sisters

this was the moment i waited nine long months for: our two precious girls to meet. as much as i anticipated it, though, i didn't snap a single photo as my hands were plenty full. but oh, my heart just burst through the brim.

hadley was quite shy at first as she walked through our front door, past the sign her daddy wrote reading "welcome home big sister hadley grace." she slowly walked towards me, donning a big sister shirt her nana had given her during her stay at their house while we were at the birthing center. she seemed a bit unsure as she glanced around the room first at me and the baby, then towards her daddy, then over to her nana, then back at me and baby.


as if to cover up her nervousness, she pointed to the cinnamon-raisin bagel that was set next to me on the side table and asked "what's that? have some?" all of us laughed.

there is an old home video my dad took of me meeting my brother matthew for the first time. my grandparents brought me to the hospital and my dad asked if i wanted to meet my baby brother. it seems like i ignore his question and instead turn towards my mom and point towards the food next to her and ask, "mommy, can i have some beans?" 

like mother, like daughter, i guess!

i scooped her up into my lap and squeezed her as tight as i could. "i missed you so much," i whispered in her little ear. "want to meet your baby sister?" and i placed the teeny new body not even a full day old onto hadley's not-so-little legs. and it was as if--in this very moment--hadley blossomed into a little girl. like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, our first baby wasn't a baby any longer. she was a big sister.

my mom and grandma asked hadley who she was holding.

quietly, sheepishly, she peeped out, "minnie."

minnie. she couldn't pronounce 'amelia' when i was pregnant so we called her millie, but even this nickname she couldn't quite get out right and so... it was minnie.

we sat there, the three of us, me and my girls (plural!!), hadley stroking amelia's thick brown hair and giving her kisses, each time with an audible "muah!" and i couldn't help thinking how perfect this moment was, how love was just palpitating in the room, so thick. i didn't want it to end.

but, alas, it did. and yet each day ever since has been just as sweet. hadley wants to help with everything amelia-related. she asks to hold her, kiss her, hug her, put her clothes on, see her poop...ha! she's an eager helper and i couldn't be more thankful.

we are still trying to gently explain that poking is a no-no. but she is starting to understand it as she points to amelia's eyes and nose and mouth, then squints her own eyes and shakes her head.

i know there will be hard days ahead of us, i am not naive. which is why i hold on tight and treasure these moments so. even more-so because i always always wanted a sister so badly my heart ached for it. thus, watching the love between these two little humans--these sisters--unfold is magical. and honestly it's more beautiful than i can put into words. after two weeks, my cup is truly overflowing, i couldn't be more thankful.

hadley's dress: canvas house designs -- hadley's bow: pine + honey -- amelia's bow: bon bon baby + kids -- amelia's knit bloomers: petite coo -- pacifier: natursutten -- clip: nomilu -- changing mat: gathre  

melissa's dress: not perfect linen -- melissa's shoes: sandgrens -- hadley's dress: pine + honey -- hadley's bow: sun & autumn -- hadley's shoes: old navy -- amelia's bow: bon bon baby + kids -- amelia's shoes: quail lane co.