She is the only one with straight hair, daddy's teeth (not too bad of a thing unless she needs braces), daddy's calves, daddy's cheeks, dimples, basically- everything daddy!
The only thing that made her unique from her sisters as an infant is the fact that I never had her ears pierced. I actually wanted this child to make the choice on her own as to whether she wanted to put them holes in her ears.
And this past weekend, in the ninth year of her life she made her own choice.
Sierra and Lexie didn't...
Sierra was born with the deepest, olive, most beautiful colored skin with so much hair people would pause to take a look at her and say, "what a beautiful baby boy." My response was a sarcastic "uh...she's a girl thank you." Then again I don't think that wearing teal, and light yellow onesies throughout the first six weeks of her life helped people see that she was a girl. Seeing my sister pierce her daughters ears as an infant made me a follower and my immediate thought as a young first time mom was- when you bear a girl (not a boy) you pierce their ears period. So with that being said, and the fact that 95 percent of Utah's population thought Sierra was a boy caused me to pierce her ears.
Lexie was like my little personal doll. I loved dressing her up in cute outfits, and as soon as she turned a month old I ran to the nearest mall to pierce her ears. There was no excuse for piercing her ears because she looked like a thumbelina doll. I only wanted her ears pierced because well...it would make her an even cuter thumbelina doll, and since her sister's ears got pierced might as well do it with this one too.
It's a totally different story with Chelsea. I think this is another reason why she's so unique, and why I myself felt so differently after I had her, and why I hesitated when it came to piercing her ears.
That's when I truly learned about what it means to have a "choice."
First of all please don't think I'm a weirdo for my explanation, and reasoning as to why I wanted Chelsea to have a choice in making the 'ear piercing decision.' I wanted her to think for herself, and to know that she has a choice about everything she does in this life.
She was the first child to be born after being sealed in the temple, and my feelings of simplicity, and purity bursted inside of me as soon as I entered in. I wanted my life to be as it is whenever I enter inside the temple...clean, unworldly, simple, happy, and different. I wanted it to be like that when I left too.
I wanted things with this child to be different, and this is where I think Heavenly Father has a sense of humor because he sure brought someone down that was completely different from her sisters in every. single. way!
When it comes to 'things of the world' we tend to make choices for our kids such as getting them into pageants, dance, and acting classes. Soccer, and music lessons. I mean...we all want our children to be athletic, and talented but not at the expense where they are going to regret all the things that we as a parent thought was for their benefit.
For example-I see so many infant and toddler boys my son's age with earrings, and funky haircuts. Gosh I hope that doesn't sound judgmental but I would never do that to my son. I would want him to make the choice at an age where he understands what having an earring on your ear means, and why he's playing on this big box of wood (piano.) And although I will encourages lessons, and sports i will not force him, or any of sisters to do something they don't really want to do.
That's how I felt about Chelsea. I wanted her to see for herself, and to know that this is what she wanted. Just like with piano lessons. She loves playing, and if she told me she didn't want to take them anymore I would pull her out of it. I'd probably be sad, and wonder why, but seriously...I would. I don't want my child to be miserable and resent me when they're 8 or 12 for forcing them into something they never wanted to do.
Lexie took both piano and violin lessons, and told me two years ago that she prefers the violin over the piano. I was okay with that (saved me some money too!) Same with Sierra, and I guarantee I'm going to do that with my little man.
I want them to be able to make their own choices in this life because nowadays society (as well as pushy parents) make it for them, and I refuse to do that to my kids.
It feels so good knowing that Chelsea made her own decision, and that I didn't jump at getting her ears pierced as an infant. It feels really good! This may be petty for y'all, but this is a big deal for me because she and I will be the only ones in the family who'll actually know how it feels to have our ears pierced by a needle. No pain, no gain.
I was sixteen when I pierced my ears, and I had to pay for them. Luckily for Chelsea she didn't.
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