love letters

Your photo shoot didn't start out with much love.

Dear Em,

"You are My friends. There is no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for his friends. I cannot be with you much longer, My friends. You cannot go where I am going. My commandment to you after I am gone is this: Love one another. As I have loved you, so love one another."

- The Passion of the Christ

This year we aren't just going to be visited by the Easter Bunny, we also got to visit real bunnies (note to self: find out if your three year old daughter is terrified of teeny adorable bunnies before booking a photo shoot with them), but we also want you to know that Easter isn't about bunnies. Not truly. So, we've been reading child friendly books & talking to you about Jesus. I hope when you dive into your Easter basket, you also see Him in everything around us- even the scary baby bunnies (sigh, I really want a baby bunny).

Wishing everyone a beautiful Easter full of sunshine, laughter, & most of all...love.

I love you so,

Mommy

Hunting for Eggs at the Zoo

Dear Em,
Over the past year, we've had a few holiday firsts. Remember how we didn't have power on Halloween & enjoyed trick or treating at the aquarium? What better way to follow that up than an Easter egg hunt at the zoo? I was researching egg hunts online & found a whole day of activities at the zoo. Daddy & I were looking forward to a day of fresh air, & you were excited that two of your best friends were going too.

The line getting into the zoo was long, like jack o'lantern spectacular long. We were lucky to have arrived early. The line only got longer after we got there. You didn't mind the wait. You had a cute little friend to keep you occupied.

Rather than wait in another line to see the Easter Bunny at the mall, I decided we would visit the Easter Bunny at the zoo. We are members, & the entrance fee plus all of the activities that day were free except for the Easter Bunny part. It was worth the extra money. We walked into the green house, & you sat right on his lap.

There were also crafts & snacks.

After that, we were ready to begin the scavenger hunt. You each had a card with five animal clues. You & your little friends were surprisingly very good at figuring out most of the clues. At each of the five animal locations, you got your card stamped & an Easter egg. Well mostly, I got your card stamped & an Easter egg. There was a line of people at each of the locations. So, we thought it would be better for you to particpate in some of the many activities & look at the animals with Daddy while I waited in the lines. 

One of the activities was interviewing a bunny.

When your scavenger hunt card was all filled out, we traded our eggs in for what you really wanted...goody bags! You were thrilled to check out your loot.

It wasn't all sunshine & butterflies. You were exhausted & somewhat cranky from a full morning of activity & waiting & hunting through the zoo. At one point you may have sat down in the middle of a puddle & refused to move. All in all, it was a fun & festive time with friends (I know I felt fortunate to be doing something outside. My body needs fresh air like I can't even begin to explain). I will for sure be on the look out for the event next year.

I love you so,

Mommy

That Must Be Something

Dear Em,
I'm finally getting around to recapping our trip to Prague. For the next few weeks, I'll be posting a little something about our adventure each Wednesday. I want to start with something I think your daddy was most worried about, & I admit I was a little nervous too: the language barrier.

In Prague they speak Czech. This was the first time I had traveled anywhere where I didn't know the native language at all, & that was a little intimidating. We had heard that most people involved with tourism also spoke German & English. I took German for six years, & knew I could bumble my way around with it if I needed to. 

Still when we stepped out of our hotel, I was a little nervous that we wouldn't be able to find our way around. Our hotel had given us a map, but it was mostly in Czech. Your daddy & I had done virtually no planning for this trip other than looking at a few restaurants in Where the Chefs Eat & looking at Time Travel's Top 10 things to do in Prague.

Lucky for us, Prague was easy to navigate. There is a metro. We heard it was easy to use, but we wouldn't know. I think we were a little too intimidated to try it. Plus, Prague is so easily walkable, we never really saw the need. We probably walked ten miles a day, & I loved it. As we walked I was fascinated by the beauty of the architecture & the city. There were interesting sites & street performers on every corner. Plus, most street signs could be found easily on buildings at each intersection (not that we could pronounce most of them).

There were a few times we lost our way. There were many more times that we looked at an interesting statue or large & ornate building & had no idea what we were looking at. "That must be something," Daddy & I would smile at each other & say. It became a running joke throughout the trip for us. We had no way of knowing. The signage for the buildings & the statues were, of course, in Czech (I'm sure if we had purchased a pocket guidebook before leaving the states, that would have helped a lot). 

There were a few things that struck me during this experience.

- I began to understand what it must feel like for someone who is illiterate to navigate through life. Eventually you figure it out, but you don't have access to many of the clues & resources around you for help. It must be terribly frustrating & often frightening for someone who can't read to go through life each day.

- Instead of seeing many parts of the city as a history lesson, we just saw them for what they were. We could only appreciate them for the beauty of what they looked like (this wasn't the case everywhere, some tours were also in English). I think this made our trip more laissez-faire. I made notes in my head of some of the things I wanted to look up & learn more about later. If we were to return, it would be a much different trip. We'd have more background information (& a guidebook). I kind of like that. There are some times that I visit places & have no plans to return because I've done everything I want to do. Seeing Prague the way we did the first time leaves so much more to come back to. It could be a whole new adventure the second time around.

- We did it. We were able to find our way around, order food, ask for directions, shop at a grocery store. We live in a country where learning a second language doesn't seem to be much of a priority, & yet we're incredibly fortunate that English is spoken by many in most places we might travel. It makes me less intimidated about seeing the world & also incredibly humbled. Suddenly, you learning a second language is so much more important to me.

It was an experience of a lifetime, for me, partly because of the language barrier. It was kind of inspiring to live through it (even if it was just for a week), & I can't wait to do it again.

I love you so,

Mommy

You Made Me into Easter Eggs

Dear Em,
I wasn't ready to take down our St. Patrick's Day decorations. I feel like I just put them up...probably because I did. So, I simply added Easter decorations to what we already had up. We can enjoy a green & multicolored wonderland inside our home for a little while. Actually, who am I kidding? We'll probably keep everything up until May when the sun is really shining & the green life outside our windows is enough decoration for me.

I had almost given up on finding the paper Easter eggs from last year & decorating for Easter at all when I found them in your Easter basket (I can just picture myself from last year thinking I'll put them here so I know where they are next year...whoops). Once I found those, I decided not only would I decorate, but I would step it up a little from last year. We recently took your Easter portraits, & I wanted a way to display them. As I was looking through the pictures, I realized that this is your fourth Easter. I teared up as I looked at your past Easter portraits. I can't believe how much you've changed from year to year, & this year was no exception.

I loved our St. Patrick's Day door hangers so much, I used the same idea for Easter. Luckily, I needed four photos & there were four years of photos to choose from. Of course with you, it's always so hard to just pick a few pictures. After I was done making the door hanger, I had a bunch of photos leftover. I made them into eggs too, & filled our windows with them.

I put all of the Easter decorations up while you were in bed asleep. The next morning you looked at them & exclaimed, "You made me into Easter Eggs...a lot of Easter eggs!" You ran to each spot in the house where the eggs were & looked at all of your photos from your four Easters.

I kinda teared up a little. How is this already your fourth Easter?! I remember ordering your very first Easter dress before you were even born. I feel like it was just yesterday that I placed you in the Easter Bunny's lap for the first time and held my breath waiting to see if you would cry. I know I sound like a broken record & it's never going to happen, but I'll never stop wishing that time would slow down a little. Sigh, what a difference 3 years makes. 

I love you so,

Mommy

Easter Traditions

Dear Em,
I love holiday celebrations, & we were lucky to have a weekend full of them. We kicked off our weekend, with a long held Easter tradition, dying Easter eggs. I wonder who the first person was to decorate eggs & how many years it's been running for.

While it is a long standing Easter tradition, it's the first year in our house you really participated. We tried it in previous years, but you didn't do much of the work. Mostly, I think you were ready to dump the colored dye all over everything. This year was different. I was delighted to see you really get into it this year.

After dying the eggs, you colored them with markers & covered them in stickers.

My favorite egg is one that you drew our family on.

Daddy

Mommy

Em

It was such a fun & easy activity. I can see why the tradition has held for so many years (even if I'm the only one in my family who will eat hard boiled eggs). Afterwards, you were so proud of your masterpiece of Easter eggs. In fact, you were ready to dye everything in the house.

I love you so,

Mommy

love letters

Dear Em,
I do a lot of annoying things, & one of the more annoying to most people is that I like to speak in letter format. Your Daddy hates it. I sit down next to him & tell him a letter of love. Most of the time he gives me a look that says, "You're so dumb right now." When he's feeling particularly sweet & loving, he'll answer me back in letter format. It's typically super, super short & he's rolling his eyes while he does it.

I love talking to you in letter form. The other day you were sitting on my bed, looking at pictures. I was getting ready in the bathroom & could see your cuteness as I popped my head out of the bathroom door.

"Dear Emma, I stinkin' love you. Love, Mommy"

You typically hate when I say that. It's not the letter format that annoys you. You're not old enough to think that I'm dumb for doing that yet. You just hate when I tell you I stinkin' love you. Typically you yell, very sternly, "Noooooooo, I'm not stinky! Don't stinky love me!" I just can't help it. I do stinkin' love you.

Today was different. You looked up at me & answered with a smile.

"Dear Mommy, I love you, & you're stinkin' cute." (giggle, giggle giggle)

You didn't sign your name, but it's OK. I know who the letter was from.

I love you so,
Mommy

The Truth About Daylight Savings

Dear Em,
Last week we sprang forward for daylight savings time (I've actually been through 5 time changes due to travel & daylight savings in the past month...sleeping on any type of schedule has really become a challenge). I wrote something on Facebook about gaining an hour of sleep, & most people thought I was confused. I'm not confused. I know that clocks moved forward by an hour. I know everyone else "lost" an hour last weekend.

I remember daylight savings before we had you. I remember looking forward to the clocks moving back an hour in the fall & dreading the precious hour of sleep we were losing when clocks moved forward in the spring. I remember being up until 1am (or was it 2am), & smiling because we were either going to relive an hour of time or time was going to speed up by an hour. I almost never make it until 1am (or was it 2am) anymore, & daylight savings hasn't worked the same for us since there was you.

There's something I didn't really think about before I had you. It's something I think most people don't truly think about before they have kids. Which leads me to wonder if the people who created daylight savings had kids... or a clue. Young children can't tell time.

You, like most small children, are above clocks. Clocks are superfluous. To you those silly things are basically just decorations in our home. Conventions like time mean nothing to you. You're hungry when you're hungry. You're tired...well...never. You have your own internal clock. It doesn't matter what time we put you to bed, you wake up at the same time. Things like daylight savings don't concern you.

The rest of the country may enjoy an extra hour of sleep as they "fall back" in November. The rest of the country is probably deep in slumber at 5:15am the morning after. Not at our house. You don't fall back. It may be an hour earlier for everyone else, but you're awake expecting us to be functioning parents. It takes us weeks...months to transition your body to daylight savings. So when it's time to spring forward in March, I feel like we're catching up with the world again. Rather than hearing "Mom!" at 6:15 in the morning, you actually slept until the clock said 7:15am. Let me tell you, it's was amazing. I enjoyed every second of springing forward that first morning.

Did you know that Arizona doesn't recognize daylight savings? They don't have to try to fool & retrain their children's internal clocks. Doesn't it sound heavenly...& absolutely logical? I will vote for any Rhode Island politician who vows to rid our beautiful state of daylight savings. I'm serious. Who's with me? In the meantime, if someone knows how to teach a 3 year old what time is & how to sleep until 8am, I'm all ears.

I love you so,
Mommy

We're Back

Dear Em,
We're back from Prague. I became so enchanted with the beautiful city (more on that in later posts), & am so glad we had the opportunity to go. At the same time, my heart ached for you. One night before bed, your daddy & I spent 30 minutes looking through some of our favorite pictures & videos of you.

Our homecoming has been bittersweet. I can't tell you how it felt to scoop you up in my arms for the first time after we got back. Is it possible that you grow an inch every time I go away? We picked you up from Grandma & Papa's house, & on the way home we all felt content to be heading home. You sang songs about how much you loved us & told us knock knock jokes. Your "jokes" go a little like this:

Emma: Knock Knock.
Daddy: Who's there?
Emma: Emma.
Daddy: Emma who?
Emma: Emma Me!!!!!
3 seconds later...
Emma: Knock Knock.
Daddy: Who's there?
Emma: Emma.

Even after missing you as much as I did, I could only take the same knock knock "joke" 10 times before it was starting to drive me crazy. We ate dinner & then gave you the the souvenirs we brought back for you: a winter hat that was very Prague, Easter Kinder chocolates, & different coins from Europe. Watching you eat your chocolate with your new hat on was so stinkin' cute.

We spent the rest of the night snuggling while watching movies...when you weren't throwing big tantrums. It always seems to take you a week or so to transition back into life after a long trip. This morning you had a throw-down screaming fit. I felt like nothing I said or did helped. I don't know if you're upset because we went away, if you're not feeling well, or if it's just that you are three years old & acting out is part of life.

Sigh. There are things that can be more challenging once you become a parent, & for me traveling is one of them (with or without you along fro the trip). I come back from a trip absolutely drained. I mostly want to nap & recover from it all. But I can't. There's a three year old who needs us to actually be parents.

But you know what? I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I love you so,

Mommy

love letters

Dear Em,

"I'm lucky we're in love in every way

Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed...

Lucky to be coming home again..."

- Lucky by Jason Mraz

The luck of the Irish truly surrounds this family. When I come home to a warm house the smiles, giggles, & love of my family, I can't help but thank God for all of our blessings. Daddy & I may be celebrating St. Patty's Day on Sunday in Prague this year, but our Irish hearts will be with you throughout the day. I love you so, my little Irish girl.

Sigh, I just love those little piggers, don't you?

I love you so,

Mommy

the wheels on the bus

Dear Em,
I was sitting in the bedroom reading when I heard your Daddy call up to me. "Julie, come downstairs. You have to see this." I was filled with a mix of curiosity & worry about what I may find below. I walked down the stairs & rounded the corner. A huge smile spread across my face as I saw what your daddy had been looking at.

A massive "school bus" spread across our kitchen & dining room. You had lined up half the chairs in our house & placed a baby or a stuffed animal on every seat. There were even seats saved for Daddy & I. You sang the wheels on the bus as we rode to "school" & "the library" & then "home," taking many pit stops to add more babies, ponies, & stuffed animals as passengers.

It truly fills my heart to watch you use your imagination these days. The things you say & do are so priceless, & it shows how much you're learning and growing day by day.

I love you so,

Mommy

Shamrock Shake

Dear Em,
Did you know that your very first milk shake was a minty green one at McDonalds? You were a little older than one & it was St. Patrick's Day. What do you do with a one year old on St. Patrick's Day?

It was a gorgeous & warm March day. We played at the park before stopping by Mickey D's for a treat. We bought one for the three of us to share, but you gulped that thing down like it was nobody's business. To say we were surprised was an understatement. Not only was it your very first milkshake, I think it was your first time drinking out of a straw. We thought there would be some kind of learning curve. Goodness, you had us laughing even back then.

2011

Since then, it's become a tradition to have a Shamrock Shake to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. It's amazing how excited you get. During any other time of year, you refuse any color shake other than pink.

2012

2012

2012

Since Daddy & I will be in Prague for St. Patrick's Day this year, we stopped to get your shake this weekend. By now, we know enough to get you your own shake. You still loved it just as much as the very first time.

There's just something about the small & simple traditions. 

I love you so,
Mommy

Where Chefs Eat

Dear Em,
I'm off to Prague this afternoon. This is the very first time that an ocean (& a 12 hour flight) will separate us. It seems weird that my heart will be on a different continent while I'm away on my trip. As always I will miss you terribly, but I'm going to try to experience every little bit of this new culture & country I can in the short time I have.

One of the things we bought Daddy for his birthday this year was a book called Where Chefs Eat: A Guide to Chefs' Favorite Restaurants. It's a thick book, encyclopedia thick. Most people would look at it & wonder why any would want it as a birthday gift. Deciding where to eat on trips has long been your daddy's job. He scours sites to find top restaurant reviews & then goes to the restaurant sites to check out the menus. It seems exhausting to me, but he loves to find the perfect spot.

Review sites can be subjective, & when I saw this book I thought how interesting it would be know where the the Chefs like to go. The book is put together by asking some of the world's top chefs the following questions:

- "Whether it's a lazy or a snatched one, the chef couldn't start the day without breakfast here."
- "Service is over but the night is still young, this is where the chef satisfies any late night hunger pains."
- "Around the corner from the chef's work or home, this restaurant serves up good food enough to eat regularly."
- "This is the restaurant that best expresses the cuisine of the chef's home town."
- "When money is limited but their appetite for good food isn't, this is where the chef goes when they're on a budget."
- "For a special occasion or when money is no object, this is where the chef goes to splash out."
- "Professional respect & admiration make this the restaurant that the chef wishes they'd opened."
- "Across the country or on the other side of the world, there's no distance the chef wouldn't travel to eat at this restaurant."

Restaurants are recommended for each of these categories. The opening hours, reservation policy, price range, style, cuisine, & whether or not credit cards are accepted is also listed. While there are no restaurants from Providence listed, we're looking forward to trying out some of the restaurants in Boston & some of the other areas we travel to.

Speaking of travel, there are some restaurants in Prague listed in the book. One restaurant actually has no menu. The Chef comes out to speak with you about your likes & dislikes & then designs a meal for you based upon your preferences. How freaking fun is that? Your daddy & I can't wait to try it out while we're there.

I feel like this book is going to be one we use a lot through the years. There's just one thing missing, the part about where you can bring a picky toddler. I guess there's always the breakfast spots. Breakfast is your favorite meal of the day.

I love you so,
Mommy

I've Got Sunshine

Dear Em,
When you live in New England, March is a tough month. By then most people are just over winter, but it's still not quite spring. My body aches to get outside & do all the spring & summer things we love (I really need to get a winter hobby). This weekend we got to get out. It was actually warm enough that we could peel off our coats in the sunshine, & it made my heart happy. It made yours happy too.

You made sure that even your babies got to join in.

Your static hair made us all giggle.

We spied some buds popping up. I think the tulips & hyacinths we planted this past fall may actually bloom! It's going to be so much fun to see the pretty colors as we bend down & smell a few. I really can't wait to return to all of our spring activities.

Sigh, this weekend was the perfect balance of lazy & action, outside & in. Don't you just love that?

I love you so,

Mommy