Dear Lexi, William and Kate,
When your Great Grandpa (Grammy’s Dad) he was just six years old, his dad died. So his mom took him and his brother back to Ireland for a little bit. When it was time to head back to America to get a job, she decided to keep my grandpa in Ireland for a little longer to help with the transition. Little was she anticipating a war to break out and leave my grandpa stranded in Ireland for eight years. He was with family, but he went EIGHT whole years without ever seeing or talking to his mom.
I can’t not wrap my head around this idea. This poor boy, who is the same age as Lexi right now just lost his Father and then didn’t see his mom for 8 years. I get sad if I don’t see you kids each day. I can not imagine not being able to see any of you for eight years.
So as we head into Thanksgiving this week. I am thankful for all of our health, to have your daddy by my side everyday, the ability to see each of you kids, tuck you into bed and hear your laughter everyday and a job that challenges me but more importantly provides our family with everything we could ever need and more.
I love each of you more than you can ever understand.
Love, Mama
They looked around in several of the stores and Lexi settled on a Minnie Mouse color changing pen and a Minnie Mouse autograph book that she was going to use to color. William picked a plastic Mickey Mouse figure that he could move his arms and legs. They picked out a stuffed Piglet for Kate and some cookie cutter/pancake molds for Grammy. Mommy got a Minnie hat and a christmas ornament. We also admired some of the Character villans that were on main street, that only come out at Halloween time.
Next up, we took some magic photos in front of the castle and then rode the Astro Orbiter Ride and made our way through Pixie Hollow to meet Tinkerbell.
After that, we waited in line for 20 minutes for the swinging Farris Wheel. William and I popped out quick and went to meet Woody, which was a big highlight.
The magic of Disney came through once again, and they allowed us to pop back in line with Daddy and Lexi so we could all ride together. I was not a huge fan of the ride. I didn’t like how the car slide and swung back and forth, but William was laughing and thought it was very fun.
Next up, we grabbed a Mickey pretzel for dinner, ate a couple of snacks and went to go on the Cars ride again. This time the wait was 60 minutes long for the FastPass, but the non-FastPass line was over 3 hours. William did better this time, but was still pretty scared.
By this time it was starting to get dark so we went to find a spot to watch Paint the Parade. Both kiddies feel asleep before we even found a spot to watch.
Again, it was out of this world. So good. I wish the kids could have seen it. After this, Daddy and I each took a turn riding the Incredicoaster again and Daddy wanted to try and beat his score on the Toy Story ride again. The park closed around 10 and Daddy and I walked back to the hotel. We were both exhausted. A full day of walking and adventure.
We also saw Goofy’s house and met Goofy too.
After that, we went to go ride Roger Rabbits Toon Spin. It broke about 3/4 of the way through the ride, and we were escorted out, which was probably a good thing as William wasn’t a huge fan.
After that, we headed over to Big Thunder Railroad mountain where Mommy and Lexi rode it. Lexi said she liked it, but didn’t want to ride again with Daddy.
Just as Kate was about to be born, we started to notice some cracking and flaking near the head rest and the ‘leather’ quickly started to peel away. The spots grew bigger and bigger over the year, but for the most part we were able to cover it with a blanket. Around her first birthday, the seat cushion started to do the same thing. Little pieces of brown fabric were everywhere and it was driving me insane.
I vividly remember holding Lexi’s warm 10-day-old little body against my chest feeling her short little breaths tickle my skin while we rocked. And I thought, how could I possibly ever let her go to school? She was a mere 10 days old, when 20 six and seven year old kids were shot to death at school. The innocence of those children, the fear they must have had and lack of knowledge they had to know what to do. And don’t even get me started on their parents. I couldn’t. How could I ever let my heart walk out of my body and know there was a chance that something so horrific could possibly happen. So, I held your sweet, innocent little body next to mine and we rocked. And I prayed, a lot. And I still do today.
Every single night, for 5 years, i sat in that chair and nursed my babies, read stories and sang twinkle twinkle and snuggled for sometime hours on end while they fell asleep in my arms. I can still feel our two little bodies smushed between the arms, wiggling around to get comfortable. There were many nights that I slept the entire night in the chair with the kids to ensure they got some sleep while they were under the weather.
Lexi is your best friend, and you refer to her as sister. You two play so amazingly well together. You love to play legos together, Tsum Tsum or at the doll house/barbie dream house or Elsa palace. However, you always play with the ‘boy’ version of the toy. So you may have the dad, the brother, the dog, or will often just have spiderman interact with whatever doll/toy Lexi is playing with. You’ll often put all the stuffed animals together and blankets and set up things on the stairs or in the middle of the living room together.
As good of a little brother you are, you are also an awesome big brother to baby Kate. When she is sad and crying, you randomly start singing songs to her. You love to make her laugh and would often ask to hold her when she was first born. I love to put on your baby voice and talk to her calling her Baby Tate or Tatelyn.
Peanut Smiles 