Today we are celebrating Trevor’s 14th birthday. When each of my children were born, I carefully and meticulously chose their baby book and wrote them each their own lullaby. I kept a journal for each one, recording funny, sweet, and sad stories about each one. All of my children love to hear stories from when David and I were little, but there are so many we can’t remember. Hopefully, by journaling (and now blogging), my grandchildren (that sounds really weird to say) will know all of the great stories that shaped the generation before them.

I will enjoy sharing some of those stories here on my blog—as a legacy for my children, and hopefully as reminders and tips for better parenting skills. Sometimes it’s hard to remember what works and what doesn’t! Plus, every child is different. Parenting is a tough business and requires much wisdom and prayer. To quote my friend Betsy again:

In honor of Trevor’s birthday, I thought I’d share this letter I wrote in his baby book. Now when Miranda was born (I’ll share her letter with you on her birthday in April), I wrote her letter within the first few weeks. Obviously, the more children you have, the longer it takes to get things done. So I didn’t write Trevor’s first letter until he was almost a year old! But just so you know, all three of my children have COMPLETE baby books for their first five years…patting myself on the back at this very moment 😉

Without a doubt, I fall short of being the parent I should. Thankfully, God’s grace intervenes where I fail. So far, David and I have raised three pretty great kids. Not without flaws, of course, but great nonetheless. As I share some of their stories with you, I pray that you can filter the good from the bad and let God use my experiences in parenting to make yours better.

Here’s that very first letter to Trevor. I was 29 when I wrote this, and it was all I could do not to “edit” as I typed it here. I’ve learned so much about parenting and writing since I wrote this letter fourteen years ago, but here it is…exactly as originally written. With much love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Trevor,

You are turning a year old this week, and I can’t believe I’m just now writing you this letter! It’a a lot harder to get things done with two children than with just one, but at least your baby book is up to date. I think that’s a pretty big accomplishment!

You are such a good baby. This first year with you has been wonderful. I fell in love with you the minute I saw you and my love for you grows deeper each day. You have been born into such a wonderful family. You are so blessed! Much more than you can possibly know yet, and God has blessed us with you! You have a wonderful daddy that loves you so much. He plays with you every opportunity he gets.

And Miranda loves you so much! She calls herself “sissy’ to you, though we don’t know what you will call her yet. She has never been jealous of you like most older siblings are. To her, you are as much her baby as you are mine and daddy’s. She hasn’t kept her hands off of you this whole first year. When you first came home from the hospital, she was lying in the floor with you and she looked up at me and said, “I love this baby!” You tolerate her amazingly well—you just grunt a little when she squeezes you too tight.

When you were in my tummy I was explaining to Miranda how you would be born and that you would have a little blood on you when you first came out. That was all she had to hear. She would say, “I want to see him as soon as he comes out—with the blood on him!” It just so happened that Grandma Elizabeth could hear enough outside the delivery room door to let Miranda peek her head in right after you came out. Dr. Coleman held you down for her to see you. You and Miranda have had a special bond from that moment on!

You also have a mommy that loves you more than any other little boy in the whole world! I was so excited when I found I’d be having a son! They say little girls are daddy’s girls and little boys are mommy’s boys. I sure do hope I have a mommy’s boy! So far so good—your first word was “mama.” You made me so happy when you started saying mama!

I hope you like your name. Daddy and I worked hard to pick just the right one. We went through book after book of names. Everyone thought we should name you “Martin” since that’s my maiden name. As neat as that would be, I was afraid you might get some unpleasant nicknames that rhyme with Martin. You can probably guess what that might be. We thought about quite a few names and finally came up with “Trevor” about a week before you were born. We only know one other little boy named “Trevor.” We didn’t want you to have a common name, but we didn’t want you to have a weird name either. So I think we came up with a great name in ‘Trevor.” We think it suits you to a “T.” Of course your middle name, David, is after Daddy. That was non-negotiable from the  minute we found out you were a boy. This made your initials, “TD” for touchdown, and it’s funny because the whole time I was pregnant all I wanted to watch on TV was “Coach.” We even watched it in the delivery room. I had also made tapes that were nothing but “Coach.” Does this mean you’ll be a football payer? Who knows? I’m not sure I’d like the danger involved. I want whatever is in God’s plans for you. He know the plans he has for you and I pray that you will always walk in this path.

I love you so much it’s impossible to put down on paper. You’ll only understand when you have a child of your own. Sometimes in the middle of the night when I’m up with you and it’s just us, I just want to hold you and never let you go–no matter how frustrated I am about you not sleeping through the night. But you’re growing up every day…way to fast and I can’t slow it down! So I can just pray every day that Godly people will always be placed in your path and you will live a long, happy life.

Just always remember: Your mommy loves you so much and I will always love you…no matter what!

I love you!

Mommy