I have a little girl and her name is Emmy. E-M-M-Y. 🙂 Sister actually spells it wherever she goes and it’s just about the cutest thing ever. She writes it just about wherever she goes, too, in all-caps letters and with a backwards “Y.” She writes her name on notes to her across-the-street-friend, Finnley, on her princess coloring pages, and on the legs of our kitchen table (Sis still has to scrub that personal tag off, now that I think about it, haha)! I love Miss E-M-M-Y soooo much. She is silly, she wears her emotions on her sleeve, she is affectionate. She is strong (I think I’ve written that about her in just about every post I’ve ever written about her)! Emmy is a firecracker – so full of energy and just straight-up power. Of all the girls so far, Emmy has the most relentless curve to her well-rounded personality, meaning that Sister has a deep vein in her blood full of drive to never give up. She will push and push and push till she comes out victorious, which honestly, can be super difficult for me in mothering her as a toddler, just because of her cognitive immaturity (obviously. Emmy and I have had some pretty wicked debates about a lot of things that she shouldn’t or can’t do because, well, she’s four but Emmy won’t take “no” for an answer). However, as a mom, if I could ask for any trait to be given to my child that would lend to their happiness in life, it just might be relentlessness.
I think about the opposition that has come at me in life – physically, mentally, spiritually, socially, emotionally, professionally – I think about how many times I’ve face-planted and flopped and failed and how gritty I’ve had to be to get back up again, and man, if that dogged determination to tune opposition out and conquer is something that comes naturally to Emmy – despite the times it gets in the way while raising her – I’ll take it. I’ll take every bit of her strength and tendency to keep pushing and to keep fighting, even when her pushing and fighting comes at me sometimes. She will need that tenacity in her life so much. Choosing to see her relentlessness as her greatest strength has changed our relationship in the last year, actually. I no longer see her desire to debate as a threat; I see it as a treat. She and I get a chance to hash something out, learning how to communicate and compromise all along the way, and I get to ultimately sit back and stand all amazed at my incredible little girl. Because she is incredible. Bold, brave, relentless Miss Emmy will change this world!
Photos via — a spontaneous shoot I did with my little doll just about a week before she turned four, so I’m counting this as her birthday post/photo dump (we had a little friend party for Emmy, but it was super casual and windy that day – I didn’t pull my camera out)! Our neighbors gave us some of their eggs and since they were too pretty to not photograph, I asked the girls which one of them would come with me to take some egg pictures, and Emmy, of course, volunteered stat. Sis loves good time with her Mama and she can work the camera (which she knows, haha)! There are a lot of pictures, but I honestly couldn’t leave a single one out. I love every single one of them. Miss Emmy – when you read this in the future – just sit back for a sec and realize how obsessed your Mama is with you and your perfect face (and hands and twirls and smile and silliness). I LOVE you, Emmy!!! Happy Birthday, my darling girl.
Emmy is born // Emmy is one // Emmy is two // Emmy is three
