Our Little Girls

T.J. and I have been so blessed to have two such beautiful little girls. Trista is three and Whitney is two months old. Whitney has been a wonderful addition to our family. She is such a sweet, good baby. She enjoys snuggling with mom, eating, sleeping, and butterfly kisses. Her current hobbies include learning to smile, cooing, and trying to hold her head up. Trista loves having a little sister. When Trista first met Whitney in the hospital the afternoon she was born, she made the introductions. She said, "Baby, this is your mom, and she likes you. This is your dad and he likes you. I am your sister, Trista, and I like you too." I could not have said it better myself. Then, Trista offered her a cookie. :) Trista wanted so much to take her home that day. She couldn't understand why we weren't going home. She said, "Moooom! (imagine voice going up and down), put on your shoes! The baby wants to go home in her car seat! The baby wants to go in her car seat, home, to her lavender room!" When it was finally time to take Whitney home, Trista cried in the hospital nursery when we took the id bands off. She was so afraid that we were hurting the baby. After we got home Trista started calling her the "little angel". She says, "Aww, look at the little angel" or, "where's the little angel?" Now that Trista has watched Shrek 3 a few times since she got it for Christmas, anytime Whitney cries she says that Whitney is pretending to be a baby ogre. She runs to turn music on for her, whether it be with the music box for the pack and play or the swing or a toy. Sometimes it works and the baby stops crying, which just reinforces to Trista to turn music on to soothe her. Once just days after we were home, I put the baby down in her bassinet so I could use the bathroom. I walked back in to my room to see Trista offering Whitney some chocolate ice cream. It seems that the music didn't work right away, so she got creative. She was holding a spoon down towards the baby saying sweetly, "Here ya go! It's okay, Baby Whitney, stop crying.... Here's some ice cream!" Another time I heard Whitney start to fuss in her crib, and then right away over the monitor I could hear Trista's little voice. I walked into the room to see that Trista had climbed into the crib with the baby to try and take care of her. She had given Whitney her soft teddy bear. We had a little talk about not climbing into the crib, but that I know she loves the baby and was wanting to help. Such a sweet sister.

Trista has been such a joy in my life. She is such a tenderhearted, kind, gentle little girl. She is shy too, which I think makes me have an even softer spot for her in my heart. She just went into Primary this month. T.J. took the baby to Sunday School while I dropped her off to her new class and teacher. I was on the verge of tears all the way down the hall to our class. My little baby is a Sunbeam! I couldn't believe it and worried about her the whole time. She is so shy that even up until the last Sunday she was in the Nursery, little 18 month old babies could take her toys away from her. She wouldn't ever say anything. She would just put her head down and cry quietly. I liked to stay in the Nursery with her when I could and help out. Sometimes I would see her standing alone with her chin down and know that something was wrong. I explained almost every week that the little boy that took her toy was still just a baby and didn't know that it was wrong and he didn't mean to. It seemed that she would get her feelings hurt a lot by the littler ones. Once a little girl that wasn't really talking yet walked up to her and put her hands on Trista's shoulders and started baby talking as loud as her lungs would let her right into Trista's face. Trista thought that the baby was yelling at her and was scared. She quietly started sobbing and shaking. My sweet little girl! I'm glad that T.J. never really gave me a hard time about going into Nursery. When I dropped her off in the chapel for Sharing Time the first Sunday I said, "This is Sister Durette. She is your new teacher! She is very nice and will take good care of you. Stay right here with Sister Durette, and when Primary is over I will come and get you." Apparently I made a mistake when I said "stay right here" . She didn't want to leave the chapel when it was time to walk down the hall with her class to the classroom because mommy said stay here, and mommy wouldn't know where to find her if she went with the class! She really did enjoy it, minus that one moment. The Sundays after that have all been great!
Here is Trista on her first day of Primary with her new scripture bag.


Trista is such a good, sweet girl. I am grateful that she calls me her best friend and to be her mommy, and Whitney's too.