Seven Months...

Dear Abby,

So I am a few day's late with this update but life has been kind of throwing a lot at us these days! You are a mover and a shaker now. By mover, I mean that you are scooting, climbing, wiggling, army crawling and just generally antsy. By shaker I mean that you are starting to dance and sway to music, an absolutely adorable talent!

You are talking and babbling incessantly, it looks like you are going to give your big sister a run for her money someday. You can say hi and kind of wave. You smile and everyone and burst into a smile that looks like it's too big for your tiny face to contain. You then burrow your way into the chest of whoever is holding you at the time.

You try so hard to keep up with the big kids. Zoe loves to make you laugh by playing peekaboo and you come alive with excitement upon seeing her in the morning. Your big cousin Dominic loves to make you laugh by essentially hurting himself. He will throw himself on the ground for hours if he thinks it's entertaining for you!

You and the dog are the best of friends. You are still feeding her everything you eat, especially your cheerios and mum mums. The dog ate apart your net feeder, where you love to have frozen bananas. You two play, crawl around each other, and last night you both fell asleep cuddled into daddy's lap. It was a scene so cute I very nearly died!

You will finally take a bottle and are slowly weaning away from mommy. I am highly conflicted about this. I am enjoying the greater independence, but miss that feeling that I am providing all the nutrition for you and the bonding that comes along with it. The weirdest thing about you taking a bottle is that you insist on sticking  your fingers inside of my mouth when I feed it to you. It's like you have to give me something since I am giving it to you.

Sleeping was getting a tad bit better until the last two nights when you decided it was party time all night. You love to YANK on my hair, so hard that it hurts while you are going to sleep. Makes for a rough night sometimes.

Mostly, I love you. It's just that simple. I love slowing down and appreciating every little thing about your baby days. I am in absolutely no hurry for you to do anything or go anywhere. I know you are our last little baby and I know that I want to remember the way you sound when you are eating and the pretend cries and the way you get your feet out of the most complicated blanket sleepers.

Love,
Mommy

Happy Six Months Abby!

Dear Abby/Ab/Abber/Aberdeen/Aberdeenia/BabyButt/etc,

You have made it a whole half of a year! You are sititng up all on your own and are standing up while holding onto things for the most part. You still really aren't a roller-overer, though you will do it when pressed, or more likely when going for Mommy's hair.

You took your first vacation, to Florida to see Nana and Pop. You had a wonderful time and reached for Nana just as soon as we walked off the plane. And Pop got you to giggle and laugh the most I have ever seen while playing peek a boo with you and a blanket. In Florida you also took your very first swim and you predictably loved it.

Bella, our dog, is your new best friend. You love to share your food with her and start looking around all excited whenever you hear her collar clanking. It's so funny to watch, because the two of you are the exact same size.

You still HATE to sleep. You don't nap, you don't sleep the night, the only time you sleep peacefully is in the Moby wrap with mommy or in mine or Daddy's arms. I have to say that it's an incredible feeling to be holding  a baby while they totally relax and fall asleep. A few times now, you have giggled in your sleep and I take this to mean that you are a very happy girl.

You talk and squeal unendingly and we think you are going to talk as much as your sister. By the way, you guys really bonded on the trip to Florida. You also got to meet your cousins Annalisa and Gage, who adored you!

It's been a busy summer already. Dominic is spending his summer days with us and just last week we have been to the movies and to a park and you love to go all over! You are just now starting to be okay with hanging out in the stroller and really seem to enjoy people watching. Music makes you kind of shake now, and everything gets you to blow raspberries!
Watching you and your dad play makes me just love both of you more all the time. You beam and beam at him to get his attention, then you look away all shy and do the same thing over and over. You like to reach out and pat him all the time, it's hilarious.

You weigh almost 15 pounds at this point and are about 25 inches long, and you just keep getting bigger! You are eating lots of solid foods, but you love your baby Mum Mums the most (they are a weird rice cracker dissolvable thing). I think you love them so much because you can do them yourself.

You are a big fan of the Lazy Boys and can often be found lounging in one with the dog, or possible with the dog AND a parent. Depends on your mood. :)

Love you,
Mommy

Yum...

Canadian coke, made with real sugar! No high fructose corn syrup. Definitely a treat!




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I am grateful...

For Canadian coke! It is made with no high fructose corn syrup, and is so delicious!



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Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Title

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ur Four and a half

Dear Zoe,

 

You are closing in on four a half. I never wanted you to turn four. I was so afraid that this was the age where people started to have expectations of you. And your personality is so huge, and so you that I didn’t want to see any of it stilted or numbed by the various confines of the world’s views on how children should behave exactly.

You amaze me. Daily. You excite, infruriate, frustrate and envelope me. All the time. I can’t even begin to explain the passion you have about everything. Your whole face and body get into every single thing that you say. And oh my gosh, some of the things you say. You are hard to yell at without laughing sometimes. Everything is a giant, sweeping proclamation uttered in a vocabulary YEARS beyond your time.

And if I think Abby is teaching me things about her on a daily basis, it is you, Zoe, who teaches me things about myself. You grabbed the back of my head the other day, looked into my eyes, and said, “Don’t worry momma, you always take good care of me. I know you love me.” And you are FOUR, for crying out loud. How do you even know what all of that means?

You are very into dressing yourself right now, so it’s all striped with polka dots. And you have refused to give up your dresses, despite it being 40 degrees, so you usually have one of those, over jeans and under a sweater. People in public constantly remark how well accessorized and how adorable you are.

You are right on the verge of reading. You want to so bad. You are in a bowling league, and you cheer as much when you knock down one pin as when you knock down 8. You say, “HIII-YA” everytime you throw the ball. It’s amazing to watch. You start T Ball in a few weeks, and I can’t wait to see how you do on a team. You keep repeating to me what we talked about, that there will be kids better, worse than, and as good as you. You are sure you are going to have something to teach all of them. You and daddy have been practicing throwing a lot with velcro mitts.

You miss your nana every single day. You always want to right her messages, webcam with her. I want to preserve these wonderful feelings and memories despite the distance, because the relationship means so much to you.

You were NEVER a picky eater, and suddenly you are dissecting your food, looking for suspicious colored specks and turning away bread with oats on top. This from my child who ate hummus and salmon at the age of two.

You are a fantastic big sister, and you are always worrying about Abby. You hate when she cries, but you pretty much hate all loud noises. Bella sleeps up on the top bunk with you every night now, curled around your feet. This pleases you beyond anything else. You took the responsibility of coming to get us to get her down every morning very seriously.

I love you, and even though you are never what I would call easy, I wouldn’t want you any other way.

Love,

mom