Dear baby letter

Dear Hunter @ 12 months

June 7, 2018

June, 2018

Dear Hunter,

Happy Birthday!!!

I really can’t believe that you are 1 year old now.

There are moments in life that I know I will never forget, and the moment when they told us you were a boy and when I saw you, is one of them. “It’s a boy!” We really couldn’t wait for them to show you to us from behind the curtain, so we asked. It was just so exciting in the moment. Then I got to see you, and it all fell into place. You were meant to be, and meant to be in our family.

You have really been a easy, happy, joyful little boy. There have been few difficulties or moments when you were really fussy or unhappy. Of course, when you you were in daycare you were often sick but you never seemed to unhappy. Ah, my poor sick coughing boy!

Staying home with you and your sister has meant that our pockets are pretty lean, but I wouldn’t trade that in for anything right now. The every day with you really routine, but really is quite magical. I love seeing your personality develop and get to play with you and your sister. You find it hilarious to throw things

I am really proud of the fact that we have reached a year on our breastfeeding journey. After having so many struggles with your sister, I was really happy to have such an easy experience with you. The beginning was quite painful at times, but once that period passed it was quite a breeze. You still are nursing during the day, before bed, and 1x during the middle of the night, so I’ll take it upon you to let me know when you are ready to wean.

Overall, it really feels like this year has flown by way too fast. From swaddling you to get you to sleep, to just holding you on my left side and patting your back with my right hand to get you mellow out enough to rest your head on my shoulder. Or propping you up on the sofa for your monthly picture to reminding you to not try to climb over the back of it!

Throwing something is your favorite thing to do, even if it means you wack me in the face with a book. You don’t mean it to hurt, but throwing everything around is just the funnest thing ever. Dropping things from our second floor on the stairs below is also hilarious.

You still just have 2 teeth, but you make great work of all of the food you eat with them. Blueberries, banana, guac, and steak, but you’ll happily eat anything. Doing baby led weaning with you, and your sister, was the best for you guys. We love that you are so eager to eat, especially blueberries- you grunt and reach out when for them like they are the best things on earth.

One of my favorite things you do is say “hi” while you hold my phone to your ear. It’s the cutest thing! I love the voice you do while you say it- so soft and sweet.

We keep wondering when you will walk since you prefer to crawl and stand. Actually, it’s more like a football bear crawl since we got the carpet taken out of the first floor. You are so strong and fast as you crawl around and then pop up to stand and then trow something from there.

I love that the little things bring you such joy, and I am there to be able to see it.

It’s obvious to say that, I am really looking forward to seeing how you grow and develop in the weeks, months, and years ahead.

I love you.

Love, Mommy

Dear Hunter @ 10 Months

April 10, 2018

April 2018

Dear Hunter,

Please stop biting me.

You have recently discovered that you can bite. That you can bite me. That you enjoy it.

That’s great, but please stop. You may have just 2 teeth, but it still does hurt when you chomp down on my arm, shoulder, chin, face, and stomach. It is not funny, please stop giggling.

Okay, you can keep giggling when I tickle you, but not when you bite me. Can we make a deal?

Can we also make a deal about slowing down time?

I really can’t believe that you are already 10 months. The time has flown by. I feel like I say that every month. It just feels so unreal every time I put on your monthly milestone sticker on your onesie, grab the lion & blanket, and my camera to take pictures.

I am really glad that I document each month like this, writing you a letter so that you can look back at these when you are older and know how much I love you. How much we all love you.

It’s so easy to be head over heels in love with you as you are charming, silly, giggly, handsome, and just so adventurous. You gave me a heart attack when you climbed up the slide on the playset on the lanai. There you were, proud as can be, at the top of the slide. I never would have thought you cold have done that. So much for letting you just crawl around on the lanai while I made lunch or did the dishes. Now I need to watch you like a hawk.

You are very different than your sister, Autumn, in that regard. We didn’t need to baby proof much for her, besides a baby gate at the bottom and top of the stairs in our condo in Chelsea. She didn’t both the books and things on the bookcase, or open up kitchen cabinets, or jsut get into things.

But you, are so much trouble!

You love to get into all the different things in the cabinets and you throw them out onto the floor. Clang! Clang! Clang! You mess our piles up books up, you climb in and under things, you toss dirt out of planters. Even the baby gates at the top and bottom of the stairs annoy you and you shake them so hard, trying to open them. ha!

You are a real character, I love everything about you!

Love,

Mommy

Dear Hunter @ 9 Months

March 8, 2018

March 2018

Dear Hunter,

Can I just say that you are amazing!?

Would that be extremely bias? Probably. But I don’t care.

Dad has been home with us the past few weeks, which certainly wasn’t planned, but has been really enjoyable anyway.

It’s wonderful getting to see the 2 of you together. So happy playing around, being silly, learning. I love seeing how happy you are with Daddy. And I know that he is happy getting to spend this time with you. He loves when you reach up to him for him to pick you up. It’s adorable!

Every since you pulled yourself up on me on Christmas, everyone has been teasing that you would be walking by now. Thankfully, that is not the case, you are happily just crawling around and scooting around by pulling yourself along the sofa and on the cabinets in the kitchen. I’m sure that once you are steady, you will be on the go, so I am enjoying this time a bit more.

In the mean time, we are just loving life. Life with you on our walks, in the pool, at the splash pad, at the library, in the park… we are on the go! You are really great with going with the flow. Even at GG’s while she was recovering from her surgery. You didn’t sleep well at night, but were great during the day, so it all worked out. It always does.

While I am really enjoying this moment in time with you, I am always looking forward to the next month as every day is so great with you.

Love,

Mommy

Dear Hunter @ 8 months

February 8, 2018

February 2018

Dear Hunter,

This past month has really been wonderful with you.

So far transitioning to be a stay at home mom with you has really easy and enjoyable. Spending days with you, and your sister, is so fun. There are tough times when I want to hide in the pantry to take a break from the noise, but it’s so great.

We just need to have Autumn listen to us the first time that she can’t keep siting behind you. We understand she is trying to be helpful, but from siting behind you so she can catch you if you fall, quickly turns into her holding you, which makes you yell and squirm and then there is the constant “AUTUMN!” It’s hard to scold it when she means well, but things would be so much easier if she just listened. At least she means well.

Your appetite is constantly growing. It’s awesome to give you something like quinoa, steak, broccoli, blueberries, yogurt, melon, and so much more

I swear you are looking older and older every day with your hair growing in and your features becoming more and more defined. It’s amazing to see. I see so much of your daddy when I look at you and old pictures of him. You even have that pout down.

I can’t imagine our house ever being quite again since you can be so loud when you are happily babbling. Angry or tired babbling is just as loud, but the happy, silly, giggly babbles are much more fun.

You have mastered standing while holding on to something like a pro. From there you sometimes give us a wave. But you are really good at waving when we are holding you and you then are prompted to wave at someone.

You went on your first cruise this past month! You were so fantastic on board. I can’t wait to take you on more and more as you grow. Our first family vacation went so well.

I love you so much.

Love,

Mommy

Dear Hunter @ 6 Months

December 7, 2017

Dear Hunter,

Half a year with you!!

I still can’t believe that 6 months has already sped by.

You make every day so wonderful.

I’m in awe of your bubbly personality. You hardly fuss as you are just content with with held, being on the floor, playing with toys, or with Autumn. Plus, you make everyone really happy with your smiles and giggles. Your smiles are like yawns, they are contagious.

You have mastered sitting up. It’s amazing to see you sitting up and looking around, taking the world in. You really like to watch Autumn and the dogs. Besides just being able to balance you are able to be on your back or belly and twist and turn to pop yourself up to sit up. Sometimes you pause while doing it, and you look so suave as you are sprawled out on your side, minus the come hither look. ha!

You are so close to crawling too. that it is just a matter of days. You spin and roll around on the floor, meandering around as you wiggle this way and that, but you are really going to take off very soon.

There has been so much progress this month from you sitting up well, almost crawling, getting better and better (and more eager) at eating food, and finally having a few weeks not being sick from that awful cough… amazing, wonderful, bliss…

I can’t even begin to imagine what the next month holds, besides getting to celebrate your first Christmas, but I can’t wait for it.

Love,

Mommy

Dear Hunter @ 5 months

November 7, 2017

November 2017

Dear Hunter,

Or maybe I should call you Alfalfa! You have 1 long dark hair that stands up in the middle of your head. We smooth it down but it tends to pop back up again. The rest of your hair is much finer, and is more slowly coming in, while this single strand of hair has a mind of its own. It’s really barely noticeable so I don’t cut it, plus I’m sorta interested in how long it will actually get.

You have 99% gotten better from being sick. It just took 4 doctors visits and a 10 course with a nebulizer, but you so rarely cough now that I am calling it a win.

Even while you were sick you were a champ, everyone at daycare said that you were still so happy and smiley. I get to hear great reports of you playing around, being happy, and even starting to hold your bottle on your own now.

You have mastered rolling over. As soon as we lay you down you twist yourself over and push up to see what is going on, and then you can just as quickly flip back over onto your back. I only wish you wouldn’t do that while I was changing your diaper. It’s like trying to change a gator while in a death roll. I usually give up flipping you onto your back and put the diaper on your which ever way you let me while you are on your side or stomach.

Sleep has been rough since you were sick. You get up multiple times at night still, which is okay except that prior to getting sick you were only up 1x, maybe 2x. There were even nights when you would sleep through. Now I just bring you right into bed and you snuggle up next to me while nursing. You are back to sleep a few minutes later, as am I, but we probably should try to get you back to sleep without that being the routine. It would make things easier for me in some ways (I’d probably still need to get up just to pump then), but I sorta just love it at the same time. It’s so nice getting to snuggle with you.

I’m still so much in awe of your chill personality. You are so relaxed and happy. You do get talkative and loud at times, but you are still so happy when you are loudly blabbering and shreaking away.

Can we please slow down time though? I can’t believe that you will be eating foods and sitting up soon. And then crawling… omg. I can’t handle it all speeding by!

I love you.

Love,

Mommy

PS. SORRY Autumn keeps grabbing your head and hugging you. She loves you, she really does, but it’s not a gentle love. I know you will get back at her soon enough!

Dear Hunter @ 4 Months

October 8, 2017

October 2017

Dear Hunter,

Oh, what a month!

This month was brought to you by the letter S. S FOR STORM AND SICK!!!

First Hurricane Irma hit and then our house was hit with a stupid cold that gave you the deepest saddest cough ever. But you’re a champ and we have powered through it all.

While you won’t remember your first Hurricane I gotta say that you did amazingly well for it all. Thankfully you don’t understand weather forecasts on the news or you probably would have been crazy stressed about the track that was coming right for us. The week before was stressful and tiring for Dad and me. We had so much work to do to prepare for it from getting supplies, moving things around and putting up hurricane shutters. I even went out and picked you up an exersaucer thinking it would help keep you entertained as we dealt with things after the storm, possibly without power.

Autumn understood we kept yalking about a big storm buy didn’t understand what it really meant, she was just excited about us cleaning out the closet under the stairs for us to stay in the night it hit. Slumber party time!!!

Thankfully the track of the Hurricane shifted further east than originally planned so we lucked out. And as the wind dies down I meantally checked off that you had your first Hurricane over and done with.

Soon after, you experienced your first cold. Unfortunately, as I write this, you are still coughing from it. It’s the cough that will never end!

Autumn got sick, then you, then me, then Dad. You even went to the Dr twice. They cleared you of RSV, but later said you had the croup virus,but not full fledged croup. My poor muffin.

So you had been sleeping really well and then it all got flipped upside down because of you being sick. We are still working on things at night but more often than not you are up 2 or 3 times. I really try go get you settled back in the back and play next to the bed but there are some nights when I hold you to keep you propped up or just because I’m so tired I doze off again. And then there are the nights I just bring you right into bed to nurse. You are so accustomed to that now that once you are in/on bed you twist and turn to get into position, even if I’m not laying down with you.

I absolutely love to snuggle with you. But, you do get pretty sweaty, even with the A.C. blasted (making me super cold!) and light clothing on. You’re just going to have to get used to this Florida heat one day!

I am looking forward to you getting better and seeing what the next month holds for you.

Love,

Mommy

Dear Autumn @ 23 Months

October 30, 2015

October 2015

Dear Autumn,

Your curiosity and imagination is incredible. It’s fun to watch you pretend something, like cooking with the chalk from the chalkboard. Umm… yummy!! Or how you like to draw while laying on your stomach kicking your legs around.

Maybe we are bias as your parents, but Daddy and I can’t get over how smart you are. You are learning so much in English and Spanish, which we love. You know 1-10 in both English and Spanish. You resist saying the ABC’s, but talk so much. You give strong commands, ask questions, and give pretty clear responses to simple questions. My favorite thing that you are now doing is calling ‘Kemper’ by name vs just calling him ‘Puppy’. You scold him plenty, but give so much more love. Oh that poor dog gets squished by you flopping on him for hugs!

I know you are pretty young to potty train but you are quite funny that every time I tell you that you have to ”pee-pee on the potty’ or to ‘go poop on the potty’ you just look at me and say ‘No.’ HA! At least you have your position on that!

Your love for Mickey and Minnie is deep and true. I love how you are so eager to watching Mickey in the morning. We don’t have the TV on at night so you have to get your Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fix in the morning before we flip on the Today Show at 7am. Sometimes you get really frustrated about not getting to watching it over and over and over again. Truthfully, it’s tiring to watching 2-3 episodes of Mickey when you get up extra early on the days when you aren’t feeling well (why 4.30am?!?!?!) but watching you watching it while cuddled up under your blanket Aunt Tish made you with Owl makes hearing ‘Hey Toodles!’ over and over again all worth it. Plus, it melts my heart when you respond to their questions on the show. Adorable!

Unfortunately, your 23rd month started off with you battling a nasty cough. You ended up having to get on Prednisone, to help clear up some wheezing. Thankfully that worked so you just needed to get another inhaler to help you get through the sick winter months. I’m hoping that you stay healthy and happy this winter so we can wean you off your inhalers.

I’m looking forward to Halloween this month! You will be the cutest Minnie ever!

I can’t believe that you are almost 2! Oh it feels like just yesterday that you were born!! It just has gone by too fast! Sobs!!!

Love,

Mommy

Dear Autumn @ 17 Months

April 23, 2015

April 2015

Dear Autumn,

I love that you are happiest when you are outside. You point for your coat or vest so we will put it on you and then you walk over to the door, grasp the handle and fight the lock to get out. You pitch quite the fit when you can’t go outside. But it’s so nice to see you happy when sitting on the back porch, walking along the pathway, or in the backpack while I walk the dog.

You’ve always enjoyed being outside but the love for it has intensified when the weather got nicer and you started walking. I think you love being outside, but also love the independence.

At the last Dr’s appointment you were not yet walking, which worried him a bit because of your ‘advanced age’. But we knew you fine, you just wanted to be sure of yourself before letting go of us. Once you became more confident you would take a few steps from the sofa to get a toy, but that quickly progress and now you breeze by us in the house. You are still nervous of falling outside though. I don’t mind, I love that you grasp my finger with such might. I hope you will never stop.

At least the Dr was pleased in your steady weight gain. You still have skinny chicken legs that I love to gobble up. You still have days in which you are really picky about eating, or just not hungry, but for the most part you eat really well. You love stealing my food, especially my guacamole.

You understand both English and Spanish and try to communicate in both languages the best you can. We are so happy that you are learning so much so quickly. It’s amazing when you grasp a new thing, like an animal noise or body part, with ease. My favorite is when we go on our walks and I ask you what noises the different animals make and you mimic my “ooh ohh ahh ahh” for the monkey with “aah ahh oooohhh”. The best!

Some of the best moments are when you walk up to me and grab my leg when I’m cooking and you give it a big squeeze while you rest your head on my thigh. You are the best cuddlier when you are in the rare mood to stay still. But for the most part you are on the go and will walk over with your arms stretched out wide, lean your body and head against me for a beat before pulling away to give me a smile as you go on to get a toy or love (pester) the dog.

I can’t wait to enjoy this next month with you. We have my 2nd mother’s day to celebrate and I am looking to all of us going to the Make Way For Ducklings Parade for it. The weather should be getting nicer and nicer, so hopefully we will spend plenty of time outside. And I’m sure that you’ll love doing more and more craft projects like coloring and painting. Our fridge and my desk will be plastered with your creations soon enough!

I love you so much!

Love,

Mommy

Dear Autumn @ 12 months

November 19, 2014

November 2014

Dear Autumn-

As every month, nay, as every day passes I am constantly pinching myself that you have been brightening up our lives for how ever long it has been at that point.

We couldn’t believe that you were arriving a week earlier than scheduled. Oh, sure, we always knew they could have moved up my C-section or even that I would go into labor before the 25th, but we had that day circled so that’s what it was going to be! Wrong!

So there I sat dumbfounded saying ‘sure… today works…’ when my doctor told me that they wanted to move things up a week. But, maybe, I couldn’t fit in that day? The hospital would call me later to let me know if you were arriving that night or the morning of the 19th. La-la-la. So I headed back to work to just wait for the hospital to call. I didn’t want to miss out on working that day as I wanted to eek out every bit of maternity leave that I could. So there I am packing up my desk and tying up loose ends when the hospital called at lunch time to ask if I could be there in an hour. Umm, no! Well, there had been a misunderstanding as to who was calling me when related to fitting me in. Whoops.

Anyway, I run out of work (forgetting my coat!) and meet your Dad at the train to get a cab ride home. We threw stuff in a bag – see so unprepared. And left as fast as we could to arrive at the hospital. Surprisingly, we did make good time considering how crazy things had just been.

Thankfully, we breezed through the hospital check-in and head up to the delivery floor to start the process of getting paperwork filled out, IV’s in, getting undressed and in a gown. Oh, Dad had to get dressed up in scrubs too! Before we knew it they were ready for me to head to surgery. Oh boy!

It was scary to head into surgery on my own but I had to get all prepped before Dad could come in. In the end, it didn’t take to long (or so it seemed) to get my spinal and get all set up before he was right by my side. As things were about to begin I told him to talk to me so that I would be distracted from the surgery, like anything really could really distract me, but I just wanted something to kinda take my mind off the rapid firing that my brain was doing as I was trying to listen to your first cry.

And there it was at 4.59pm.

I felt the biggest relief to hear that. The most beautiful sound in the world.

And yet, I was still so utterly nervous. Not because you were born, that was amazing. But because of your omphalocele. The team of doctors that were waiting your arrival checked you out and basically said that it was no big deal. What?!?! That was such wonderful news. It was so hard to believe still. We had been prepped that there there was a chance that we wouldn’t get to hold you for a few days if the omphalocele was complex. But there you were, all wrapped up, getting handed over to us while they completely my surgery. I was so petrified to touch you, but it was the best feeling ever at the same time.

That feeling has never left. I’m usually afriad I’m screwing up along the way but seeing you grow and learn along the way really is the best feeling ever. You are beautiful but you are smart, funny, and charming. You are a flirt, waving to everyone at the grocery store. You love the attention. You are such a happy baby. And a fearless one. Half the stuff you try to climb over makes me so nervous. I know that once you are walking you will be off running. Until then you are a lightening fast crawler. I think you get all the engery from all the different foods you happily eat. At least you do a good job of burning it off since you are still so ‘danty’!

The past year has been amazing. I know that next year, and all the ones to follow, are going to be wonderful. You are such a lovely little girl. Our Bean. Our Autumn. Our Little Chicken. Our Doops. We love you so very much.

Love,

Mom

Dear Autumn @ 11 months

October 21, 2014

October 2014

Dear Autumn-

Just last week you knocked our socks off by saying ‘yum’ when Dad offered you a piece of apple and then you stood all by yourself for a split second. It was such a mind blowing night. The enthusiastic ‘yum’ was just adorable but you really shocked us when you randomly let go of your grip on Dad. There was a lot of us going “did you just see that? She stood right? I can’t believe it. It was for a split second! She stood right?!?” So much fun.

You are super happy but super clingy now. Some days I don’t think I will get anything done as you are always crawling after me, climbing up me, or just being held. I’m reminding myself how these days are fleeting and to just relax and accept the slower pace of doing laundry, cleaning, or making dinner. It’s all worth it.

Understandably, you were really clingy during a recent cold. In fact you ended up with your first ear infection. So minor that you didn’t need any medication but still sad when we saw you pulling on your ears.

Our tiny Chicken is just as fast as can be. You crawl so fast that we need to be extra careful with closing and securing the baby gates. I stood right behind you as I let you crawl up the stairs and you made it up 3 steps with ease. Trouble! I know that once you are walking you will be record fast as you have such fine motor skills.

We visited Raleigh this past month to see if we could see ourselves living there. It was fun to imagine you running around some of the yards we saw. Oh man, I want us to have space for you to run & play. You did a great job on the flight down but we’re royally annoyed that you had to stay on our laps during the flight back. Such a rough flight! Let’s just hope you do better on our upcoming trip to Miami this weekend. You gotta see the world babe!

The way you laugh when you try to throw your cup full of water out of the tub is the best, even if the mess isnt. You sweet face looking up at us while you take a bottle is the best. And you puffy little cheeks and delicate lips set in stone while you sleep on me is the best.

We love you tons!

Love,

Mom