House of Pollies

Goodbye, Mr. Frodo.

| kirstenebv

When I woke up today, I thought the only pain that I need to deal with is my swollen hand and feet due to edema. I also thought that it would only be due to my aching muscles after an intense 45-min cardio HIIT workout.

I was so wrong.

I never thought that today would be the day that my heart would break into a tiny, million pieces once more because of a loss.

Today, I lost you.

No matter how hard I try to describe it, I can’t. The pain is too much to be described by the words that we, humans, know.

I tried to prepare for this but no amount of time or mind conditioning could really prepare humans from losing their furry friends.. their furbabies…

I will visit you in a few hours, my Belito. My heart and soul will forever have a paw-shaped void that no one else can fill.

Run free and happily cross the rainbow bridge. I love you.

Ear Piercing Twinning

| kirstenebv

Our mother-daughter bonding last weekend: Ear Piercing Twinning! 👯

Now that she’s conversational, we help her understand physical pain and how to prepare for and navigate around it. We started doing this during her vaccination sessions. So far the last one has been succesful. This one, too.

Litol one is so cute with her topaz earrings. 😍

Affirmations

| kirstenebv

“I’m proud of our little girl“,

I told my husband in between washing the dishes.

This following an incident with another kid. It was all our first time to witness a kid treat our little girl a bit harshly. We were going out of the resto where we had our lunch, right after attending mass last Easter.

Bellabot was amused walking up a ramp. I did not assist her so she was mighty proud when she reached the top and clapped her hands. That’s when we saw another kid looking at us.

“Bellabot say ‘Hi!'”, I encouraged her. And in true Bellabot fashion, she eagerly waved at the kid and smiled at her. The kid slowly approached us with a glint in her eye, looking friendly. And then…

SMACK!

She hit Bella in the face, making her fall on the floor. I was shocked and all I can say was “No, baby…”, looking at the xgirl while immediately checking if our little girl is OK. She was, but looked a bit shaken.

“Bella, get up.”, I told her gently. She did and dusted of her hands.

“Strong girl?”,

I prompted which made her immediately do her strong girl pose. Despite balling her fists and raising them in front of her, despite putting on a brave face, I saw her holding back her tears.

And my heart just broke…

By then, all I can do is hug her and talk to her, looking her directly in the eyes. I know that our little girl can’t speak yet, but I know that she understands us. So I make it a point to always talk to her especially on occasions of heightened emotions. She did not cry but she did hug me tight and did not let go for a while.

And my heart just broke once more…

It took a while before she smiled again and acted like her usual self. It took a while before the red gash on her face, caused by the other’s girls smacking, disappeared. It took a while but she turned out fine. The day ended with her enjoying our grocery shopping — it was also her first time to ride the grocery cart, something that both my husband and I have been looking forward to do once she’s able.

“I’m proud of you, too…”,

my husband told me before kissing my forehead. He then told me how amazed he was at how calm I handled the whole situation, how good I am with Bellabot and around the house, and how I have changed for the better.

I felt warm all over. I realized that I, too, needed my strong girl affirmation.