baby blue eyes, april 2008Hey there sweet pea!
It should come as no surprise to you that I am late with your 5 month letter. Being late is one of my best talents. I'll most likely be late to many events in your life. I'm sorry. I hope you'll forgive me. I hope you'll think to yourself, "She'll be here...she's just late again." And I hope you won't tell your dad when you get a tardy slip on the first week of preschool. He frowns on lateness. (But, I'm working on him.)
Why is your letter late? I've been busy loving on you, of course. That, and celebrating your dad's birthday, and enjoying Derby festivities, and many photo shoots, and a little shopping, and some cleaning, and several thousand loads of laundry. You know, the usual. Also, I was hoping that if I slowed up on the letters....you'd slow up on the growing up. But, you are relentless. You grow and you change every hour it seems. Proof: You no longer fit in your cradle. See picture below.
too big, april 2008
Maybe I have said this before but this...this is my favorite stage! You laugh now. It's a short and quick little laugh...but it is a contagious one. I tickle you and make loud, crazy obnoxious noises and straightaway your neck disappears and you laugh. The first time it happened I thought I was hearing things so I spent the next half hour singing and dancing trying to hear it just one more time. Turns out, you only wanted to laugh once that day. Now we hear it all the time, though. Much like your voice, your laugh is the sweetest I've heard. You are going to be funny.....I just know it.
laughing at daddy, april 2008 (maybe because he has his orange shirt on again!)
As if the laughing wouldn't be enough for one month, you decided to start rolling over. Up until the other day you haven't shown much of a desire to be anywhere but on your back. Then, just like that, you rolled over. I put you on the kick and play mat and looked back from the kitchen to see you on your belly with a bright red face! I let out an impulsive celebratory scream and almost scared you out of your onesie. I quickly put you back on your back so you would stop straining and then I waited around the corner with the video camera, paparazzi style, to try to get your new trick on film. Sure enough, you did it again right away. You remind me of myself once I learned how to do a backhandspring. I couldn't stop. I was so proud of myself I would just go out in the yard and do them just because I could! You are doing the same thing. Only problem is....you hate being on your stomach. The order of events usually goes something like this.
You roll over.
You pop your head up and look around.
You realize you are stuck.
You begin to strain and make your face bright red.
You spit up.
You cry.
I come and roll you back over.
You start all over again within 5 seconds.
There is a life lesson hidden in here, baby girl. If you keep doing what you are doing...you're going to get more of what you've got.
We'll keep trying to teach you how to roll back to your back until you get it. In the meantime, your dad and I will always be around to try to help you get "unstuck." That's true in life, too. You can count on us.
cheeks, sleeping in the swing, april 2008
The morning after your dad's birthday party, Gigi had you on the floor here in the great room playing with you. She stood you up in front of the mirror. I have done this many times with you but this time was different. You looked at yourself and a huge grin crept across your face. You were so happy to see you! You bounced and squealed and leaned in closer. This carried on for several minutes. That old familiar lump climbed the stairs to my throat as I watched you in front of the mirror. It is my hope that you will always be that thrilled with the person who stares back at you from the glass. I hope you will always be that proud and happy with yourself. When you are a teenager, you will (if you are anything like your ol' mom) stand in front of the mirror and complain whilst throwing a thousand clean, but inadequate outfits all upon the floor. You will wish you were taller or shorter or skinnier or more blonde or more brunette or more blue-eyed or more anything. I will try to remind you of your beauty (and, beware, I'll probably say something my mom told me so many times.... about how inner beauty is far more important than outer beauty.... and it will annoy you...but it is very true) I will run to an old photo album and come back to your room with this picture in my hand. It will remind you that you were once very pleased with your reflection.
hello gorgeous!, april 2008
Maybe I am being dramatic....but this next milestone aged you by years! I might have sat in the kitchen and cried if it weren't for how seriously cute you looked.
mmmmm, may 2008
You had your first taste of rice cereal at 5.5 months! And...the jury is still out...but we think you like it. You'd rather go straight for the bottle when you are really, really hungry.....but at lunchtime you willingly open the hanger that is your mouth for the little puddle-jumper airplane spoon. It's absolute cute overload when you open your mouth for a bite and then proceed to squeeze most of it out of your lips while you "chew."
After just a few days of "eating" you are really getting the hang of it. I even fed you rice cereal at the race track the other day! How is it that my tiny baby is old enough to eat semi-solids in public? Next thing I know you'll be feeding yourself!
going for a walk, may 2008
I am so glad you are mine, Isabella Grace. Each night before I go to sleep I stand beside a sleeping you and I put my hand lightly on your chest to feel it rise and fall. Our room is dimly lit by the glow of a little nightlight, yet it is enough light to see both halves of my heart sleeping soundly. You in your bed, your dad across the room in our bed. I stand there and hope that somehow, someway God knows how thankful I am. That He knows that my cup absolutely runneth over.
I love you so, so much!
PS. Not so much a milestone, but a very important bit of news, nonetheless...you got your first pair of gauchos this month. Each time I put them on you I say the very same line....
"Ewwwwwwwwww....I could eat you up for breakfast!"
I would attempt to tell you how cute you look in them but there simply aren't any words to describe it. I regret that I didn't get them in every color they had!
gauchos, may 2008
(with daddy's birthday balloons)
too big, april 2008Maybe I have said this before but this...this is my favorite stage! You laugh now. It's a short and quick little laugh...but it is a contagious one. I tickle you and make loud, crazy obnoxious noises and straightaway your neck disappears and you laugh. The first time it happened I thought I was hearing things so I spent the next half hour singing and dancing trying to hear it just one more time. Turns out, you only wanted to laugh once that day. Now we hear it all the time, though. Much like your voice, your laugh is the sweetest I've heard. You are going to be funny.....I just know it.
laughing at daddy, april 2008 (maybe because he has his orange shirt on again!)As if the laughing wouldn't be enough for one month, you decided to start rolling over. Up until the other day you haven't shown much of a desire to be anywhere but on your back. Then, just like that, you rolled over. I put you on the kick and play mat and looked back from the kitchen to see you on your belly with a bright red face! I let out an impulsive celebratory scream and almost scared you out of your onesie. I quickly put you back on your back so you would stop straining and then I waited around the corner with the video camera, paparazzi style, to try to get your new trick on film. Sure enough, you did it again right away. You remind me of myself once I learned how to do a backhandspring. I couldn't stop. I was so proud of myself I would just go out in the yard and do them just because I could! You are doing the same thing. Only problem is....you hate being on your stomach. The order of events usually goes something like this.
You roll over.
You pop your head up and look around.
You realize you are stuck.
You begin to strain and make your face bright red.
You spit up.
You cry.
I come and roll you back over.
You start all over again within 5 seconds.
There is a life lesson hidden in here, baby girl. If you keep doing what you are doing...you're going to get more of what you've got.
We'll keep trying to teach you how to roll back to your back until you get it. In the meantime, your dad and I will always be around to try to help you get "unstuck." That's true in life, too. You can count on us.
cheeks, sleeping in the swing, april 2008The morning after your dad's birthday party, Gigi had you on the floor here in the great room playing with you. She stood you up in front of the mirror. I have done this many times with you but this time was different. You looked at yourself and a huge grin crept across your face. You were so happy to see you! You bounced and squealed and leaned in closer. This carried on for several minutes. That old familiar lump climbed the stairs to my throat as I watched you in front of the mirror. It is my hope that you will always be that thrilled with the person who stares back at you from the glass. I hope you will always be that proud and happy with yourself. When you are a teenager, you will (if you are anything like your ol' mom) stand in front of the mirror and complain whilst throwing a thousand clean, but inadequate outfits all upon the floor. You will wish you were taller or shorter or skinnier or more blonde or more brunette or more blue-eyed or more anything. I will try to remind you of your beauty (and, beware, I'll probably say something my mom told me so many times.... about how inner beauty is far more important than outer beauty.... and it will annoy you...but it is very true) I will run to an old photo album and come back to your room with this picture in my hand. It will remind you that you were once very pleased with your reflection.
hello gorgeous!, april 2008Maybe I am being dramatic....but this next milestone aged you by years! I might have sat in the kitchen and cried if it weren't for how seriously cute you looked.
mmmmm, may 2008You had your first taste of rice cereal at 5.5 months! And...the jury is still out...but we think you like it. You'd rather go straight for the bottle when you are really, really hungry.....but at lunchtime you willingly open the hanger that is your mouth for the little puddle-jumper airplane spoon. It's absolute cute overload when you open your mouth for a bite and then proceed to squeeze most of it out of your lips while you "chew."
After just a few days of "eating" you are really getting the hang of it. I even fed you rice cereal at the race track the other day! How is it that my tiny baby is old enough to eat semi-solids in public? Next thing I know you'll be feeding yourself!
going for a walk, may 2008I am so glad you are mine, Isabella Grace. Each night before I go to sleep I stand beside a sleeping you and I put my hand lightly on your chest to feel it rise and fall. Our room is dimly lit by the glow of a little nightlight, yet it is enough light to see both halves of my heart sleeping soundly. You in your bed, your dad across the room in our bed. I stand there and hope that somehow, someway God knows how thankful I am. That He knows that my cup absolutely runneth over.
I love you so, so much!
PS. Not so much a milestone, but a very important bit of news, nonetheless...you got your first pair of gauchos this month. Each time I put them on you I say the very same line....
"Ewwwwwwwwww....I could eat you up for breakfast!"
I would attempt to tell you how cute you look in them but there simply aren't any words to describe it. I regret that I didn't get them in every color they had!
gauchos, may 2008(with daddy's birthday balloons)
