July 16, 2016

July 16, 2016

My “not-so-little” Bear,

               Has almost a year really passed since the last time I wrote you a letter?  I can’t believe it.  It really is true when they say “time flies!”  So very much has happened since last October!  You had a really fun Halloween, this year as a furry, cuddly puppy!  You enjoyed going up to the houses with Julia and saying “twick o’ tweet.”  Mommy and daddy really benefited the most from that though ;-).  Soon enough you won’t want to share your candy so we’ll take advantage while we can.  Mimi and Pa came with us this year and so did Nana and Pop.  Mommy was really mad at Nana and Pop when they came over because they were wearing really scary masks because they thought it would help you get accustomed to what you might see while we were out.  Truthfully, it didn’t seem to bother you all that much.  I’m just overprotective of my little Bear!

               In early December we went to Disney World with Mimi, Pa, Nana, and Pop.  You were so amazing with all of the characters!  You were a little wary of Goofy but you went right up to Daisy and snuggled in her arms.  It was so cute!  We went on one ride as a family, your very first ever, the Dumbo ride.  There was no line, so we went a couple of times.  You didn’t seem really impressed lol!  We did have a lot of fun though.  One day we just stayed at the resort and let you play at the clubhouse. 

And guess what?  You did end up having your first haircut there, the day before we left.  We had an opportunity to have it done earlier, but I honestly couldn’t bear the thought and I cried and Daddy knew I wasn’t ready quite yet.  The Florida humidity had taken your, what had now grown into a full mullet hair, into beautiful ringlet curls!  The thought of someone chopping them off was too much for me.  But I was ready by the end of the trip.  Your stylist did an amazing job!  You cried a lot but we kept you entertained with lollipops and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  My little baby turned into my little boy on that trip.

E Christmas was great! You were totally and completely spoiled!  There are presents that you haven’t even opened yet because you got so many!  We went up to Lincoln, NH for NYE weekend like we do every year but this was your first year!  We didn’t go sledding unfortunately because this was one of the warmest winters in a long time.  I hope when we go this year that it will be even better!  We did have a lot of fun though and you slept like a champ!  That is one thing that I’m always concerned about, your sleep.  It’s so important to me that you take your naps and get to bed at a reasonable time.  You’ll understand more when you become a father but those naps allow for precious, much needed, Mommy or Daddy time.  It’s so we can recharge our batteries as much as it is for you to recharge yours!  So whenever we go somewhere or plan to stay somewhere, I’m always preoccupied with your nap and making sure that you have a place to sleep. 

I went to work full time at the end of January and I always feel so guilty when I say that I really do love it so much!  I feel guilty for enjoying time that is not spent with you.  I feel guilty when you are being cared for by someone else that should be me.  I feel guilty when I see you do fun things and I’m not around.  Truth be told though, I do have a really good schedule and I can change it to accommodate your schedule when I need to.  If I didn’t have to work, I probably still would, at least part time.  It’s important for mothers and fathers to have an identity outside that role.  Because one day, even though we’ll always be your parents, you aren’t going to depend on us the way you do now.  And then what?  I’ll always be “mom” but I’m also Danielle the wife, midwife, photographer, lover of a good book or comedy, writer, friend, sister, and daughter.  It’s so important not to lose those things when you become a parent.  I hope your wife finds the same thing is true someday.

You are still going to Little Darlings Day Care, now four days a week.  I think it might have been a rough transition for you because you started hitting people again, randomly after regressing in those behaviors.  You’ve also become a little destructive, wiping out an entire lunch table’s milk cups with one fell swoop.  You’ll dump things over without warning, be it a bucket of toys or a bucket of water.  You’ll tip people over in their Cozy Coupes for no reason.  So we decided it was time to get Early Intervention involved.  Because, and don’t let anyone fool you, as parents, we don’t know what the hell we’re doing.  We try our best to do best by you but there is no cookbook on how to parent because each child is an individual with individual needs and personalities, even within the same family.  We aren’t too proud to ask for help when we need it, so that is what we did.

You just had your evaluation a week ago and you did stellar.  There’s no question that you are advanced developmentally, doing things a 3-4 year old would, and your vocabulary and word comprehension are amazing, but your behavior sometimes worries me.  I keep hoping that you’ll grow out of it, and I’m sure you will, but I could use a little help until then.  So, the ladies from EI are going to observe you at Little Darlings and then come to the house twice a month to help us with things that we can work on here.  I know we’ll get over this hurdle! 

Ok, enough about all that, let’s talk about some of the amazing things you do!  You can count to 13 and you can recognize all of the letters of the alphabet.  You are such a thinker and sometimes your brain goes faster than your body!  You are all boy in every way.  You love being outside and running around.  You love cars and trucks and sitting in a pile of sand driving them around.  That is usually the only time that you are happy to play by yourself.  You absolutely love the water!  We did do swimming lessons again this year but you were really content to do your own thing.  When Nana and Pop put in their new pool, we put just a bubble on you (it straps around your middle and looks like a scuba diver’s tank) and you took to the water like a fish.   You jump in off the deck, no fear at all.  You go under water and come up with a smile on your face. You like it when I throw you up high in the air.  You’ll even say “throw my mommy” when we aren’t anywhere near a pool!

You talk so much and I love it because you have a sweet little lisp right now and your facial expressions when you’re talking about something serious are hilarious.  You still love being read to whether it’s during lunch or breakfast or before bed.  You love “mommy hugs” or “daddy hugs” and “nuggling” before bed.  You’ve learned how to stall going to bed really efficiently now too.  Some nights you manage to get both of us in there multiple times before you finally go down.    Once you do go to sleep though, you sleep like a champ.  I still go into your room every night to look at you and admire you before I go to bed myself.  I can’t get over how much you change every day!  I’ve done that since you’ve been born.

You are still learning to drink from a cup normally without tipping it over.  I think I figured out how to stop that though!  Give you chocolate milk! If it’s something you like, you are less likely to throw it out.  You only drink milk, water, and sometimes chocolate milk on special occasions.  You’ve had juice probably 3 times in your life.  I’m not sure why I’m proud of this but I am.

We spend a lot of time outside or just playing inside.  You watch maybe an hour to 1.5 hours of TV a day.  We let you play on the iPad occasionally but rarely.  I’m sure every generation says this but I wish you were going to have the same childhood I did.  It’s crazy how much has changed since I was a child and I’m so sad that you are not going to experience the same things.  I’m trying to give the same childhood to you as much as I can without holding you back to all the advances in technology.  I just so want you to expand your little brain and imagination so much!

I feel like there is so much more to say, to tell you!  I am loving watching you grow up.  I’m excited for what the future has in store for you.  I feel like you are going to do great things in your life.  I feel like you are going to be so much like your father and for that I am so extremely grateful and happy.  I hope you take the best of both of us!  I love you so much little man!

October 19, 2015

October 9, 2015

Hi little love!

I cannot believe how fast time is going by!  The last letter I wrote was when I was just starting clinical and here I am at the end of my journey!  A lot has happened since my last letter to you!  All summer you had a fantastic babysitter, Miss Lindsay.  You had a great time with her and she took you to the park almost every day.  You love the park and we have some great ones around here.  We try to go to the park a lot too!

            After Lindsay went back to school, you started day care at Little Darlings Day Care with Miss Donna, Miss Gina, Miss Debbie, and Miss Lucie.  You seem to really love it there and you made a new best buddy, Thomas.  You guys look like you could be brothers!  Thomas is one month older than you and he’ll be getting a baby brother or sister soon!  His mommy actually goes to one of the doctors that I am going to be working with.

            You are growing like a weed!  No more pudgy baby face, you have grown taller and slimmed out.  Your hair is so soft and silky and curly in the back!  It is starting to hang over your ears which is driving mommy nuts!  But we are going to DisneyWorld in December and Nana really wanted us to try to wait until then so you could have your first hair cut there.  We are trying to eek it out but we’ll see.  We don’t have too much further to go, so maybe we’ll make it.

            You have a TON of words and your receptive language is incredible.  You also know a lot of signs and use them really appropriately.  Miss Donna and the ladies at Lil Darlings say you are very smart and have a lot of words.  Of course I already knew how smart you were but it’s always nice to hear other people confirm it!  I am so proud of you!  Right from the very beginning, you had really bright, intelligent eyes and you never stopped moving!  So curious, hungry to learn and explore!

            You are such a joy to be around.  Every morning after I get you up, you will run into our bedroom and yell “Da!” and point to daddy’s side of the bed.  Then you run up to him with a huge smile, hold your arms up, and give him a great snuggle when he lifts you onto his chest. You are funny and playful and you have a great giggle! You will hang out with us in bed for a while on the weekends, but not long.  You are not content to stay in any one place very long!

You almost have a full set of teeth!  Your eating habits lately stink though!  You are eating like a true toddler and even then, sometimes you won’t eat PBJ or chicken nuggets.  Some days you eat like a champ, others, you hardly eat anything other than pouches.  You are always snacking too!  Maybe that’s the problem.  Hmmmm……

Your emotions are getting the better of you these days.  I don’t think you know how to process some things.  For instance, Nana and Pop went away for 3 weeks and I thought it would be a really nice surprise for them to be waiting at our house when they came home so they could surprise you.  Well, you did NOT think it was a good surprise.  You screamed at them and cried and then buried your head in my shoulder and would only look at them through the safety of my shoulder.  You ended up going to them and giving them hugs, but it was sad and funny at the same time.  It was such an angry scream like “How could you guys leave???”

You had a really fun summer.  We tried to go swimming a lot and you learned to kick with your floaties! It was very impressive!  I’m always amazed at the little things you come up with.  You just recently started holding your nose and saying “honk!”  You love to be read to and will listen to the same story over and over again.  You love to color.  And while right now, every day is the same, every day is also something new and fun with you.  You are at such a fun age right now!  I love watching you sort out the world in front of you.  You are pretty patient with most things.  You rarely get frustrated when you are trying to figure something out.  But when you do, you remind me so much of daddy!  J

You are my life’s greatest accomplishment and I love every day we spend together, even if by the end of it we are both tired and cranky.  Once you reset your batteries, we always have a great time!

            

June 21, 2015

Hello my little love!  I am sitting in the hospital, on call for clinical, and having incredible mommy-guilt about not being there with you.  I can tell you miss me because when I am home, all you want to do is be held by me.  You won’t play by yourself, you are only content to play if I am right there with you.  Or you want me to hold you and walk you everywhere.  I’m so sorry I haven’t written you in two months!  Like has been crazy busy, to say the least!

You turned one year old and did not feel good on your birthday, poor little man.  You were not feeling it at all.  You very gently ate your birthday cake, without a lot of fanfare.  We still managed to get a lot of frosting all over you but you weren’t super interested.  

You spent a week alone with daddy while I was in Kentucky for school and you both seemed to enjoy yourselves.  Daddy lets you watch a lot more tv than I do ;-).  I stopped nursing you around 12 ½ months and you transitioned really well to the bottle.  You are drinking cashew milk and seem to really like it.  We are going to try you on dairy soon but the pediatrician wanted us to wait to have you evaluated by a GI pedi.  See, you have this little “tic.”  You grab your throat whenever you are sucking on a Nuk, bottle, or when you were nursing.  We thought that maybe it was acid reflux, but a month of Zantac didn’t change that.  You don’t seem to be in any pain or discomfort, no trouble breathing or eating or swallowing, so we are beginning to think that it’s just a comfort thing that you do when you are content or tired.

You also became really attached to your Nuk.  You are ok to play without it, but you do use it to help you go to sleep for your nap and at night. You also screech a lot.  Lol!  A lot! We are trying to help you use words and we do sign language with you. You are actually very good about “saying” “please” through sign language. 

You have grown so much by leaps and bounds lately!  Every day you change a little bit.  You are practically running around the house and you love to be chased!  You will pop out from behind a corner and say “Ah boo!”  It’s flipping adorable!  You have developed a small degree of “stranger danger” but you are quick to warm up.

We hired a babysitter for you while I am in clinical and you really like her: Miss Lindsay.  She’s great!  She makes sure to send me lots of pictures of you when I’m gone.  She is really sweet and she’s really good to you.  You two have a lot of fun together.  You will start day care probably in August and I’m so nervous!  I want you to enjoy it and I think you will.  You seem to like being with other kids so I hope the socialization will also help you.

We did swim lessons for 6 weeks on Saturdays at the Y and you did really, really well!  I was able to put you underwater without you crying.  You even swam a little bit!  Daddy even got in with you at your last lesson.  We are having so much fun watching you grow up, love!

We’ve had to start timeouts with you, unfortunately!  You have a knack for pushing the envelope when we tell you not to do something.  Like you will throw your toys off of our deck and it’s no easy task to get them because you throw them in the weeds!! I will tell you not to throw anything off the deck and you will look straight at me while holding the toy out at arm’s length while you walk to the edge and drop it off.  You don’t like timeouts!  I don’t know how long they will be effective for but we’ll see. J

I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun we have with you and how much you make us laugh.  You make our world so amazing and we can’t imagine life without you!  We are so excited for the years to come. We love you little man!

April 21, 2015

     You are down for a nap at the moment and I don’t have any school work that is demanding my attention so I thought I would sit and write you a letter.  Your gross motor development has just taken off the last month.  You’ve been walking for about that long now too.  You fall all the time but you pick yourself right back up again.  Although, sometimes you just want me to pick you up.  You definitely rely on me for a lot more than you do daddy.  If I’m in the area and you fall or even see me, you’ll start whining.  You’ve also started throwing temper tantrums!  Yup, not even a year old and you have a fit about something, go all jellyfish in my arms, and scream.  We just lay you gently down and let you have your tantrum and walk away.  Then you’ll get up and come looking for me and give me a hug.

     I don’t think you’ve been feeling that great either.  You are constantly grabbing your throat so I took you to the doctor but he didn’t see anything.  Then he suggested an x-ray so we went and had that done.  You were NOT happy about that, especially when they had to put you in a special device to keep you from moving.  It broke my heart but all I could do was try to keep you calm, a failed mission!  When we walked back out into the waiting room, everyone there had heard you and they all said “Awwww!”  But I gave you a fruit pouch and you were happy.  You LOVE fruit pouches!

     You are constantly giving me scares!  All the times you fall and bump your head or put things in your mouth that you aren’t supposed to!  I’m embarrassed to say that you came out of the bathroom the other day with my razor in your mouth!!  Daddy very gently took it out and you had some small cuts on your tongue and gums but you didn’t seem to notice.  I however, felt like the WORST mother in the world!!  I feel like the worst mother any time you are hurt.  If they made baby bubbles, you would be in one! J

     Your first birthday is coming up in less than two weeks!  We are going to have it at Nana and Grandpa’s because their yard is much nicer than ours right now.  We are going to have a bounce house, pizza, and cupcakes.  I’m sending lots of positive thoughts to the universe for a nice, comfortably warm day!  I am going to do your one year photoshoot sometime this weekend too!  Oh, Little Bear, I can’t believe how fast the last year has gone by.  I’d say it was a pretty great one too!  You’ve been healthy, fun, meeting all of your milestones, eating well…daddy and I are so proud of you every day.

     I know as you get older you will probably get annoyed with me or exasperated when I ask you how your day was or tell you to be careful or want you to call me when you get to wherever you are going to let me know you are safe, but I just want you to know that you are the most precious, important thing in the world to me.  I spend 9 months growing, nurturing, and loving you before you came into this world, and every minute since you entered it loving you, teaching you, and worrying about your wellbeing.  I ask the motherly questions because I genuinely care about everything you do.

     Let’s see.  So much has gone on that I can’t even keep track of it all. You recognize your grandparents now, which just thrills them all to pieces!  You love being in a group of people and are at your best when you have friends to interact with.  You can say kitty, cat, hi, book, poop (yes, poop), mama, and dada.  You are going to be going to day care soon while mommy is in clinical.  I think this is going to be a great experience for you but I’m so sad about it too!  However, regardless of whether I was in clinical or not, daddy and I always knew we would put you in some kind of structured environment, even just for a couple of days for socialization.  We are on a waiting list right now for a great day care so we have a lovely girl that is going to come and babysit for us on the days I’m in clinical.  Her name is Lindsay and she seems super sweet.  I think you guys are going to do well together.

     I feel like there is so much more to tell you, but it all blends together.  Well, in any case, we are having so much fun with you, watching you grow and learn! You love puzzles and putting things together.  You can sit for a while, just working on how things go together.  It is so sweet to watch your little mind work.

Love you so so much buddy!

March 27, 2015

Oh my dear, little Bear,

            I can’t believe it’s been this long and I never got to finish your letter. L It’s been such a busy couple of months, both in terms of your development and the school term for me.  You will be 1 year old in 5 short weeks! This year has just flown by!

            So what’s new with you?  Well, you’ve been working on cutting your third tooth for the last couple of weeks.  Some days you are happy as a clam, others you are pretty miserable.  You “talk” alllllll the time! Your first word is “kitty!”  You will stand in your crib in the mornings and when you see the cats when I open the door, you hold out your hand and yell “Hi kitty!”  It sounds more like “ki-yee” though.  You say dada, mama, cat, dad, up, and hi!  You are trying so hard to walk now too.  You cruise all over furniture and walls and if someone is holding your hands, you’ll fly around the house.  You’ve taken 3 steps on your own but when you realize no one is around, you sit very gently on your bottom. 

            You are really adventurous with food and eat pretty much everything.  You and I share breakfast in the morning and you love peanut butter bagels!  Sometimes we share breakfast at the table, sometimes it’s in the living room but you know that if you are going to eat food you need to put your “bum on the rug” otherwise I won’t share my food with you.  You’ve gotten so used to it that when I have a snack for you, you automatically sit.  I laugh when I say it’s like training a puppy and you are the CUTEST puppy ever! 

            Speaking of dogs, you loved Miss Jen’s dogs!  You pretty much love animals, if they aren’t afraid of you.  Maybe one day we will get a dog.  We’ll see.  You are finally at a point where you will actually sit with me while I read you a book.  You like to turn the pages and by turn, I mean whip!  It’s so funny!  You love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse but only the beginning and end.  You don’t really pay attention to the storyline, you just like the songs.

            I love watching you learn and your analytical mind.  You will sit for a good 20 minutes playing with the most mundane objects, such as the bottle warmer.  You like to take the basket out and put it back in, out and in, out and in.  It’s actually pretty fascinating to watch!

            You LOVE the shower!  Whenever you hear the shower turn on in our bathroom, you go racing in, push open the door, and if I let you, climb in fully clothed.  Most of the time we’ll strip you down to your diaper and you’ll just play happily on the floor while we shower.  Hey, don’t judge!  You’ll be in our shoes one day with your own little one and you do what you have to do to get a hot shower!

            I feel like I’m missing so much to tell you and so much happened in the last 2 months! Honestly, it’s been a blur for me, between school and work, and you but I’ve loved every minute with you!

            You’ve given me quite a few scares already though!  One week, you, I, and daddy were sitting on the floor in the kitchen playing happily while I was cooking dinner.  You’ve touched the face of the oven before when I’ve cooked and it’s never hot so I wasn’t worried.  Well, we didn’t realize that if you reach far enough back between the oven and the warming drawer that it is as hot as the oven. You figured that out, unfortunately.  One minute we were all laughing and having a great time and the next you were screaming in pain.  You burnt your little middle finger on your right hand.  We gave you a bowl with ice and water in it to play with and you seemed fine after that but it did blister a bit.

            THEN, the following week, we had Grammy and Grandpa over for the day and I baked a cake.  While I was trying to clean up, I was rushing and I dropped a glass lid on the ground and it shattered everywhere.  Grammy and I swept, vacuumed, and mopped the floor a bunch of times.  I thought we got every last piece.  Then two days later you were crawling around on the floor and I noticed you were chewing something so I picked you up.  I thought maybe you had just eaten a piece of cat food and I was going to let you swallow it.  But then you gagged a little so I thought I should take whatever you had in your mouth out.  Well, you hate it when I put my finger in your mouth to begin with but you really hated it now.  I could not figure out what the heck you had in your mouth and then you bit down and I saw blood and started to panic.  You were screaming and crying and clamping down so I had to literally drag what you had in your mouth across the side of your cheek.  What I pulled out was a piece of glass the size of a dime that was jagged on all sides.  I cried!  Daddy came running out of the office because I yelled “It’s glass! It’s glass!”  I gave you a piece of ice to suck on and you seemed fine after that but oh my goodness, what a scare!!

            I keep a lot of videos of you and upload them to YouTube so I will have them forever!  I love seeing how you’ve grown!  Well, I think that’s all I can think of for now.  You’re growing so fast and you are so much fun!  I wish that we would win the lottery every day so I could just spend time with you all the time and not have to worry about school or work!  However, even if we did, I would pursue my photography and Daddy would open his own Crossfit box.  We are going to win someday very soon!  I just know it!

            Love love love you little man!  Thank you for making me a mother!

January 19th, 2015

Sweet Bear,

            We just got back from MLK weekend, aka “Bear's Birthday Bash” weekend.  We had a fantastic time and you were the hit of the weekend!  I feel like you changed so much in just a few days!  You really found your voice this weekend, my little pterodactyl! You screeeeeeeeeeeeech!  But you are also very vocal and you were chatting away to everyone! You also started using this crazy, growling voice that was hilarious!

            And you are such a flirt!  You wave “bye bye” or “hi” now to people and you understand that that is what you are doing.  You play peek-a-boo (sorta).  You will bring your blanket up in front of your face and then bring it down.  It's so cute.  You've also learned how to crawl up the stairs to the platform in the living room and since you've learned to do that, now you are pulling yourself up on anything you can reach...including your crib.

            I put you down for bed tonight and you were NOT happy about that and started crying and screaming. Normally, you'll just get on all fours and rock back and forth and cry but when I went in to see you, you were standing up in your crib, yelling at the door.  You are so proud of your new found skill that you use it whenever you can! You look so darn sweet though and I'm so proud to see how quickly you pick things up

            You did so well this weekend even though we uprooted you and your schedule numerous times.  You just rolled with the punches and really only had one difficult night.  You were so good going with all the little girls that wanted to hold you and play with you.  You also have a very persistent personality, which is going to work both for and against me and your dad, haha! 

            You survived your second cold of your life and I think you are getting ready to cut another tooth soon, although I can't tell which one.  I look back through your pictures often and can't get over how much you've changed since you were born.  I love you so so so much!  It's been so much fun being your mother so far!  You've been pretty adventurous with food too!  Some new things you've tried this month: chicken rice soup, salmon, baked potato, chicken, peas, and mandarin oranges.  You feed yourself pretty well! It's impressive that by 7 months, you had your pincer grasp already down.

            You LOVE what daddy and I call the “stars of happiness” which are just Gerber cereal meltaway puffs, but when you get fussy and we bring them out, you are a happy guy!  Stars of happiness! :-) Now you've learned how to pop the lid off a canister with your teeth and reach in and grab what you want.  It's so funny watching you become a little person.  I both love and fear your independent, curious, investigative nature.

December 31, 2014

My Dearest Bear,

               Time is just FLYING!!  You are getting so big and developing so much!  You are army crawling all over the place! Sometimes you get up on all fours and take a few “steps” forward, but for the most part, you are content to just pull yourself everywhere on your tummy.  And you are fast!! 

               You adore music! Anytime you hear any kind of music or someone says “Dancing Bear” you start wiggling and shaking your bum.  It’s adorable!  I’ve been calling you “Dancing Bear” since you were about 2 months old.  I would get a kick from holding you up and saying “Dancing Bear, dancing Bear, dancing Bear,” while twisting you back and forth.  It didn’t amuse you nearly as much as it amused me! Haha! I still get a kick out of it and you do too now.

               Guess what else?  You are officially a model!  Although you have yet to book a shoot, you were accepted by an agency.  Now we just sit back and wait for them to call for auditions.  There’s no pressure to do it or even to like it, we are just going to try it out and see what comes of it.  I want you to be a kid, first and foremost.  You are seriously the most beautiful baby though!  People will stop in the store all the time just to say hi to you or tell me what a beautiful baby you are.  And you still love being in crowds of people.  You don’t mind going to parties with us at all or being passed around by everyone.  I’m still your favorite person though, and I have to say, I’m a little drunk with pleasure knowing that you prefer me above all others.  And then daddy of course! 

               You cut your second tooth this month, the bottom right one.  I think you are getting ready to cut some on the top as well because you’ve been drooling a lot again and getting a rash and you can get quite fussy!  We’ll see. Daddy and I both thought we’d really miss your adorable, gummy smile but we both love your cute little toothy smile!

               You smile all the time and you give us little giggles here and there but we have yet to witness your first full blown belly laugh.  We are waiting in breathless anticipation for that!!  We had our first Christmas with you this year and you were thoroughly spoiled (although we prefer to say “blessed!”).  We had a nice quiet Christmas at our house with both sets of grandparents and Uncle Jay.

               You’ve gotten into a nice nap schedule recently.  You’ll usually go down for your first nap about 2 hours after you wake up and then one more time around 2:00.  It gives me a little study time which I desperately need.  Unfortunately, I can no longer say that I have a 4.0 GPA.  I lost it last termL.  Oh well!  I’m still doing great and this is my last really big term with classes.  Tomorrow marks the beginning of my last year of grad school and opens the doors to a brand new career for me.  By this time next year, I should be a Certified Nurse Midwife with my Master’s degree. 

               We all went to look at a daycare for you yesterday and fell in love with A Child’s University.  It’s a little expensive but we are willing to pay for peace of mind that you are being cared for and loved by good people.  In a couple of weeks, we will take our annual trip to Ocean Isle, NC for MLK reunion weekend.  The family is so excited to meet you!!  It will be your first trip on a plane and daddy and I are trying to make it as easy as possible on you! I plan on nursing you a LOT! Lol!  You are so curious about everything around you though and I hope you enjoy your first flight and please, make it as easy on us as possible! J

               I feel like I have so much more to tell you but everything just runs together.  You will be 8 months in less than a week and it amazes me how fast and yet how slow time seems to go.  There are days when I don’t want you to grow up at all and days where I can’t wait for you to be able to talk to us.  We go back and forth a lot about giving you a brother or sister but we aren’t going to cross that bridge until I’m out of school.  We both agree that we are so incredible blessed and lucky to have you that we would be complete if we never had any more children.  Well my little Bear, I need to go book our flights for MLK. I love you so much!  You amaze and delight us every day!  Much much love!