Today’s post is a bit different.  I didn’t edit it.  I didn’t revise it and refine my message.  I wrote this after a particularly difficult night with Miss O – she’s 5, so there are a lot of those.  It’s just my thoughts as they came to me; the ramblings of a tired mom.

I wrote this after a particularly difficult night with Miss O. It's just my thoughts as they came to me; the ramblings of a tired mom.

Dear Miss O,

I have loved you since before you were born.  I loved you through morning sickness and prenatal gas.  I have loved you through your early arrival and 54 days in the NICU.  I have loved you through preschool, summer camp, separation anxiety, and more stuffy noses than I can count.

I love you more fiercely than I ever thought possible.

I love you when you sing to me and when you scream at me.

I love you when you learn new things, and when you pretend you don’t know things to see if I’ll tell you the answer.

I love you when you smile and when you cry.

I love you when you’re sleeping and when you’re wide awake.

I would do anything for you.  I would walk through fire, take a bullet, even try to learn Common Core math.

And because I love you…

I will say no, even when it’s easier to say yes.

I will set limits, even when you fight me on every. single. one.

I will let you figure things out on your own instead of giving you the answer, even when I really want to help.

I will make you do things for yourself instead of doing them for you, even though it takes soooo much longer.

I will tell you when you’re being rude/ bossy/ not nice, and expect you to do better in the future.

I will do things that will make you upset if I believe they’re in your best interest.

I will make you angry.  I will make you sad.  I will frustrate you beyond belief.

You will do the same to me.

And all of that is okay – it’s what I signed up for the day I became your mom – because no matter what, I will love you.

I wrote this after a particularly difficult night with Miss O. It's just my thoughts as they came to me; the ramblings of a tired mom.