TGIF

Wow. I am so glad it's Friday - the weekend means more time with Maddy. The end of my fourth week of work here. The time is flying by. Madeline is 8 months old next week. That's just plain crazy. Granted she is crawling all over and standing herself up on anything she can, and she says "Mama," "Dada," and "Hi." She has two teeth now, and two more are coming in. She is amazingly smart and eats like a little piggy. She is doing so well, and I feel so blessed because she is such a wonderful little girl. It's so amazing to me because I never knew you could love someone so much. I mean you hear that all the time from parents, about the unconditional love and it's something you've never felt before. But it is the total truth. Just thinking about her now, I am picturing her in my arms passed out after finishing her bottle and I just feel my whole body tense up because I just want to squeeze her.

I took her over to visit my grandparents for a little bit last night. She gets such a kick out of them - she laughs at everything they do and just makes their hearts melt.

I will tell you though that the person that I am most-awed by is my dad. He just adores Maddy. Everytime he sees her, he's gotta hold her forever and just play with her. She is not allowed to cry at his house - he strictly informed me. He carries out to the car everytime we visit, and then he proceeds to buckle her in and sit in the seat next to her while he tells her goodbye and kisses her and makes sure she's got her pacifier and blanket. It's just too precious. It makes me realize, what I've known all along, what a truly great dad he was to me and what an amazing grandpa he is.

I've been thinking a lot about family lately, and the way the people you're surrounded by growing up really mold and shape the person you become as an adult. You know I grew up in a very weird situation - with incredibly young teenage parents who actually stayed married. My mom was 20 years old when I went to kindergarten. My parents worked so hard to provide for us, and I truly never felt like we were missing out on anything. In retrospect I know that a lot of that was due to the support and spoiling done by my extended family, especially my grandparents. I had that "cool aunt" and the uncle with lots of money to spend on you. I had the grandma that took me everywhere with her and taught me all about shopping and junk food. I had such a wonderful exposure to the other members in my family that I really really want that for Madeline. I know what those times mean to not only Maddy, but to my family as well.

Jerry's family is very different about stuff like that. I don't think they ever really had "cool" people in their family. They were very traditional and I think it had a lot to do with the fact that they were all much older when he was growing up. They didn't spend too much time at the mall, if you know what I mean?

I think all of this is going to help make Madeline such a well-rounded person because she is already exposed to such a variety of people in our families. My mom is that "spoil me rotten" grandma, and my dad is that extra loving giant teddy bear grandpa. Jerry's mom is the grandma that will teach her how to bake things and sew things and all those traditional "grandma" things. Jerry's dad is the grandpa that will teach her silly songs and tell her funny jokes, and always have some special candy in his pocket. My brother will be that "cool" uncle that likes to take her "bumming." Jerry's sister is that aunt lets her come spend the night with Jenna and have crazy pillow fights and make ice cream sundaes. I'm almost in tears now as I think about all of the incredible people that surround not only my daughter, but myself as well.

Why this sappy post?? I think all of this stuff going on with my brother is really making me understand how different people in the same family can really be, and how that is not necessarily a bad thing. My brother is dealing with this situation in a completely different way than I would, but when you listen to him talk about it, it all starts to make sense. The way my brother interacted with my family was so different from me, and the way my parents treated him was so different from me that his perspective of the world is shaped completely different than mine. This scares me a little, because it shows just how powerful your parenting decisions really are, and it shows how significant the way you are raised and treated as a child are in shaping your adulthood.