she entered my life…and nothing has ever been the same again!

Where has the time gone? Can that baby I held really be nine?

She entered my life as a 7 lb. 11 oz. Gerber baby. Big eyes, chubby cheeks, and a beautiful complexion.

I must admit, in the beginning she was a difficult child. She gave me my first problems at her first feeding. She didn’t know how to suck. I thought all babies were born knowing this instinctively. But Shiloh had to be taught. She came into the world chock full of personality and opinions. She began cutting teeth at three weeks old. She was colicky. She didn’t sleep all night until she was three years old.

I think this girl has had about five naps in her life!! (Okay, I’m exaggerating, but she didn’t have as many as most babies/toddlers that’s for sure!)

Although Shiloh wasn’t an easy baby, she wasn’t an especially fussy baby either (except at night). She required attention, but would smile, laugh, babble and coo with the best of them. She was absolutely beautiful with large chocolate (as she called them) eyes, and the cutest dimpled chin. She was walking at 9 months old, speaking in sentences at one. She was requiring every ounce of patience at bedtime. She was blowing my mind.

By the time she was two years old, she was “reading” (memorizing and repeating) her favorite books like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Goodnight Moon, Runaway Bunny, and Guess How Much I Love You. She also took the word “No!” as her own personal motto. And even more patience was required at bedtime.

At three years old, she became a big sister. I remember telling my mother that Shiloh didn’t seem like big sister material. She seemed too “only childish”. My mom laughed. She said she would become that big sister personality. She knew what she was talking about! When Shiloh woke up the first morning Landon was home she came to the bottom of the stairs and yelled loudly, “Mommy! Where’s my baby at?” She’s hauled Landon around in wagons, pushed him in swings, and bossed him around from the very beginning.

Her thirst for knowledge has always amazed me. I’ve always liked learning, but Shiloh has a driving desire to know everything. I alway found myself in the most interesting discussions after following her rabbit-trail of questions. How is it that I was discussing slavery in the Sudan or the fact that some religious groups didn’t think women should be educated with a four year old?

One day, when Shiloh was about 3 1/2, we were driving around and I heard this loud, aggravated “Arrrrgh!” from the backseat.

“What’s the matter?” I ask.

“I’m so frustrated!!” she exclaims. She actually used the word frustrated.

“What are you frustrated about?” I asked her, slightly amused.

“There are so many things I wanna know…and I want to know them now!” she exclaimed. I had to pull over on the side of the road until I stopped laughing. She has always been like that….wanting to know it all. Reading, asking questions,looking for the answers.

I must admit, that when Shiloh started school, she wasn’t the most well behaved student. In kindergarten she had it out with her teacher for saying that dinosaurs had been around for millions of years (the funny thing about this was that Shiloh could argue her point and the teacher couldn’t. I guess kindergarten teachers aren’t used to debating creation science). She couldn’t walk in a line worth beans…and had a hard time believing she wasn’t the expert on her pet topics (animals mostly). She also wasn’t a fan of worksheets (not that I blame her) and had rather read a book, write her own story or draw instead of doing something she doesn’t see a reason for. Although she’s artistic, she hates color sheets. They restrict her creativity!!

It’s funny though. She’s suddenly turned into a more responsible kid, it seems, overnight. I first noticed it this past summer. I realized that things were easier, not harder, when Shiloh was around. She was helping out around the house, entertaining her brother (and step-siblings when they were around), and needed little supervision herself.

Now, she has another sibling. Her sister was born almost two months ago and Shiloh fell in love at the first sight of her. I remember when Shiloh was born and my brother and sister wanted to hold her and feed her all the time. It lasted about one week, then they grew tired of it. Shiloh hasn’t done that.

She will sit and hold her sister for an hour. She’ll chat with her until she falls asleep and then she’ll snuggle her in her arms a bit longer. She tries so hard to be helpful…even when she’s a little too helpful. She has taken it upon herself to change a few diapers that didn’t need changing…and she sometimes picks her sister up when she’s asleep and I’d rather she didn’t. But overall, she’s been a tremendous help and is terribly sweet about Rebekah.

I was explaining to Shiloh how some brothers and sisters became jealous when there was a new baby in the house. Shiloh was shocked and couldn’t understand how this could happen. I explained that new babies required a lot of attention and sometimes the older kids felt like their parents didn’t have as much time for them as they used to. Shiloh replied,”I know you have to spend a lot of time with Rebekah…but Momma, I love her! I couldn’t be jealous because of that!”

She is an excellent artist and spends lots of her time drawing or creating creatures out of pom poms, pipe cleaners, feathers and the like. She’s far from neat and organized. She likes a “creative mess”. She has a wonderful vocabulary and loves finding out the meanings of new words. She reads constantly. She swims like a fish. She likes to sing, but can’t carry a tune in a bucket. She’s clumsy…but bighearted. She wasn’t a snuggly baby but has grown into a very affectionate child. She can make straight A’s one day and daydream through school the next.

She can frustrate me to no end and turn right around and make me so proud I could cry.

This song wasn’t written for a daughter, but parts of it make me think of mine…

She may be the face I can’t forget
The trace of pleasure or regret
May be my treasure or the price I have to pay

She may be the song that summer sings
May be the chill that autumn brings
May be a hundred different things
Within the measure of a day

She may be the beauty or the beast
May be the famine or the feast
May turn each day into a heaven or a hell

She may be the mirror of my dreams
The smile reflected in a stream
She may not be what she may seem
Inside her shell

She may be the reason I survive
The why and wherefore I’m alive
The one I’ll care for through the rough in ready years

Me I’ll take her laughter and her tears
And make them all my souvenirs
For where she goes I’ve got to be
The meaning of my life is She

~Elvis Costello

Happy Ninth Birthday Shiloh!! You are one special girl!

I’m home again. Did you noticed I’d been gone? Prolly not!

On Wednesday, right before I brought my baby to the doctor, I posted about the illness that has been taking place under our roof. I thought we were on the mend….and that this doctors visit was completely precautionary.

Ha!

Shows what I know.

Rebekah was admitted into the hospital with Bronchiolitis and Respritory Distress. She was to be tested for the flu and RSV, get chest x-rays, and have blood work done.

Fortunately, Rebekah is really just fine. The hospital stay was more precautionary and to make sure her breathing didn’t get any worse. (It actually improved continually the entire hospital stay.) She was supposed to be put on an iv for nourishment but they had a difficult (okay, an impossible) time finding a vein. Fortunately she nursed exceedingly well throughout the entire ordeal. So not getting the iv was not a problem. I just have to not let myself think about all the little sticks in her wee body.

We were almost released to come home last night but the doctor wanted to observe Rebekah for one more night. She did wonderfully….and impressed the doctors and nurses with her wonderful behavior. She smiled through all her breathing treatments, was an angel for her x-rays, and rarely fussed the entire time we were there.

But home we are. At last.

And, with a healthy baby!