.  I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see how much y'all already love each other.  I truly believe that a sibling is a gift and I pray every day that y'all cherish your sibling relationship.   

Livi-you continue to be one of the sweetest, happiest babies around.  You wake up smiling and you are so laid back...most of the time :) 

 I think you may be cutting your first teeth now (at 5 months tomorrow) and I think it's making you hurt...because you're a lot more fussy than you've ever been-but even your fussiest isn't all that bad.  I tried introducing you to "real" food two weeks ago but you wanted nothing of it...so I waited until last week and it was the same refusal, so I am going to try again this week.  You love to jump in your activity center toy and you can stand on my legs for so long!  You are still not able to sit up all by yourself but you're getting very close!  I blame that on your lack of tummy time...but every time I try tummy time, your brother tries to roll you over-so you don't get a ton of it!  You LOVE to be talked to and you practically dance when we talk to you, you get so excited.  Your hair is starting to thicken up and you may be ready for a bow in a few months...which as a girl you can appreciate:)  You love watching Praise Baby and sometimes this is the only thing that will settle you down when you are being fussy.  Will likes to watch with you and this makes my heart swell.  You and Will are both going to Moms Morning Out two mornings a week and your teachers are so sweet to you!  You always get a good report.  Your daddy and I call you "Livi Lou" for some unknown reason...but it has stuck, so you'll probably always be our little Livi Lou, just as Will will always be our Will Bug.  I have to confess that sometimes Daddy calls you "Livers" and "Livi Louskey"...so I apologize in advance if either of those stick too!  You get prettier every day and your eyes are big and blue just like your big brother's!  I love looking at y'all's sweet expressive eyes!  

I love you both so much!!!  I pray that neither of you will ever doubt our love for y'all...and above all, I pray you each come to know the love of Christ.  I am praying boldly for each of you and the world you will grow up in.  I wish I could promise you that it's going to be easy to be a believer, but I cannot...because every day our world seems to get a little darker.  What I do know is that the darker it gets, the more we need to shine for our Savior....so as I sing to y'all, "this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine", please remember our calling to be a light to the world and to shine like stars for Jesus.  I know I will fail you as a mother, but at whatever stage in your life you read these letters from me, cling to this-love Jesus and shine for him daily...in all that you do.  He is the only one who won't ever let you down...and the only one you need.  I love you Will and Livi!!!  Will-every night before bed I ask you, "what do you do to Mommy's heart?" and you say "HAPPY!"  That is true of both of you!-y'all make my heart so happy!!!  

Love, Mommy