two whole years

I probably don't have as much time to write about Lil's birthday as I'd like— Lil and Bitty are both napping, and have been for some time now— let me just say that it was a fun-filled event which culminated with "happy cake" for Lil, and a somewhat emotional, even bittersweet day for me. For one thing, I played this song about a dozen times, and perused blog entries from the early days. I also went back to my Facebook post for January 16, 2011:

"I had a baby today."

And then on January 28, 2011:

"This week beats the most beautiful hawaiian vacation hands down."

I have traded in Hawaiian getaways (for now) for something I can't say is more relaxing than 10 days on a white sandy beach, snorkeling with turtles, and drinking mai tais and dark and stormies under a grass beach umbrella, but Little Lil, my darling, I wouldn't trade you for the ocean. I wouldn't trade you for the sun. I wouldn't trade you for the world.

Sometimes, though, I am tempted to trade you for a mai tai or two.

Love—Mama.

where parenting fails, sistering succeeds.

obviously, this go against all the manufacturer's safety warnings.

Quick story— Lil and I were cleaning up this evening while Bitty was chillin' in her bassinet with the Sleep Sheep. When Bitty started to fuss, I ignored her and continued picking up, but Lil walked right into my room where Bitty was stationed. I caught up to Lil just as she hoisted herself into the bassinet with Bits. "Lil? What are you doing?"

"I need to see my baby sah-sah!" Lil responded, and lay down next to her. While I was trying to calculate the maximum load of the bassinet and make sure she didn't crush Bitty's tiny rib cage, Lil put her arm around the baby and whispered, "don't cry, baby."

And Bitty stopped crying.

"my work here is done."