Spot the difference

Dear girls,

So who's who? Just been looking at photos and found these two where you look similar. You are very very similar thus far. At 10 weeks, P is the image of your older sister....though a wee bit bigger (size to be confirmed at weigh in tomorrow!).

On holiday this week, a waitress looked at you both, looked again, and then commented on how alike you are. I don't see the similarity now. Not sure why. I guess because to me E is a grown up wee thing, and P is just a teeny baby. But I know how much P looks like E did as a tiny. I guess this is the next apology (think it's #3...already!). I just know I'll be one of those mothers who is asking, "Which of you is it in this picture?" when you're older. At the moment I can tell by the style of my glasses if I'm in the pic. And in one of the ones posted above, I could see a laptop in the corner of one of them. I know that's an old laptop, so that picture must be E. My deduction skills are fab....but I'm hoping they last me till I'm old and grey!

I sit now and wonder what you will look like in a year, two years, ten years. Will you still look similar? Will P's dark baby hair become the golden locks that E has now? Will you both go darker as you get older as I did? What colour will your eyes become? Will you both like the same things?

I'm nothing like Uncle Paul. I don't think people would even put us as related if they saw us in a line up. We're not that similar in personality or likes/dislikes either. Daddy and Auntie Claire look alike, though Uncle Andrew looks different (though Grandpa commented that younger photos of Daddy look like Uncle Andrew!). It's bizarre.

Who will you end up looking like? At the moment you're both very like me. Especially P with your gorgeously chubby baby thighs. "Gorgeously chubby" is not, of course, how I describe my thighs,....though maybe I shall take it on! Which character traits will you have of mine? Which from Daddy? Who knows. I know I can't wait to find out.

x

(Smoke and) Mirrors

Dear P,

Today I put you on the playmat while I went to make tea. You were very chilled out and played happily while I put a stew in the oven for Daddy and I to eat later.

You were looking at your reflection in the wee mirror. I do hope you were thinking how beautiful you are. You are beautiful. You look just like your big sister did as a tiny baby, only a little bigger! It got me thinking though. I wonder how many hours you'll spend looking in mirrors. With two girls in the house, will Daddy and I ever get in the bathroom in ten years time?

And when you look in that mirror, now or in the future, my wish for you is that you'll see the beautiful girl that I see. I see so many young people with image issues, and I don't want that for you. I pray that you'll see the wonderful person you are, crafted by God, knitted together in my womb, and born into this world.

"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?"

Love, Mummy x

An apology (possibly the first of many) about names

Two children. Two gorgeous children. Two children each with a lovely (IMHO) name. Both names biblical, each with a cheekily "It's in the Bible" middle name. Two very different names. Both strong, important women in the Bible - albeit with very different roles, backgrounds and amount of words allocated to them.

Both difficult to spell it seems, judging by the number of people who spell them wrong on letters and cards, etc. I didn't mean to do that. I guess maybe that's apology #1. As a teacher of young children, and a person with an apparently hard to spell name, you'd think I'd have given you names that you won't spend the rest of your lives spelling out. Sorry girls.

Apology #2 is that I call you the wrong name. To be fair, I usually get E right. You're child number one. You've had the name for 2 1/2 years. Unless I'm calling you Trouble, or Blondie, or Gorgeous Girl, (or in Tall Daddy's case, Shortie!) you're usually named right. P on the other hand, usually gets called by your sister's name. So little P, I'm sorry. I'm trying hard. However, I feel this could be another moment I'm turning into my Mum. At least I don't have a sister....it means I won't try her name before yours. And to be fair, at least being called another girl's name is better than a boy's name as in Grandma's case, as she usually tries my Aunt's name, then my brother's, before she tried my own.

I'll do my best. I'll try to remember the gorgeous name we gave you. The name I fought hard for, and Daddy let me choose for you as he had chosen your sister's name. Sorry, P.

To my beautiful girls....

Girls, this blog I write to you. As I write this, E is 2years 8 months, and P is 8 1/2 weeks old. Today I read a friend's blog (she has a true writing talent) and she had written a very moving letter to her wee son and it made me cry. Made me think how lovely it would be to write to the pair of you right here and now to tell you how I feel about you. Moments I will never get back.

So here I am. Sitting in our wee lounge, P on my knee, E at nursery. And today I want to tell you how much I love you both. Two wee identical girls. Two parts of my heart.

God bless you both x