I Didn't Forget After All.

My baby is sick today.

I'm not sure if she is teething or if it's a bug, but she's slept most of the day and has just been cranky and lying around when she has been awake. 

She slept and slept and I hardly noticed, didn't worry the way I did when it was my first baby, didn't check on her 178 times during the day, didn't call my husband, mother, sister, mother-in-law, and friend to ask them if they thought she was okay. 

It made me feel guilty.

Lillie Rose is my third-born child.

She's my baby and my last.

Her birthday was this month and she turned one year old.  Why haven't I mentioned it?

Guilty.

For you,

my Lillie Rose:

Where has the time gone since the first day that I held you in my arms?

You are Daddy's littlest lady.

You always make him smile.

Always.

You are the youngest grand-daughter on both sides:

Grandmas' treasure.

You are Grandpa's newest dance-partner, a tradition he's had with every baby girl in the family.

You are the baby of numerous expressions...

the pointer...

...the object of dress-up adventures for your big sister.

I feel guilty because you are my third child, so you sometimes get neglected by me more than the others did.

You have had to endure being dirty as your big sister never had; I was always handy with clean-up when she was a baby.

You poor, poor child.

How do I dare show this picture?  What was I thinking to take it?  Did I even take it or did your sister?

My tiny little saucer of sweet raspberry ice cream.

The third, the one who gets a last minute cake and a couple of tiny toys for her birthday when the first baby got a well-planned 1st birthday party filled with an assortment of presents, countless picture shots, cards and presents from too many relatives...

and you get forgotten.

It's just the way it is.

But I do love you.

I do.

More than you'll ever know.

And yet, you have something that the others didn't have:

them.

The love I get so busy with: feeding, cleaning, schooling,

they give you when I can't:
your sister and brother.



Love surrounds you.

Happy Birthday, Itty Bitty.

Lots of love from your Mommy.