Where do I even start? I can't believe how much you changed this last month – sadly, sometimes I feel like you're not my little baby anymore. You are this little girl that has personality and spunk. You literally make me smile and laugh ALL the time and when I'm not with you, I can't wait to be. When you were first born I would say to Drew "can you believe she ours?" or "can you believe we get to keep her?" and I said those things because our life was so different than any life we'd known before. But now 8 months later, I still catch myself saying those things (most of the time to myself) because I just can't believe that we've been blessed with something so special and amazing in our life. I feel like someone needs to pinch me and wake me up from this to-good-to-be-true dream I'm in. But the best part is this isn't a dream – this is our life and can't even express how blessed I feel. So yes, part of me is sad that you are growing up and becoming a big girl, but at the same time I'm so excited about what lies ahead and just thinking about the memories we'll make together.
So before we get to the what I love about you list, here's just a small list of things that show just how big you're getting:
- You're now sitting in a convertible car seat instead of the infant seat that came with the travel system, but still rear-facing
- You're riding in the front seat of shopping carts
- You can swing in a big girl swing at the playground
- You can go from laying on your stomach to sitting
- You are so close to pulling up on the ottoman/toybox
Here are some things I love about you this month:
- Watching family love on you, especially ones that live out of town and don't get to see you very often
- Seeing your face light up when you're swinging or bouncing
- The ladies at daycare called you "the perfect baby" – wow, that's a bold statement!
- You're so smart and you catch on to things really quickly, like playing the kazoo
- Even when you aren't feeling great, you're still a great baby
- You don't throw tantrums - you fuss when you're hungry and tired, which makes it easy on us
- You're slowly getting the hang of finger foods, even though it still makes your gag reflex kick in
- When you sit contently in my lap and watch cartoons like Mickey Mouse club and Yo Gabba Gabba (dad says you won't do that with him)
- It's weird how sometimes you look completely different from one day to the next
- How you greet us in the morning – I wish I was that smiley when I woke up
- You have gotten in a great routine of taking your naps in your crib – I knew that would eventually fall into place
- You are so content in your pack-n-play with all your toys – it's like a portable room within a room
- Even though you don't really like being on your changing table lately, we make it fun with zerberting and gurgling
- We found some mega absorbent diapers so you don't leak out overnight anymore
- I can't tell you how much I love coming home early in the afternoons
- You still love watching your cousins play sports like baseball and soccer
- Seeing all the guys at the firehall fawn all over you
- With each passing day it seems like you spit up less and less (yes!!)
- You aren't scared of anything, even really big Easter bunnies
- When you wake up in the morning and I'm carrying you down the hallway, you are so alert and look around at everything
- I feel like you want to tell me things sometimes, if you could only talk
- The weather is getting warm and you're so cute in your spring and summer outfits
- We brush your hair, but it doesn't matter – most of time you are rocking a faux-hawk.
- Since it's getting warm outside, we swing on the porch swing in the afternoons - it reminds me of when we first brought you home
- How excited you get when you're bouncing - I don't know which you like better, the jenny jumper or exersaucer
- I'll never forget the afternoon I went to get you up from your nap and you were sitting up in your crib, playing with the mobile
- Playing "boo" with you is so much fun, especially when you don't know I'm home and I hide behind a wall and say it
- Just listening to all the noises and grunts you make
- Watching you play in the bathtub – I have no doubt that you're going to love being in the pool this summer
- I could go on and on and on, but just know that I love everything about you.
Love,
Your Mommy