Sisters

***edited*** I can see all these pictures, but you all can see only a few of them..some see red x's or little boxes...just as I posted the first post, networked blogs had some sort of a glitch and wouldn't post. Let's see if the 2nd time around is the charm!

I always wished I would have had a sister. Except for the times that I witnessed "sisterly cat fights" between my girlfriends and their sisters! But still, I always wanted a sister. Especially during the past year. However, I do have 2 sister in-laws, who are just as good as sisters to me and I'm okay with that.

I did however give birth to two girls and one boy. Girls. Sisters, what I had always longed for. I was so happy to be able to give my first born daughter a little sister. Took a while, but Carly eventually arrived. And filled our hearts with a love that I can't even begin to explain and I doubt most of you would even understand the love we have for our precious little Carly.

Now as I sit and watch my daughter Ashleigh, suffer the loss of her little sister, it tears my heart up. Nothing worse than losing your child, other than seeing your other children grieving their little sister too.

The love my two girls had for each other was something I envied. Something I had never seen before. I wasn't jealous of their love between each other, but I envied it, in a way that only a sister of two big brothers would understand.

Just the other day, Ashleigh walked in from work and said, "well, today is officially 1 year since I've seen Carly alive." I'm telling you, Ashleigh's heart is broken and I dare say, nearly as much as her mother's heart is. Anyway, I was sitting in the living room and about fell out of my chair when Ashleigh announced her 1 year ago....

I remember that weekend, one year ago, just as vividly as if it were yesterday. It was Easter weekend. Ashleigh had finally came home to visit. She hadn't been home in 6 long weeks. Carly was utterly pissed off at Ashleigh for about an hour or so. Pissed, no doubt, because she hadn't seen her "sissy" in 6 weeks. Eventually, that sisterly bond was shining through once again. Carly was great NOT to hold a grudge very long!

On Saturday, Paul and I headed to get groceries. We left the kids (all 3 of them) at home. Carly was in her glory by then! She had her sissy's full on attention. As we pulled out of the driveway, our two girls were playing outside. "Bat ball" aka- baseball-was Carly's first choice.

Paul and I came home about 3 hours later. As we walked into the house, we could hear that Ashleigh had Carly in the bathtub. Only to find out later that Ashleigh washed her little sisters hair with DOG SHAMPOO!!! I about passed out when I discovered that big oops! Ashleigh said that Carly told her, "no, no, no", but big sissy didn't listen and went on to use the dogs shampoo! UGH...

We talked about what the girls had done while outside playing. They played, bat ball, in the sand box, on the swing set and headed to the neighbors house. Which was unoccupied at the time-it was up for sale. The neighbors house has a nice big front porch and a HUGE back deck. Miss Carly loved the porch and the deck. She knew she wasn't allowed over there. BUT, sissy didn't know that! ! Although, sissy did know better! But, Carly being Carly was begging to go to the neighbors. Ashleigh said that she kept telling her no. At one point, Ashleigh even told Carly "there are monsters over there Carly" the problem with that was, Carly LOVED monsters! No kidding. She LOVED monsters! I guess Ashleigh forgot all about that. So, up Carly jumps and runs to the neighbors, looking for monsters, telling Ashleigh, "shh" while they quietly crept around looking for the monsters. Thankfully, they didn't find any!

The next day was Easter Sunday. Just two weeks before we lost the littlest love of our lives.

WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD!

Sorry that this post is chock full of sister pictures. Guess I wanted to get a point across. The love between these two sisters is and was so precious. I think you'll see the love shining through in each and every one.

I decided not to put captions on the pictures. I only hope you see the love between the two of them. Here they are, in no particular order. Some are tiny..due to a cell phone camera, but they are just as precious as all the other pictures!

Can you see it? Can you see the love these two girls of mine shared? I miss seeing this. Pictures are great and I'm so happy to have them, but I much prefer having both my girls in my life. To watch them both grow and learn and live life.

Make sure you take note of the special bonds that your children have with each other. It really is a treasure.