oh Sweet Pea

Am I the only one that knows that song? I want to say that it's from the 50's, maybe 60's but I love it. And it's upbeat tempo definitely matches my little SweetPea's personality. You see, more than writing, I enjoy photo-documenting our days. Which is wonderful.... when you do not have an infant at home that often times doesn't like mama to upload the day's shots. So when that occurs, I will just take the chance to introduce my little Ps.

This little beauty is my youngest daughter, SweetPea. She is our first baby together (minus a dog that we had together in high school but I am not sure how Gwennie really plays into this post), our first home birth, hubby's first exploration into the hippie sub-culture. See, I am by nature a hippie at heart. A peace loving, non-confrontational, save the planet, tree hugging hippie. I embraced my motherly instincts with my first baby and with each one thereafter, I learned to follow my own lead more and more. Hubby's first experience with parenting was much different. He was a more traditional conformist. But I digress away from introducing SweetPea.

She was born at home, into her daddy's hands in February of 2009. Both of our biggest, she was a healthy 8lbs 8oz and 21.5in long. And she has remained our biggest, brightest personality. She is smart and sassy, sweet and silly. She is usually not far from a "linus", our name for one of her multitude of blankets that help her deal with her days. SweetPea is imaginative and creative... I often say that she would make a better Pisces than the sign of Aquarius that she was born under. She is also our talker, asking about a million questions a day but hardly ever asking just "why?". At almost three, she still enjoys sharing the boob with her brother PorkChop, being worn on my back in her special "pack" and co-sleeping in our family bed. Has this derailed her independence? Sometimes, I really wish that it did! Instead, it has made her feel secure to the point that she is confident that she can do anything, test any limit, soar to any heights. SweetPea has never met a stranger, everyone is her self-proclaimed best friend. She has never met a challenge either that she cannot overcome with either her wit, charm, or intelligence.

Our only true concern when it comes to SweetPea is that she has a slight ASD (atrial septal defect) that we didn't discover until she was 25 months. It has never caused her problems that we are aware of, just something that we will need to monitor and re-evaluate at 5 yrs. Right now, about the only way that we know that its there is because she has a tendency to turn blue, especially her lips. This usually occurs when she has had something cold to eat or drink. She shies away from ice cream, ice cubes and while she is a die-hard slurpee fan, she often times passes after a few sips, we think, because she instinctively knows that too much will cause the bluing. Swimming, a huge passion for her, is another trigger, as is too long in the bath tub. We have every faith that she will one day outgrow this though. After all, our little girl is strong and healthy and a fighter.