Julianna is four

Dear Julianna,

I know it's a few days after your birthday. I promise that I wrote a whole letter on the day you turned four, but my new computer restarted right as I was wrapping up the letter. I lost the whole thing and just didn't have the energy to type the whole thing again. I've rested, so now I can give you the birthday letter you deserve.

On your fourth birthday we celebrated you all day. In the morning you received your gift. It was a double baby stroller with twin babies. You named the boy Jill and the girl Emmalyn. After you had time to play with your babies and have lunch we buzzed over to Wichita to go swimming at their fancy YMCA pool. You had a great time. After the swim we went to the movies and watched a very funny movie. There were a few parts that caused you to get a little nervous and bury your head in my shirt. I didn't mind, though. I loved that you sat on my lap for the whole movie. I know that those days are numbered. On the way home we stopped at your favorite restaurant and brought our dinner home from there. If I had to guess, I would say that you had a good day.

You are getting quite big and grown up. You spend most of your days with me and you love to help out. Last time I folded a basket of laundry you helped by folding all of the towels just for fun. Your favorite things to play with are you kitchen stuff and your babies. You love to feed them and change their diapers and snuggle them. And occasionally, you like to put them in time out for misbehavior. You are my child that plays well with others, but also plays well by yourself. You love to laugh and have fun and your favorite is to make other people laugh. You are a fickle girl. Some days you want to wear nothing but boy clothes, be called a boy, and be a boy. On other days you want to be fancy, wear your fanciest girl clothes, and wear pounds of lip gloss. I never know when we wake up in the morning who you will decide to be that day. I try not to make a big deal out of it. You are who you are and we love you no matter what.

Julianna, you are a joy. I love you so much and I enjoy you everyday. In my letters I try to share with you how much I love you. I feel like I just keep writing you the same letter year after year because I just want to tell you I love you in every way possible. I hope that by sharing in this letter what you did on your birthday, what you loved when you were four, and sharing a piece of who you were on your fourth birthday, it will some how bring you a little joy when you read this later. My blog started as a way to share my feelings about being a mom, but lately it's more about remembering who my children were when they were kids. I want to remember everything I can about your life; and I want you to someday read this and see who I was, and what it meant to me to be your mom.  There is no greater joy.  I love you.

Love,
Mama