The Moments that Matter Most

Sometimes it seems like I'm doing the same things every day . . . dressing the kids, wiping up spit-up, changing diapers, feeding them, helping them fall asleep, running errands, etc. But then I step back and just look at the moment, and try to cherish it. I'm trying to notice the little things . . . all these little things they do will soon be gone because they grow so quickly. On Elena's birthday we watched videos of her as a newborn and infant, and also the video of her meeting Samuel for the first time. It was amazing. People tell me that Samuel looks like her, but I didn't see it until I watched videos of her around his age. Then when I watched her in the hospital bed with me after having Samuel, I couldn't believe how much she's grown, and how different she is now.

And Samuel is just so big. His hair is growing out, and he's eating all kinds of foods.

I see how much they love each other.

I laugh at how much Samuel is amused by touching the top of Jorge's head.

I notice how much care Elena puts into the care of her baby doll. This is the same baby doll she started playing with when she was just 6 months old. My grandma got it for her, and she sleeps with it every night. When she wakes up in the early morning hours she'll come to our bed. I wake up to her standing right next to me and she'll say something like, "I'm here to cuddle with you." Then I'll help her climb up in our bed and she'll lay between us. She always brings her pink blanket and her baby. 

I notice Samuel's eyelashes. They are so long; he has beautiful eyes. At Jorge's family reunion one of the ladies thought he was a girl, even though he was in a boyish onesie. When Jorge told her he's a boy, she apologized and said that his eyelashes are so long and he's just so beautiful that she thought he was a girl. This has happened a couple of times since then, and people always say it's his eyes or eyelashes, and they're always embarrassed when they learn he's a boy. When it happens, I think it's funny, because babies are not supposed to be hyper-masculine or feminine; they're babies! And they're beautiful, and Samuel's beautiful. So, after this happened a couple of times, we talked about how to us it looks like he's all boy, but maybe that's just because since I was pregnant we've thought about him as a boy. I see other babies and I can't tell the sex until I see the clothes, but I look at mine and it's so obvious. We did a little experiment: when Samuel was undressed down to the diaper, Jorge put a pink bow in his hair, and do you know what we saw? A baby that could make a beautiful girl. It was pretty funny. When my grandma met Samuel she said he was the most beautiful baby she'd ever seen. I think she was right. 

Then we have moments like this, where both kids are just being silly and enjoying each other, and it takes away all the stress of the day.

 

 

Samuel has a funny way of sitting on one foot and sticking out his other heel to balance. And he still crawls on one knee and one foot. I thought that after awhile he would crawl on both knees, but this is how he likes to do it. Jorge says it's like watching a frog walk.

And even though it can be tiring listening to a baby cry, he makes the cutest sad face I've ever seen. And I love it.

And for some reason whenever Elena gets dressed she's curious about where the outfit came from. As I got her dressed this morning she asked about the clothes and I told her she got them for her birthday, but I couldn't remember who had gotten them for her. She said, "Probably Grandma Barbara." Even though she didn't see my grandma a lot, she thinks about her and mentions her pretty frequently. Because she's so young I didn't even try to tell Elena about her passing away. So when she said this I said, "Yeah, maybe." And she responded with "Is Grandma Barbara sick?" (The last couple of times she saw her, she was in the hospital.) I said, "No, she's not sick anymore." Then she asked, "Is she at home?" I said, "Yeah, she's home now." Then I got her dressed and thought about how much I miss my grandma, and how important it is to cherish the moments we have with people we love.