Creepy Crawly

My dearest SugarBear,

You are crawling all over the place. Correction: Once you figured out HOW to crawl you lost patience with it and are cruising all over the place, only crawling when there isn't something to help keep you on your feet!

Your Daddy proposed to me on May 23 and you started crawling all over the place the very next day. We thought it would never happen. You were so very close, but just wouldn't quite get it for so long then all of the sudden you crawled like a champ across the room!

You are now standing for a few seconds when you don't realize you are standing alone. As soon as you recognize that you don't have anyone holding you or that you are not holding anything else you panic and grab for something or someone. You are so close to walking though and it has only been a few short weeks that you've been crawling!

You got to meet Auntie Kim, Uncle John, Cousin Austin, Auntie Debbie, Uncle Steve, and Papa Cuatro this week and weekend. It was really busy but you did really great. I was surprised at how quickly you took to Kim and John. At first I thought you were going to be hesitant but after only a couple of minutes you were reaching for Auntie Kim. Within an hour of them being here you were entertaining Kim, John and Austin from that moment forward. Austin wanted to hold you so bad and Uncle John wouldn't let you go! Austin finally got his turn, but he had to wait! You loved relaxing with Auntie Kim so much that we started calling her Auntie Sedative because you conked out almost every time she held you for the first few days. It was pretty funny, but also pretty cool that you were able to relax with her so completely so soon. Though Steve and Deb were only here a few hours you did grace them with a few sweet smiles and then Papa Cuatro and you played and snuggled for the next couple of days before they had to leave. You must not have wanted them to go because you really struggled to stay awake until the last moment the night they left. It was like you knew that when you woke they would be on the road to their home and you weren't quite ready to let them go yet. Rest assured son, I don't think they were quite ready to leave you either.

We are blessed with a full and close family on both sides, Son. You have so many more family members to meet! Love and joy for you is evident in everyone so far. I pray that your precious smile and sweet nature will be permanent as we get to visit everyone.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot that you have a nasty cold right now. You are snuggled nest to me for your nap and are so stuffy as you breathe in your sleep it breaks my heart. I know the doc says it is good for you to get some of these bugs knocked out while you are young, but as your Mommy I have a really hard time with not being able to just fix it for you when you don't feel good. You also have a top tooth trying very hard to pop out, but it hasn't made it past a bubble on your gums for a good few days. We'll see if it will pop through and join the other two bottom ones you have soon or if it will sink back into your gums and rest a while longer. I do know though that teething is tough on you and I don't look forward to when your wisdom teeth come in when you grow up. These baby ones have been hard enough on all of us!

Always with love,

Mommy

For you

My Dearest SugarBear,
I should have been doing this from the day you were born, but it just occurred to me to start it now when you are just over 8 months old!

I hadn't believed you were possible for me. You are a true blessing from God. Your Daddy and I love each other a great deal and you are the product of that love, My Sweet. When I look at your sweet face and shining smile I am completely captivated. I am in awe of the perfection that is you. All of your beautiful toes wiggle, all of your sweet fingers grasp and grab. Your little legs and arms wave and dance. Your little tummy so round and smooth. I just want to snuggle you all the time.

You have accomplished so much in such a short time. You came into this world 5 weeks early and tiny as can be. 5 pounds is frighteningly small for a mommy, by the way. It broke my heart to have to hook you up to the bililight instead of hold you in my arms that entire first week. Your first smile at just a couple of weeks old, though some tried to tell me it was gas--I knew better, was all for me. When your daddy got home you shared one for him too. We positively glowed with delight in you.

Before I knew it my time at home with you was up and I had to go back to work. You were 8 weeks old. We were blessed to find Grace to keep you while we worked. She has been so wonderful to our family but especially, SugarBear, to you. I know that you are safe and loved when I can't be there with you. You are growing alongside her beautiful daughter, Iris and basking in the energy and excitement of her delightful son, Isaiah. I do thank God that I am a teacher though and can be home with you in the summers. From the day I went back to work I have been counting down the days until I can be home with you again to see you grow and change first hand everyday!

You have learned to do so much in such a short time that I am so excited to see what this summer will bring as well! So far you have held your head up all alone, smiled, cooed, laughed, babbled, learned to fake a cough if it got you attention, eat solid foods, sit up all by yourself, yelled, and also now stand while holding on to something or someone. I am overjoyed at each accomplishment. Yesterday you even scolded Cody when he kept getting in our way while walking through the house. You are now learning to look for things when they are taken from your sight or if you are moved a little to look around things. Daddy was playing with you last evening with this! It is such fun to do new things with you.

You have scared me with bronchiolitis and frustrated me with teething, but through it all I have loved you. All the struggles only make me want to love you harder, if that is at all possible.

Some things we have learned about you in these few months:
-You love us! When I speak you seek me out, you smile and talk to me all the time. My favorite is when you grab both sides of my face and gaze into my eyes while you talk to me. When Daddy comes home you have the biggest smile on your face for him! Your first word was even "DaDa!"
-You love your big brother. When Jonathan is with us you always want to be where you can see him. When he holds you, you always try to look at him. Even when he was awkward holding you, you seemed perfectly comfortable and trusting in him. By the way, he thought you looked like an alien when you were still inside of me. He doesn't think that anymore!
-You HATE peas, but LOVE pears. You have now developed a distrust for the solid foods I try to feed you after my final attempt at giving you something that had peas in it. I am sorry. The books all said I should try at least 10 times before we determined that you didn't like something. I gave up. You have made it perfectly obvious that you don't like them at all! Pears are a shoe-in though. You simply can't resist them or anything that has them in it!
-You are so social and such a flirt! You seek out the girls wherever we are and "work the crowd" with them. You will peer at them around me, then hide your face and peek again. When that wears out for you, you give HUGE smiles and start talking to them. You are friendly to the guys, but the ladies get your full charm!
-You are loving. You have already tried to give kisses occasionally, but you do love to snuggle with me or Daddy.
-You will have more of my chatty personality than your Daddy's quietness. You talk all the time!
-You are smart. You are learning things so quickly!
-You are stubborn. You CAN do many things, but are choosing not to (like rolling over). You also know what you want and stick to it, ie. NO PEAS, won't go to sleep without mommy or daddy even though you can and have done so often before, you don't give up when you are trying to do something new or difficult...
-Your smile is infectious and fills your whole face from your chin dimple to your eyes. No one can resist smiling back when you smile at them! A room brightens when you light up your face like that!

I just can't express how special you are. I hope that this journal of notes will help you to realize how much you are loved and give you something to look back to as you grow up.

Love,
Mommy