September Updates

Kennedy:

Could this girl be any cuter? She smiles nonstop, and when she's not smiling, she's nursing. A lot. In fact, she really only likes to be sleeping if she is nursing while sleeping. This makes it hard for anyone to really get to hold her much. She isn't awake too long before she's ready to be asleep again, and she likes to sleep while attached to me. It is sad for other people, but I know soon enough she will be awake longer and then others will get more than enough time to hold her. It is frustrating in the days when I have nobody to help because she HAS to lie down sometimes so I can do other things. So she usually sleeps at the most 45 minutes before she's up again. In addition to nursing, she likes toys to be shaken for her, the fan, being sung to, and her most favorite thing: bath time. She can go from screaming to happy in one second. She's over all a very content little girl as long as she's not in the car. I can't believe both my babies have hated their car seats. How is that even possible? I'm so grateful that she's in our family, and I love her perfectness so much.

Swen:

Could this boy be any cuter? Not only is he the most beautiful boy on the planet, but he has the sweetest personality in the world. He still loves cars more than life itself, and he shares his love with everyone. He always has a car in hand and whenever anyone new comes into the room he runs over so excited to show off his "new car!" It does get a little old to for me to constantly express so much excitement over his new cars, but I want him to know I care about his interests, so I probably say "oh my gosh. Swen, is that a new car? I love your new car! It is the coolest car I have ever seen!" at least 20 times a day. But every time his eyes light up and he smiles so big that it's worth it. He loves Kennedy so much. He constantly asks to hold her. If he's not holding her, he's kissing her, petting her, and touching her. He still throws things at her, but it's happening less and less. Usually it's when I'm focusing on another person and he's needing some attention. If he's not talking about cars, he is talking about water. He loves to put everything in bowls of liquid. Like he's obsessed with it. Cereal, diet coke, soup, whatever it is. If it's liquid, he puts stuff in it. He is a pretty picky eater but eats cereal and milk at least three times a day. Also, he has recently become a finger sucker. It sort of just happened over night, and we think it's adorable. Swen is the most perfect two year old ever, and I wish everyone in the world could know him because of the joy he brings to people.

Shulamith:

Nursing Kennedy while Swen keeps me company. This occurs hours and hours throughout each day.

Could I be any cuter? Haha just kidding! I take care of my two kids all day and all night which pretty much sums up my life. I love it more than anything 99% of the time, but on very hard days, I think it would be easier to drop them off somewhere to mess up someone else's house and go to work, where I have friends and a social life while going to the bathroom by myself, eating by myself, driving by myself, oh and making money of course. Then I remember that this stage is so short, and I know my kids need me now, and I won't regret being poor for this short time with them. Also, I remember that I'm beyond blessed to have the opportunity to stay home with them.  I've been walking every day (where Kennedy WILL sleep for hours in her front pack!) and dieting on the weekdays to try and get back to pre-Kennedy size. The progress is slow, but I can tell it's working. Oh and it SUCKS. But so does being fat so too bad for me. And Sweet Tooth Fairy is sad about my diet too because they're almost going out of business without me buying cookies and cupcakes any time I'm in the area (daily).

Mathew:

Could he be any cuter? He has gone above and beyond all my expectations for a husband and dad. He is patient, kind, and loving to both the kids and me. He is working at Vivint Solar in supply chain. While it is a HARD job with little pay right now, he knows there is a future in supply chain and money to be made if he puts his time in. He is also waiting tables every Saturday night at Longhorn for extra income. Though he's doing all this, I have yet to hear him complain ONCE about going to work. When he gets home, he instantly starts playing with both kids. When weather permits, he enjoys taking Swen disc golfing. His favorite hobby is still rock climbing which he tries to do at least once a week. We often talk about how we have no idea how all of a sudden we are married with two kids. It all happened so fast, but we are loving it and learning lots.

Having Two

I'm sitting in bed nursing Kennedy to sleep while Swen is in the bath (where I can see him from bed so don't worry) and just thinking to myself how much I've learned in the last seven weeks since Kennedy was born.

1. Sitting down is underrated. Really, really underrated. Who knew I would miss just being able to sit for a few minutes without having to do something?

2. Nursing while doing ANYTHING is very possible. Cooking, eating, playing with Swen. You name it, and I've done it while nursing. Gone are the days where I could just sit and watch all my shows while nursing a baby.

3. Everyone should live in his or her parents' basement. We have it ideal because we have our own complete apartment under their house, which means total privacy. But even if that weren't the case, I think I would move in anyway. Their help is worth any privacy I would have to sacrifice. I think Matt would agree. He never has to worry about me because there's almost always someone home. Eli will be leaving for college soon, and Seth has already started school. That makes two fewer people here for support during the day, which makes me sad. Luckily, I have my mom and my dad, and my mom doesn't work many hours and not the same ones as my dad, so one of them is always around. Every mom needs her family upstairs. Period.

4. My house will never be as clean as I want. I love my house to be clean, and with Kennedy in the front pack and Swen playing outside, I can clean up and make it beautiful. Then Swen comes inside (or Matt comes home) and it's all over. Those two boys are messy. I've tried really hard to just accept it and not get frustrated when Swen destroys everything, but I definitely need more patience with that because he's two. And two-years-olds are messy.

5. Laundry never ends. Ever. Just adding Kennedy, I feel like I've doubled my laundry. I don't know why.

6. Seeing Swen pet Kennedy's head and love her makes me the happiest person ever.

7. It is possible to love two children equally. I was worried she wouldn't measure up to Swen. She does.

8. Going places is much harder and less fun. Being home with two kids is much harder and less fun. It's a dilemma on what to do each day. Stay home and try to entertain Swen, or go out while Kennedy screams in the car.

9. Most days I want lots and lots more babies. Other days, two sounds like a wonderful number.

10. It's hard to feel like both kids are getting what they need. I wish I could hold Kennedy all the time. I wish I could play with Swen all the time. I feel like I'm letting them both down quite often. Not to mention I feel like I'm letting myself down because I can't find time to do anything for myself. I don't even shower alone because Swen climbs in the second he hears water.  Hopefully I'll get into more of a routine soon and find a little time for myself each week. I'm not even going to aim for each day, ha!

11.  When I miss out on doing things that aren't kid friendly, I don't really care. I seriously love these babies so much, and nothing is more important than them right now. I will have years and years to go to movies, plays, vacations, and late nights staying up with friends, and I know they'll be grown up before I know it.

12. I love not worrying about Kennedy. With Swen I always worried about his health and that I might be doing things wrong. I doubted myself in everything. Now that he's two and doing amazing, I know the way I raised him was the right way for him and our family. Of course things with Kennedy may be different because she's different and has different needs, but I'm not doubting my choices with her because I trust myself and my instincts.

13. If I knew blogging on my phone was this easy, I may have been better about updating this blog!

14. I have yet to decide which is harder, going from zero to one child or from one to two children. It goes both ways. With a first child, for me, it was a huge shock, going from being totally selfish to being completely selfless and caring for a baby. Not to mention the shock of sleep deprivation. With number two, I have already been a mom for two years, and I am used to sleep deprivation (remember Swen didn't sleep for 15 months and then when he did sleep, he for up at 5:00 every morning?).  However, the business and craziness of two children is definitely hard. Feeling like one of them always needs something from me is exhausting. So I've decided it's a tie. But I have a hunch that going from 2 to 3 kids will be the hardest for sure. I can't even imagine it right now.

15. There's water all over my bathroom floor. Thank you, Swen. I should probably go get him out and clean that up. As well as remind myself about  #4 above.

More Titty, Big Cocks, and Bars

You might be wondering what those three things could possibly have in common. It just so happens that the three things Swen likes to talk about more than anything else are feeding kitty, cars, and granola bars. He just doesn't quite know how to pronounce them.

Swen loves to feed Kitty more than anything. He would feed her all day if he could, but he still doesn't quite know how to pronounce her name, and therefore calls her "Titty." That alone is funny enough, but now when he wants to feed her he runs around saying, "More Titty? More Titty" over and over. It cracks everyone up who hears it. I hope he never learns to say her name.

The second thing Swen loves is cars. Oh how he loves to carry them all around the house, line them up, and take them everywhere he goes. He also loves to ride in them! For how much he hated his car seat for the first eight months of life, he now loves to go anywhere. "Car" is also a very hard word to say, so he calls them some sort of a mixture between "gock" and "cock."  Then my mom recently got her van fixed, and after he rode in that for the first time, it was love at first ride. He could see out the window at all the other cars! But he doesn't call her the van, "van." He calls it the "big cock." For some reason when he says the word big first, the /g/ sound is totally gone and it is definitely "cock." Haha! So now EVERY TIME I mention going bye-bye, the first thing he says is, "a big cock?" Then he just starts yelling it over and over. "A big cock! A big cock!" If we don't go in that van, he starts crying and saying "a big cock" in the saddest little voice.

"Bar" is the one word he says correctly. He doesn't go to bars, but he eats them. Granola bars are his very favorite snack. There was ONE single time when he wouldn't come inside from the backyard to take a nap, so I told him he could have a granola bar after night-night time. Now every time I tell him it's time for night-night, he says, "a bar?" Then he continually talks about bars until he falls asleep. It's adorable.

I love all these words he says, and I'm mostly glad that he isn't saying bad words because he's heard them from me. People who know me, know I don't have the cleanest mouth. :)  Here are some pictures of my adorable children.

Miss Kennedy

Kennedy Webster Monson was born July 5th, 2014 at 9:41 a.m. The last few weeks of pregnancy seemed to take forever! Part this was because I had Swen a month early, and the other part was that I had no idea how she was going to be delivered.

I was really hoping to have a successful VBAC, and my doctor was very on board. However, with a previous c-section I couldn't be induced, so I would have to wait it out. He said that he doesn't like women to go past 41 weeks, so I had a c-section scheduled for July 8th at 5:00 PM (41 week mark). Once I hit my 36 week appointments, he started check my progress, or more accurately, lack of progress. Every single week, everything was the same. The same as in NOTHING was changing. I wasn't dilated at all at my 40-week appointment. I was so discouraged, and I asked him what he thought my chances were of going into labor on my own in the next week. He said it wasn't likely. He could tell I was upset, and said that he would be more than happy to move my c-section up to an earlier day. This was 4th of July weekend, but he didn't seem to mind.

So after thinking about it for a little bit, I called and made an appointment to go in earlier! I would go Saturday morning to have our little girl. I was so excited and so terrified at the same time. I remember the surgery with Swen and did not like any part of it (except that Swen and I both made it here alive of course). It was very rushed, and I had no idea what was going on. Then when Swen got here, they took him away from me, and I just lay there while they sewed me up. Plus the recovery was terrible. I was in so much pain and had lost so much blood that I felt so weak.

This time was completely different, and I can honestly say it was a GREAT experience. They weren't in a hurry because it wasn't an emergency, and they talked us through everything. They even had a mirror so I could watch her be born! The first thing I saw was a TON of dark, black hair. Then when they pulled her out, she was the most beautiful little girl I had ever seen. She also had the loudest cry I had ever heard from someone so little. They wrapped her up very quickly, and Matt held her right by my face the entire time that they were stitching me up. I didn't feel like I missed out on anything this time around, and it was a great experience. One of the nurses even told us that soon they will be doing skin-to-skin with all c-sections, which makes me so excited!

After three nights in the hospital, I finally got to bring her home. The adjustment to two kids really hasn't been too hard. She has the happiest little spirit about her. She loves to nurse and be held just like a typical newborn! Swen is doing great adjusting. He loves to put his cars and blocks all over her. He also likes to name all her body parts. I am so grateful for these two children, and I still can't believe they are both mine!

Inside my Crazy Pregnant Mind

I am over half way through my 39th week of pregnancy! It went by so fast that if I didn't look as big as a house, I wouldn't believe that I'm actually this far. I'm so grateful that I am healthy and that this baby sister will be fully grown and developed when she comes. No preemie clothes for her! I can't complain about this pregnancy at all. I am exhausted all the time, get worn out after about half an hour of anything, and have trouble sleeping, but that's about it. I know a lot of people have it worse, so I try not complain too much.

Now that I am one day from my due date (!), I am definitely freaking out. Good freaking out and bad freaking out. And that's what I want to write about tonight.

Let's start with the bad...

Swen is still waking up at 5:00 in the morning. It's killing me, and I'm not up all night nursing a newborn. I tried to keep him up late tonight to see if that would help. Then I got tired and decided to put him to sleep. FAIL.

Words can't express how sad I feel thinking that the days of having only Swen are over. Of course I'm excited to have a new baby sister; she was a planned baby! But I have just LOVED the past two years more than any other time in my life. I love being with Swen and don't want him to feel displaced. I worked part time just a little bit during his second year of life, but quit entirely a month ago. We have both gotten used to being together all the time. I don't know if it's the age/stage he's in or if he somehow "gets" that a baby is coming. He is so clingy right now and likes to be next to me constantly.

I am going to have to be in the hospital for 2-3 nights. BLAH! This means being away from Swen. Considering I was just complaining about him getting up super early, I should be excited for this little vacation. I'm definitely not. I'm dreading it. I lose sleep over it. I have left him overnight just two times in his whole life. The first time he was still nursing, so I saw him at 9:00 pm and again the next morning at 8:00. The second time was just recently for our anniversary We left about 4:00 pm and came home the next day about noon. So neither of these times did I go 24 hours without seeing Swen. I know that he will be able to come visit me in the hospital, but it still seems like way too long to be away from him overall.. Luckily Matt and I have lots of family around that Swen can be with. I should be planning times and whatnot with people, but I'm not. I plan on playing it all by ear depending on how he is doing and how I'm doing.

I'm going to have TWO kids. That explains itself.

That's enough of the bad. Here's all the GOOD freaking out going on in my mind:

I'm going to have a perfect little baby GIRL! I love babies, and I love being a mom. Like I said, raising Swen has been amazing and I have loved it all. The fact that I get to do that again is SO SO SO exciting. Every time I feel her move or see another little baby, I get more excited.

It's going to be a GIRL. In case you missed it in the last paragraph. I am so excited to put her in little pink clothes and bows. This could also go in the "bad freaking out" section, though, because I feel comfortable with a little boy, so a little girl is going to be all new.

I get to breastfeed another baby! Call me crazy, but some of my fondest memories were nursing Swen. I can't wait to get to do it all over again. And I don't have to figure out what to feed her which I'm finding quite the challenge with Swen these days.

I get to watch Matt be a daddy with another child. I knew when I married him that he was the companion for me. But I had no idea what kind of dad he'd be. It really could have gone both ways. I never knew that he would be the most patient, loving, caring, and giving dad that he is. He really loves Swen for the exact little person he is and isn't trying to change him or force things on him. He always puts him first and is already doing that with this little baby. I've been panicking about where she should sleep. Swen is in a little toddler bed that is right next to our bed. I was suggesting all these different ideas for where Baby Sister might sleep and Matt said, "Why don't I just go sleep on the couch for a bit, and she can sleep in bed with you? You know that is where she will sleep best, and it is easier for you to nurse her that way." This was the option I wanted all along, but I felt bad just kicking Matt out, so I didn't suggest it. But he remembered that is how Swen slept best, and will do whatever is best for his kids.

Right now that means sleeping on the couch here pretty soon-- and  working lots so I can stay home with them. When discussing finances and our very tight budget, he has not once asked me when I am going to go back to work or even suggested I go back to work. I am grateful that he knows how important it is to me and important for them to have me home when they are young. Because Swen is a toddler right now, I am very particular about how he is raised. I would  really struggle if someone else was dealing with his very "toddler" personality. I was just telling my mom how blessed I am to have a husband who is okay being poor and living in a one bedroom apartment (a very cute one though!). And also how grateful I am for her and my dad for having us live here as if it is our own little house, making it less stressful financially for me to stay home (I know my parents love it, but I'm still forever indebted). I owe all three of them my gratitude forever!

I get to hold a sleeping baby again. Swen only sleeps in beds now. I know this little baby girl will love being held, and I can't wait to do it!

Swen gets to be a big brother. It will be a while, but I know that one day the two of them are going to be best friends. And best enemies. :)

All these good freak-outs and bad freak-outs are the majority of what's keeping me up at night. I am so overwhelmed with excited, happy, sad, and scared emotions that it's hard to sleep. That and I have a giant baby inside me. She can come ANY day now. I'm really hoping for the 3rd of July, so let's plan on that.

My sweet, sweet TWO YEAR OLD

Nobody ever told me that 2-year-olds would be so much fun. When Swen was younger, I worried sometimes that I wouldn't enjoy him as he got older. Of course I was completely wrong about all of this because I'm pretty sure two is the best age yet! He has the cutest, sweetest personality ever and is so much fun to be around. I am no longer working at the restaurant part time, and am LOVING being with him all day long. I'm so grateful to be able to be with him and teach him while he learns and discovers the world.

What 2-year-old Swen enjoys:

• Garbage cans. I am still willing to bet that he WILL be a garbage man one day. Matt and I think this is great because we don't need to save for his college fund. :)
• Balls. Everywhere we go he manages to find a ball. He knows where they are in every store. He calls McDonald's "ball" because the one we frequently visit has a basketball hoop with a ball. 
• Gocks (cars). He finds gocks in every book he owns, and the entire time we drive anywhere he is pointing out all the gocks. Over and over and over again. 
• Singing. He has a list of songs that he LOVES. He will do a motion of a song he wants to hear and keep doing it until someone sings him that song. His favorites are Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle, Patty Cake, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and If You're Happy and You Know It.
• Feeding Kitty. He still loves to feed Kitty her food one piece at a time. Matt doesn't like it because he thinks it will bring ants into our home. Lucky for Swen, Matt got a new job so he hasn't been around enough to realize I'm still letting him feed Kitty. Lucky for me, Matt doesn't read this blog and will never know. :) Unless he's right and we start getting ants; then I will be in trouble! 
• Blocks and Legos. I'm amazed by the giant tall towers this kid builds! 
• Cheese. He would eat cheese all day if I'd let him.
• Feeding himself. His new thing is that I put all his food on his high chair tray and then he runs and points to where he wants me to put the tray on the floor somewhere. Then he will sit down and eat it happily. If I try to put him in the high chair to eat, he will last maybe one minute until he wants up. If he is eating, I'm happy and couldn't care less where his eating occurs.
• Going bye-bye. If I ever tell him we are going bye-bye but don't head directly to the car, he FREAKS out. I can never stop upstairs for even a minute without a tantrum. I've learned to be 100% ready before telling him we get to leave.
• Daddy Baths. Matt still gets into the tub with him, and it is his favorite thing ever. 
• Peanut butter. Straight out of the jar.
• Outside. He would live outside if I let him. I don't think he realizes that I'm NOT outdoorsy at all. He loves all parks, fields, and dirt. He has loved our backyard ever since he could walk, but then Matt's parents got him a sandbox for his birthday, and now he loves it even more. If he's not eating inside, then he's whining at the door to go outside in his sand. I am glad he loves his sandbox , but I'm already sick of the mess. I don't know what I was thinking suggesting this as a gift!  
• Naming people. He loves to ask "a dat?" to everyone. Even though he knows who everyone is already.
• Car grocery carts. He has recently decided that he will only ride in a cart that has a car on it. This becomes a big problem when all the car carts are being used. My mom had him at the store one day while I was at work, and the only car cart was way back behind like 25 other carts. Because she loves him so much, she moved every single cart (while holding Swen!) just so he could have the car cart. I've had to go on car hunts and sometimes wait for people to be finished with their carts before I can shop, so he can have what he wants. Toddlers get very little say in life. I can't imagine how frustrating this would be, so if he wants to ride in a car cart, then he will ride in a car cart!
• Coke. Well really Diet Coke because that's what I drink, but he calls it Coke. And he loves it more than anything. It's bad. I try to give him tiny sips and encourage other drinks. He does love milk and water too, so I'm not too worried.
• Doo doos (toilet paper and paper towel rolls). He likes to hold them up and say, "doo doo" down the tube so that's what they're called. If I was rich, I'd buy him rolls and rolls of paper towels to play with. 
• Hitting Mom. Two sad things here. 1- He calls me "mom." Not anything cute like mamma or mommy. Just plain old mom. Matt gets to be called "dada" and it's adorable. 2- When he's mad at anything, he hits me in the face really hard. Like if he trips on a toy, he will run crying to me, and when I pick him up, he starts hitting me like it's my fault. It is SO funny, but we all try not to laugh so we don't encourage it. I'm just glad it's me he's exploring hitting with and not random people or kids.
• Cleaning up. He is the best cleaner ever! I do very little at night to help him pick up his toys except sit and tell him how awesome he is while he picks up every last toy in the house. It's so cute. He also loves to get wipes and clean the house or restaurant or wherever we are.

What 2-year-old Swen doesn't enjoy:

• Night night time. He actually is a great sleeper. He just doesn't like going to sleep. It takes him FOREVER and he just whines and says, "night night nen" in a sad voice for 40 minutes until he falls asleep. He is back to needing someone to lie there with him while he falls asleep. Ninety percent of the time that person is I. Of course I get annoyed at the time, but then I tell myself that it's okay. What do I have to do that's more important than lying with my sweet baby while he falls asleep? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
• Play dough. It's hilarious. He won't even touch it.
• When I go anywhere. I don't know if it's because he's truly understanding that I am leaving, or he has a sense things will be changing with a baby here soon, but he wants to know where I am constantly. I secretly (well not really secretly) love it! I know it won't last forever, and I love that he needs me right now.
• Shoes. They are still never on his feet. I'm glad it's summer, so I don't get rude looks and comments about how my child isn't wearing shoes. 
• That's about it! I love how this list is so short. He really is such a happy kid.

I love being a mom to Swen more than anything else in the world. With how little I've updated this blog, I'm sure my next post will be about baby sister and Swen as a big brother! I can't wait-- two little people to spend my days with!

33 weeks pregnant!

LOVE

Taken on his 2nd birthday

Eating dirt in St. George

Fighting sleep and falling asleep in weird positions

Aquarium for his birthday

New sandbox

Long boarding with dada

February 2, 2014

Dear Swen,

Apparently I am not capable of keeping up with blogging anymore. I blame you! You will not leave me alone enough to do anything on a computer. However, this blog is important for me to keep records of your life, so I am going to try harder. It's hard to believe that I'll forget anything about you because you consume my entire life (how lucky am I?), but it's bound to happen, and I want to be able to look back and remember things I've forgotten. I have a few friends that write letters to their children every once in a while. I like the idea, so maybe that will help me remember to write about you!

You are a little over 20 months old with the best personality EVER. You move non-stop and eat non-stop. Usually you do both at the same time. You love to find any random toy that resembles a bowl, then bring it up to me and say, "ahh ahh ahh ahh." I know this means that you would like a snack. Then you carry it around and put it in other little toys and eventually eat it. The word "more" has popped up into your vocabulary this past couple weeks, so when you run out of food, you come up so cute and ask for more.

Next to eating and playing with the garbage can, your all-time favorite thing to do is play with Kitty. My favorite thing is to hear you say her name because you call her Titty! So you just run around saying, "Titty, Titty, Titty" and it is hilarious. You can name all the parts of her face, and she doesn't mind you poking her eyes at all. She probably is okay with it because you are the one who feeds her. You are not patient enough to let her just eat her food, so you carry it around the house and throw her one piece at a time.  She follows you around to every room just waiting for the next little piece of food.

I truly love being your mom more than anything in the world. I find myself tearing up quite often just thinking about how much I love you. Really the only hard thing about raising you so far has been your sleep. If/when you ever go back to read this blog, you will think that all I ever cared about was getting you to sleep! I'm sorry about that. You now sleep through the night every single night. It took a lot of time, but you finally figured it out without any harsh sleep training. People all told us you'd never sleep if we didn't just force you to do it on your own by letting you cry. Daddy and I would never even consider doing that, but being first-time parents we did start doubting our intuition. However, we all three survived together, and you sleep better than most toddlers I hear about (as long as we keep you on a very strict schedule). All I can think now is that  I shouldn't have rushed you and had faith that you would sleep all night when you're ready. I plan on being much more patient with your little brothers and sisters.

Daddy and I really believe in letting you explore the world as much as possible and do most things you want. As a toddler you have really little say in anything about your life, so all the little things that don't matter we let you do. This includes eating your meals all over our house, playing with anything that isn't dangerous, not wearing shoes or socks, turning the TV on and off, taking out all the DVD's, rearranging the fridge, helping cook, eating dry cereal regularly, drinking sips of Diet Coke, throwing things down vents, taking napkins out at every restaurant, getting soaking wet in water fountains while you're fully dressed, being carried all the time, and so much more. You have only been alive 20 months, and you have so much to learn! The best way to learn about the world is to interact with it.

 I see so many kids your age with parents who expect them to act like adults.There is no need for you to be expected to act like an adult yet. You've barely been alive! I often get asked if we are "swatting" you or giving you time outs yet! Each parent has every right to parent how s/he wants, but to think that I would ever put your little body in time out is bonkers to me. You would have no idea what I was doing! And don't get me started on "swatting." I'd like to go on a tangent about how I feel about that. Instead, I will just promise you that your that daddy and I will NEVER let anyone spank you. Not ever.

The one thing that I had to stop you from doing when you were about 17 months old was nursing. I know you would still be nursing if I had the energy, because you loved it. But I am growing a baby sister, and I needed a break before she came! I think you finally have forgiven me, but it was hard for both of us.

Daddy and I love you so much, Swen! We lie in bed just talking about you every night. As long as you always know that we love you, then we will be happy.

Love, Mommy