.....Turns four today.
When I was younger, I wanted a little sister more than anything in the whole world. I wanted someone to play dress-up and Barbies and dolls with. I watched my friends with little sisters, and I wanted what they had. Sometimes, they argued, and they told me that little sisters weren't all that great, but I never believed them. As I got older, that wish didn't change, but I began to lose hope as our family expanded with the addition of 4 brothers. I remember talking to my dad on the phone after the birth of one of my brothers and holding my breath waiting for him to tell me whether or not I got my sister. I was always disappointed. Clarification: I love each of my brothers, and our family would not be complete without them.
Fast-forward to December 13, 2006. Layton and I piled in Granny's car after a choir concert to go meet Mom and Dad and our newest sibling at the hospital. We walked into the room where the nurses were just getting ready to give Baby it's first bath. Dad wouldn't tell me over the phone whether I got a sister this time, so I was nervous with anticipation as I walked over to where the nurses were bathing Baby. Sister? Nope. Definitely brother. Again. I admit, I was honestly disappointed. Hurt, even. I'd been waiting for 14 years for a sister, and as I got older, I knew the chances of me getting one were decreasing. We were already years past the stage of ever being able to share clothes or shoes or lie in bed at night giggling about boys. Brothers are just.......brothers, ya know? ;) Not to give too much of Troy's story away, but as soon as I picked up that new, clean baby brother, all my disappointment vanished, and all I felt was warmth and love for that little mortal angel.
Fast forward again to March 16, 2008. Troy was 18 months old. I had long given up any hope of ever having a little sister, and I was completely content with that. I was getting ready for my hardest year of high school, and college was on the brain. We were sitting around after family prayer one evening, and Dad was trying to keep all our attention and give us lists of things that needed to be done. I remember it going something like this, "Be careful, choose good friends, we all need to help out around the house more, and we're having a baby." *Silence.* Wait, WHAT?!?!?!?! The boys all started freaking out, but all I could do was sit there. I remember waiting for the "Early April Fools!" but it never came. I kinda went into shock. I wasn't sure if I could believe it, and I didn't dare even think about the possibility of getting a sister. Of course, a little voice in the back of my head reminded me, but I always pushed it away and planned on a fifth brother.
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| 5.9.2008 |
May 7, 2008: Mom was already 20 weeks along, the time when you can find out the baby's gender. All of us kids up until that point had been surprises until birth. My mom always liked not knowing. But she felt differently with this one. This one, she wanted to know. At dinner that night, I found out the baby was missing a few, key parts, namely a Y chromosome. I was getting a sister.
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| 7.16.2008 |
I got to go to the next ultrasound appointment- since my mom was now considered "advanced maternal age," she got to get more of those. The nurse was nice and used the new 3-D monitor, and we watched my little sister kept pulling her arm across her face, hiding from us.
September 18, 2008: Baby girl was born at 11:30 PM. 8 lbs, 1 oz. 21 inches long. Lots of black hair, just like the rest of us (except Layton, who was bald). She stayed nameless for a few days because we couldn't decide. I really wanted to name her Annie, but the birth certificate was finally filled with Tressie Joely West. Tressie is an old name from the '20s and happens to be a family name. Our great-grandma, Goldie Mae West (my papa's step-mom) would always tell us stories from her childhood and about "[her] little sister, who [she] loved." After she died, we were reading through her life story book and found out that "[her] little sister, who [she] loved," was named Tressie. And Joely means beautiful.
And boy, was she a beautiful baby. I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful baby than Tressie was. Creamy, pale skin. Dark, curly hair. Bright, blue eyes. She was a little Snow White baby, and everyone fell in love with her.
Tressie LOVED her bottles. She drank bottles long after she should have stopped, causing her to develop quite the adorable rolls around her legs, arms, and neck.
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| Look at those cheeks!!! And the baby miniature horse... :) |
Some other things about Tressie:
She loves dancing, particularly ballet. Last year, she started a ballet class as one of the youngest and had a hard time concentrating. This year, she is doing it again, and while she's still young, she's also one of the leaders. She helps the other girls be quiet, and she stays so focused the whole time on Miss Erica. She's already got her dances down.
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| Two tutus because one is obviously not good enough |
She loves sleeping on the cold, hard floor. Often times, she'll fall asleep with her bare stomach on the tile. She never sleeps in her bed unless you move her there after she's fallen asleep on the hard carpet next to it. Weird girl... :)
She's smart. Because she and Troy are so close in age, Tressie has sort of kept up with him on the child-development scale. She plays with older kids. She tries to read. She can already write lots of her letters and has the coordination to trace over my tiny cursive. It's quite impressive. She just started preschool a couple weeks ago and already wishes she could go every single day. She loves school so much. Hopefully, that enthusiasm never leaves.
She loves make-up. Shocker, right? Every time I go home, she will unfailingly find my make-up and come out of the bathroom all done up. And the best part is, she's quite good at it now and doesn't so much make messes anymore.
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| obviously, this is before she figured it out... She was very proud of herself. |
While she's as girly as they come and loves to wear dresses every day, she can also make herself burp and thinks it's hilarious every time she toots. Guess she's got 4 older brothers. :) Perhaps the best illustration of this is the coloring page of Daisy Duck on my fridge. Daisy is colored so meticulously in purple and pink. No scribbles, just careful coloring in the lines. And right under her tail is a free-handed pile of black poop added by Tressie herself. Disgusting? Too bad. I think it's absolutely hilarious. :)
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| Lightsaber, pizza, and nudity. How much better can life get? |
Sometimes, we call her Tress-O or Tressie Jo, or Sister Susie, or Sassy-Frass. She gets particularly, hilariously mad when Jace calls her José, as in "No way, José!" And lately, she likes us to call her "Mary."
This little girl is a ball of big personality. In a lot of ways, we're complete opposites: complexion, all the pink, frilly stuff, the fact that she has my dad wrapped around her finger... ;) But I'm starting to realize more and more that we really are related. She loves music and Nutella. What more do you need in common? :)
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| Nutella and smoothies for lunch after ballet. She did her own make-up in this. :) |
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| Nutella on cheese-crisps. |
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| Bath-time with the clothes |
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| caught tip-toeing into the kitchen naked to steal my chips |
But really, I love this girl. Sure, our relationship will always be a bit different from my friends and their sisters. I mean, most little sisters don't identify the older sister as "Mama" first, right? I woke up at night and fed her bottles when Mom slept through it. I've changed a good portion of her diapers. We'll never share clothes. We won't swap boy stories (contemporary ones, anyway). We won't share a bedroom. But I guess this means that we also will probably never have any cause to fight. Homecoming was a 2 weeks after she was born, and my aunt pointed out to me that by the time Tressie would be the one dressing up, I'd be 32, with my own kids. Weird. But also kinda cool.
Luckily though, she's still little. But she's getting bigger and smarter, and her personality is starting to shine even brighter. I can't wait to see how her talents develop and what sort of things she will pursue. Sometimes I still think it's a bit surreal to actually have a little sister, but I think I always knew there was a place for her in our family. Life would be a bit less bright without her kisses and hugs and tickles and snuggles.
Love you, Sister! Remember the difference between "fancy" and "beautiful." You are always beautiful.
Happy birthday, Princess!
cute kids
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