Today my Emme Rose turns one.
It wasn’t an easy thing to decide to bring another child into an already bustling family of 6. But, to be honest, my heart would not rest… I could not stop yearning for another baby. We found out that I was pregnant on the 4th of July 2008. And to be honest, we were not 100% prepared for the news. To say she was “unplanned” would be acting like a teenager – in other words, we knew what we were doing. But, the news still had a bit of a “wow” factor to it.
She came into this world and immediately changed it. When I look at my two babies, I can say I love them the same amount. That my depth of love for Ty and for Emme both runs deep, fathomless, to the heavens and back again. But whereas my love for Ty could be described as moonlight — all mystical and magical and mysterious — my love for Emme is a sunrise — bright and celebratory and joyful.
Emme at 1 Week Old by Jessica Nichols
She has taught me many many things.
Lately she has taught me that no matter how often I sweep and mop (even with my uber shark steam mop) she will find that infinitesimal speck from 20 feet away, crawl her chubby little bum right off to get to it, and consume it before any of the 6 of us can stop her.
Mostly, she has taught me that no matter what I “expect” she is going to suprise me. She put me into labor only 6 hours before my planned (yes, the “no labor” planned) C-section. I can put her down in the crib WIDE AWAKE and walk away from her and she will roll over and go to sleep for 14 hours. This still has a shock factor for us.
Although my husband was overwhelmed and worried about bringing another child into our life, he took one look at her and fell madly in love. She is drawn to him to the exclusion of others. She will smile so big sometimes that I think her face is going to break. I have never smiled like that. And, I am sure that I have never felt the joy that she feels, the exuberance for life that she exudes from all her little chubby, yummy parts. She literaly and figuratively spreads her arms wide and grabs hold of the world around her and then devours it… me… with her smile, with her sense of hope, with her pure sweetness.
I did not expect any of that. I did not expect that I would love her so much. I did not expect that there would once again be a person in my life that I cannot live without.
I did not expect that Ty would want to suck on her toes and calls her “his baby“. Or that Jade would stare into her eyes, turn to me, and exclaim, “We are so lucky to have her!” Or that Izzy would invent games to teach her how to put that darn Cheerio into her mouth. Or that Lily would crawl around on the floor, following her around the house just to keep her safe.
So, today is Emme’s birthday.
We named her Emme because the meaning of her name is “complete” or “whole.” And that is what she made this family…complete….whole.
Emme Rose
Happy birthday, sweet girl.
