Hope's special photo album

On the night of August 15, 2001, I went into labor with my third child. I remember when the contractions started, I went into Liesel's bedroom and picked her up from her sleep, and I just rocked her and rocked her. And I cried and cried. She was only 16 months old. Still such a baby, and surely not ready to be the "big sister", I thought. Would she feel like she missed out? Will I be able to give her all the love and attention she needed with all the demands of a newborn too?

Liesel and Jude are 6 and 7 now. I laugh now when I think back to the emotions of that night. Right now as I type they are playing catch with stuffed animals. They are more like friends than brother and sister. She was fine. She didn't suffer a bit. We survived.

Once again, I am having those feelings, this time about Hope. Will she miss us terribly while we're gone? Will she wonder if we abandoned her? Will she feel jealous that she won't be the "baby" anymore, and how will she feel when we get off the airplane with this strange little girl who now gets ALL the attention?

Hope and I spent some time making a photo album last week. I put in pictures from her birth, infancy, pictures of mom and dad, brothers and sisters, including Ava, cousins, grandparents, fun times we've had. When we finished, she got very upset that there were some blank sleeves and not enough pictures to fill them. So we got creative and made our own photos.


Here is daddy and his famous towel swing. Ava is looking over his shoulder waiting for her turn.


We all got a big laugh out of this one: Daddy with long painted fingernails. She also showed me how daddy danced the ballet in her dream. I'll save that one for another blog post. (And look how sweet Ava is. Soon she'll be riding in daddy's back pack carrier and not laying in that crib all day).


And no laughing at my drawings!!