Dear Maggie,

Sugar and spice. That is you. You keep me on my toes and for some reason I can't help but find even your spiciest spice enduring. You get a lot of compliments. We started going to church at our new ward and after the first week your nursery leaders commented on how happy they were to have you and how you made nursery so great. You have new leaders now and the compliments keep coming. Today when I dropped you off a lady who is not a leader but is there often commented on how wonderful you are and said that you are confident but also so kind. Then when I picked you up your new teachers gave me a thumbs up and said you were so smart and awesome. They are right. By the way, you have no problem separating from us to go to nursery. You wave and walk away with your sassy little walk and my heart swells and aches all at the same time. I'm so happy that you are mine. I adore you!!!!

Love,
Mama

Dear Maggie,

Today was your little sister's blessing day. It was a beautiful day and this day even more than I always do I have felt so fortunate to be the mother of three beautiful kids. I love you so much Maggie! I love everything about you! I love your smile and the way you talk. I love that you are so sweet and at the same time so feisty. I love that you love me. I love that you love that I love you. I love the spirit that you bring to our home and family just by being a part of it.

You have been such a good big sister. I know it hasn't been easy on you because I haven't been able to hold you and snuggle you as much and that it was you thrive on. It breaks my heart that you and I are missing out on snuggle time. But I think we are both doing a pretty good job of adjusting and we both realize that as hard as it is to share our time with a new baby she is so worth it. I am so grateful that I have been able to give you a sister. One day, when Stella was a little over a week old, you asked to hold her. I looked down at the two of you and suddenly realized something so amazing: I made sisters! I'm so grateful that you two will have each other and I hope that you will be good friends and enjoy the beauty of sisters that I have enjoyed with my own sisters. You loved Stella from the moment you saw her. When she was an hour old you came into the delivery room and climbed right up on the bed next to me and cooed at her. You uncovered her from the blanket and inspected her whole body. You patted her and talked to her in such a sweet voice. When she was in my tummy she always moved the most when you were around. I suspected a sweet connection between the two of you and it was one of the few things that made me think maybe I was having a girl and not a boy baby. I hope that you will always love her and be as great a sister to her as you are to her right now.

Speaking of being a good sister, a funny thing happened a few days ago. Meg was over with Lucy and Nora. Nora took something that belonged to Max and he started to cry. Just a few minutes earlier Max was not being so nice to you and the two of you were fed up with each other. But in that moment you looked at Max and the distress Nora was causing him, marched over to Nora, pried the toy out of her hands and marched it over to Max. I felt bad about the way this affected Nora, but I was so proud of you for being such a good sister to your brother. I loved seeing that at the core, even though you and Max irritate each other sometimes, you love him and your instinct is to protect him and help him. The two of you are best friends right now. Max saw a picture of you on my phone the other day and showed it to you and said, "Here is a picture of you Maggie. Maggie, you are my best friend." I worried about having a third baby because I didn't want to interfere with what the two of you have going right now. I hope that you will add Stella to your posse and love her as much as you love each other.

I'm so grateful you are mine Maggie! I love watching you as you move through each day and interact with the world around you. I love the spirit I feel when I am near you. I love, love, love that you are mine and that I get to stare at a caress your sweet, beautiful face each day. You make my heart happy.

Love,
Mama

Dear Maggie,

Yesterday morning you were snuggling on the bed with me and you said, "I three". I said, "No, you are two." You giggled and said, "No, I four." As I said "no" each time you continued on, "I five", "I six". Dear Maggie, please slow down! I know that I will love you as a three year old and a four year old and every age you will ever be. But right now you are two and I love you so much as a two year old. People often complain about two year olds (The Terrible Twos) but I find you to be so delightful and fun and loving. You are a sweetheart! I will love you however you are in the future, but right now I love you just as you are now.

Love,
Mama

Dear Maggie,

You say the funniest things these days. Here are two of my favorites from the last week.

I found a movie that I thought you and Max would be really excited about when I was at the store. I came home and announced that I had brought home a surprise and asked if you could guess what it was. You perked right up and asked, "Is it cheese?"

You climbed on the table and I told you to get off the table. I took your hand and helped you step down from the table and back on to the chair. You exclaimed, "I did it! I did it! I did it all by myself. Mama helped me."

Also, you are very protective of your brother. And your brother is very sensitive right now and often telling him no results in crying and running to his room. When this happens you often scold me and Tata and say, "You made my brother mad!"

I love you baby girl! You truly are sugar and spice and everything nice.

Love,
Mama

Irresistible

Dear Maggie,

Last night you were all wound up and wouldn't go to sleep. After letting you chat it out in your bed for an hour your daddy decided to set you free. I was watching TV and working on some projects and your dad had dished me up a bowl of ice cream that I was about to eat. You snuggled with me for a bit and watched my TV show with me. I love having one on one time with you. Then you requested to watch a movie and you picked Lorax. You were laying on the couch watching it, not needing anything from us. I went to my ice cream and took two bites. Then I put it in the fridge and asked you if I could snuggle with you on the couch. You said yes and took my hand in yours and dug under my fingernails as you love to do. Your daddy looked at me and said, "You just can't resist her can you?" Nope. I can't. There were so many things I could have done, but I just wanted to be with you. You are irresistible. I adore everything about you. You are growing so fast and I just want to savor everything about you at this age. You talk like crazy. You copy your brother constantly. You are snuggly and loving. You want to do everything by yourself. You are fearless and I have to watch you like a hawk at the park because you climb everything. You give cheesy smiles and sweet, slobbery kisses. And I adore it all!!!

I love you baby girl!

Love,
Mama

Sugar and Spice

Dear Maggie,

Today I was holding you while sitting at my sewing machine. When you reached for my sewing pins I calmly told you "no no" to which you responded as you kept reaching, "calm down mama." Then I took you to the swimming pool. You were a little slow to warm to it, probably because it was your nap time. But once you warmed I spent the next 20 minutes chasing your tiny little body around the pool. You wanted to go everywhere and do everything and the fact that you are only about a foot a half tall and most of the pool was over your head didn't matter to you at all. This was all spaced between the rest of the day that you spent attempting to morph your body into mine. When your brother was little I told him a story about traveling the world to see animals and when I talked about the kangaroos I told him that his mama wished that she was a kangaroo so she could carry him everywhere but he thought that was a silly idea (he never liked to snuggle). You on the other hand would love if I had a pocket to carry you around in. You want to be carrying everywhere. And when I can't carry you you want to hold my hand. I adore it. Sometimes I reach moments of wanting just a little breathing room. But mostly I just can't get enough of the feeling of your little body wrapped tightly against mine. That is, of course, all between your other moments of complete independence and attitude. There is a nursery rhyme that says that little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. I think this describes you perfectly. You are my little sugar and spice. And I adore you.

Love,
Mama

Dear Little Miss Independent,

I don't remember the exact day, but one day a few weeks ago you suddenly decided that you wanted to do everything yourself. And you learned the word no. You say it in a very clipped, squeaky way. No! And often, No!No!No!No! It has lead to a lot of frustration for both of us because in many cases while your desire is there your skills level isn't quite. And so in the end it takes a long time for not much to get done and we are both frustrated by it. But baby girl, I love that you have the desire. A while back you were refusing to go to sleep and in the end I had to let you cry it out. It was painful for both of us. I checked on you every few minutes and tried to talk you (and me) through it. I told you that I admired your tenacity and will-power but asked is you could save it for more important things, like not falling for peer-pressure and getting a good education some day. Lucky for me while you have gained a desire to do all things yourself you have not lost your desire to snuggle (and you are actually very persistent about getting your snuggle time when and how you want it, which often includes sticking your tiny fingernails deeply under my fingernails.) You spend about 75% of your time awake wanting to be held and snuggled and holding my hand and the other 25% saying No!No!No! and moving your body away from me when I get close and you fear I am going to attempt to assist you. I love you for both of these things. I love you no matter what. I love you because you are mine. And even though I am often frustrated, and underneath my fingernails is sore, I am so, so lucky because I have you.

Love,
Mama