Siblings – September 2018

September. The start of a new school year and adjusting to the change in routine. With Sophie having started school last week, I’m now on my own at home most of the day with Thomas. I love the way Sophie gives her baby brother a kiss as she heads into school and is so happy to see him again at pick-up time. Each morning as we head to her classroom door though, I can’t help but look across at the Year 2 classroom doors and think of a little girl who should be going into one of those doors. Oh how excited Jessica would have been at having Sophie at school with her.

 

 

It is lovely to see what a wonderful big sister Sophie is with Thomas. She loves to give him cuddles and to pick him up and hold him when he cries. She has a bit of a tendency to try to put him down quite abruptly though which I always have to be prepared for. Looking at Thomas is like stepping back seven years. He is so very much like Jessica was as a baby which is lovely. Some of his facial expressions are just like the ones she pulled as a baby.

 

I thought I’d take this month’s photos with Sophie and Thomas lying on “the Jessica blanket” – the photo blanket that my blogging friends kindly sent me after Jessica died. We all love to look at the photos and Sophie sometimes wants to have it on her bed and give Jessica kisses at bedtime. It was perfect for trying to capture a photo of my little trio this month.

 

 

Jessica (forever 6 years 7 months)

• Jessica would have turned 7 on 6th September. I made a cake modelled on Kerry, her favourite toy. We took it to GreenAcres where we sang Happy Birthday to her and had a special birthday picnic next to her forever bed.
• My “Jessica/Jack has a heart operation” books have now been made available for other heart families. Jessica loved her special book to help prepare her for her surgery last year. She was so excited when she spotted it on a poster at the Little Hearts Matter open day earlier this year saying that it would be available soon.
• We have been given some photos of Jessica that were on the wall of her classroom, along with a couple more of her schoolbooks. It’s so lovely to get “new” memories of Jessica in this way.

 

Sophie (4 years 10 months)

• Loved hunting for all the sculptures on the Gromit Unleashed 2 trail.
• Started school on Jessica’s birthday. She had quite a wobble on the first morning and told us that she didn’t want to go to school without Jessica. Her teacher was so good with her though and by pick-up time she was full of smiles, telling me that she loves her new school.
• Has moved up into the primary class at ballet.
• Was so excited to see her friend C when starting back at Girls’ Brigade. It was lovely to watch them running around holding hands.
• Has been enjoying riding her scooter to school and loved being able to ride it at an indoor skate park at a birthday party.

 

 

Thomas (0 years 7 weeks)

• Has outgrown the tiny baby clothes and is now in newborn ones.
• Is really looking around now and starting to give us smiles.
• Pulls the most adorable faces, especially when he is milky drunk.
• Had his six week check at the GP surgery and all was well.