Dear Sareena,
You are just one month old in these pictures. You were such a happy little baby, revealing your gorgeous smile! Seeing you smile because of us is something we just couldn’t get enough of. We simply adored how smiley you were, so you were nicknamed Smiley. We loved snuggling up with you at night, and your daddy would lovingly call you our little “intruder” in bed. All 3 of us would sleep so peacefully; you would hardly disturb us during the night because it was so easy to feed you right next to me!
This is the time we started to take you out. Your first dinner outing was for Daddy’s 30th birthday, and you were just so easy to bring with us. From then on, we started going out more and bringing you everywhere. I also learned about the world of babywearing and got my first wrap. After carrying you in a wrap for the first time, I was hooked! It was so easy to incorporate you into our life while wearing you so close to our heart. You would be so calm and content snuggled against us for warmth and comfort and would sleep peacefully as we were out and about. It was the perfect way to sneak in extra love and cuddles while multi-tasking. We seriously took you everywhere!
One of our favorite things to do was to watch you take in the world. You’ve always been so observant and you let us be so silly with you! We’d sing to you and dance to you, and you really loved it (we like to think). We had so much fun with you and couldn’t help but become embarrassing silly parents. Whenever I’d sing to you, you’d react by getting so excited and would reveal the biggest smile! I think this is the definition of pure love.
You are just so wonderful and a true blessing. I sometimes wanted to cry about how much I love you. Everytime you’d look at me with your sparkling eyes, my heart felt like it was going to burst. Daddy and I were also still in disbelief that you’re a little person who arrived into our lives and yet it felt as if you were ALWAYS there. It’s almost inconceivable to think that there was ever a time period without a little Sareena in our life. We are so happy you’re here.
We love our little intruder!
Here I am at a babywearing group meeting, where I tried on different baby wraps and learned how to use it properly. I became obsessed and wore you all the time! I even had daddy wear you a lot too so he could feel included. It was so cute, we felt like mama kangaroos!
Outside time!
You were such a diva when you were sleeping. It’s as if you were saying “excuse me, I need some privacy please!”
Snow decided to imitate the way you sleep, since he’s also a drama queen.
Really though you let us do so much with you.
You were seriously the sweetest little thing.
Love Always,
Mommy & Daddy
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Challenges:
I was already extra sensitive to hearing horrifying stories about babies and children prior to pregnancy, but now that I have my very own baby it’s on a completely different level. I would somehow stumble upon news about someone abusing their baby, or someone just abandoning their baby or even throwing them away in the trash as soon as they were born! This was unfathomable to me. Deep down every mother’s worst fear is something happening to their baby, so the best we can do is protect them as much as we can. But to intentionally harm your own baby is unforgivable. I just couldn’t handle hearing this kind of news, I would break down and cry for those babies because I just wanted to take them in and care for them myself. I couldn’t bear hearing anything in the news about someone’s baby or child passing away. Everything just hit home at this point, so I would just hold Sareena closer and just appreciate her even more. I had to find a way to filter through these unhappy & negative stories and focus on the happy & positive ones. I hated that my bubble burst as I kept stumbling upon these posts. I will teach Sareena to pray for others who are not as fortunate as her because she will ALWAYS possess the love & protection of her mommy and daddy. This has been my biggest challenge: accepting the fact that not every child receives this kind of love. Not every child even gets to grow up. It breaks my heart, and I don’t know how else to toughen up and recover from these stories other than focusing on Sareena.
With love,
Shveta