4 Months

Dear Hawksley,

Dear Hawksley,
I have a terrible confession to make. Tomorrow you are turning EIGHT MONTHS OLD! Lucky for you, I take a lot of photos and I have an excellent memory. I apologize to you for letting these important letters slip, but I'm so busy enjoying your little personality that I generally don't want to stop and write about it. Poor excuse, I know.


So. Four months. What happened? Well, not pooping, that's for sure. You went on strike. You, my dear, became an absolutely fabulous non-pooping baby. If I can special-order all of my future children to have your digestive tract, I may just do that! You would often go 2-3 weeks between (so in the span of this monthly letter, it's possible that you only went once or twice!). Now, granted, when you DID go it was quite the event... but I still love it. The doctor said you were fine, and you're as content as always, so I don't worry about you.




You have a new love... your jolly jumper! I'm so happy that you enjoy it. It only took a couple of days for you to go from uncertainty to all-out bouncing. You also got to enjoy Mommy's extravagant purchase this month... our new double stroller! You didn't want to fall asleep in it at first, because you're so used to sleeping on your tummy, but you got used to it quickly. When you're awake during walks, you're quiet as a mouse and you just happily take in your surroundings (and abuse from your stroller-mate).



This month you also attended your very first wedding. Hawksley, you are a saint. I can't even tell you how amazing you are and how easy you make my life. First of all, you looked like a total rockstar in your vest, tie, jeans and beanie. Second of all, I sent Aven home after dinner but you stayed with me and even slept soundly on me during the loud music and dancing. You are the definition of portable.



Your new favourite toy is a soft black bunny given to us by our close friends. You love to hold and stroke the ears, especially when falling asleep in your carseat. Everything about you is so gentle and sweet, and my love for you just keeps growing as the days pass by.



Love,
Mommy

3 months

Dear Hawksley,
What a naughty mommy you have... two late letters in a row! I will do my best to remember what happened and things you did in this time.

You continue to be an amazing traveller and companion to me. Whenever we have time alone, I never have to worry that you will be fussy, difficult, or an inconvenience to me! This month I took you to 3 baby/wedding showers and you were an absolute angel at all of them. We also took many shopping trips and you were happy or sleeping almost all of the time. I'm so grateful for your good nature!



Your sister has become more accustomed to your presence and now I even trust her to hold you (for short periods of time... with me VERY close by!). You look at her with awe and wonder, and I can't wait to see how much you admire and look up to her as you both grow older.



Whenever we go out and new people meet you, the things they always comment on are your bright, blue eyes, and your gorgeous lips. Sometimes they will note your dark hair, or your fabulous mullet...





You are starting to grab things and put toys to your mouth. You also continue to love your soother or fingers/thumb to suck on. You're still having a lot of issues with spitting up after every feeding, and our trips to the chiropracter don't seem to be helping. I'm really hoping you will just grow out of it!



You are a beautiful baby boy, inside and out. You amaze me with your patience and contentedness, and I hope I can learn these skills better from you!

Love,
Mommy

2 Months

Dear Hawksley,
I'm finding it hard to put into words just what a completely sweet and lovely baby you are. You only cry when you need to spit up, when you're tired and want to be put to bed, or when you're a bit lonely for me or daddy. and once we've met these needs for you, you immediately calm down and give us happy smiles. you are totally content to spend your waking time sitting quietly in our arms or in your swing looking at your mobile. usually after about an hour of being awake, you're more than happy to return to dreamland!



You're still sleeping in bed with me, and I love every minute of it. When we're going to go to bed, I feed you and you're still awake after, then i lay you down beside me and turn out the lamp. you snuggle close to me and i put my arm in front of you to help hold your soother in... you take your tiny little arms and wrap them around my wrist and make little happy noises as you drift off to sleep. it melts my heart.



you started smiling at around 5-6 weeks and we just adore your smiles. you smile with your whole face.. your eyes light up and twinkle, and you open your mouth into a big happy O. it's one of the first things you do every time you wake up and see us.



I've realized why having two children makes me feel more relaxed and capable. With one baby, it's like putting all your treasure in one hiding spot... that's a stressful arrangement. You're not supposed to put all your eggs into one basket. When you came along I could breathe a sigh of relief because now my love is spread out to more than one place. It's like there's less chance of something being taken from my heart.



This month has been so quick again, and I know it's just going to keep happening. But i want you to know that i'm savouring every moment with you, when i can, and that you are ubelievably special to me.


Love,
Mommy

1 Month

I know.. it's been quite awhie since I put anything here on this blog. Facebook makes it much easier to give updates and share photos! But I want to give our new addition, Hawksley James Morgan, the same monthly letters that I wrote for Aven.

Dear Hawksley,

Today you shocked me by turning one month old. I was waiting so long and so anxiously for you to arrive that once you were here I kind of stopped realizing the passing of days. Your sister does keep me very busy, and you are so mellow that sometimes I forget you're there! Okay, not really, but you are very sweet and easy to please most of the time. And, you sleep a LOT.



I know there is still so much of your personality to come, and I can't wait to meet the real you. For now, the most notable thing about you is that you are grunty. GRUNTY GRUNTY GRUNTY! I came thisclose to moving you out of my bed to your own bed/room because, child, you just won't let me sleep sometimes. It's getting a little better, but you are stil one heck of a noisy little baby. You're not hungry... you're tired and want to (should) sleep... but you just lay there and grunt. ENOUGH!



I want to make sure that I don't always compare you to Aven, and to note your ways only in relation to hers. However, I will say this one thing: THANK YOU for being more relaxed, easygoing, and calm compared to her. From day one she was constantly weaving her hands around like a stress case, and unable to sleep for long periods of time. You already show me that you're not in a hurry to get places and see people and stay awake all the time. I love this about you. I needed you to be this.



From the moment you were born, there was familiarity about you. I can't pinpoint why I feel it, but it seems like I've always known you. I love that sometimes all you need is for me to hold your hand and it calms you down. I have a strong inclination that you are going to be my boy... that our personalities will somehow be alike, or similar. I surprise myself by thinking that, instead of assuming that my girl will be more like me. But she has already proven in many ways to be her dad's girl. Time will tell, for both of you, but you'll grow up to learn that I'm always right :)

I was worried that having two kids was going to make me more stressed, more worried, more afraid to get out of the house and do things. Strangely, you have brought me peace. I feel more relaxed with you, and it even carries over to how I feel about your sister. Maybe it's that I'm outnumbered now and I have to admit I can only do so much. But all the things that used to seem impossible or difficult with one child now seem possible with two. How does that make ANY sense?



Welcome to our family, little one. I love what you have added to who we are.
Love,
Mommy

Though I never got to see your face, know that I think of you and wish we could have met today....

I didn't see you planting your roots so deep
until today
I didn't hear your footsteps walking away
until today
in the dark corners where no one goes, you are
exposed; revealed; renewed in time.

I mourn the canvas where your face should be
But your hello and goodbye dyed my life a deeper shade of grateful
for the things we say farewell to
for sisterhood's droplets of strength
and for fresh buds that will blossom in the spring.

"Mother's Day"

My first two official Mother's Days weren't great, I'll be honest. Although there was a certain special novelty to finally being able to celebrate this milestone in my life, my first was spent shut in a spare room with a screaming 1-month-old who woke up and demanded to be fed at the exact moment dinner was being served. She proceeded to take 40 minutes to nurse, then had a massive, change-all-clothing poop incident. By the time I got out of there, dessert was almost over. My second Mother's Day was literally spent enduring a painful reminder that there are no guarantees in motherhood; our bodies and emotions are always fully exposed, vulnerable to what life will bring and take away. Sometimes irony irks me.

So I've decided that MY true Mother's Day is the day when, several months ago, my firstborn decided to make the word "Mommy" part of her vocabulary. She started saying "Dada" and then "Daddy" quite early in her life, probably before she even hit 6 months of age. She began to use the M sound once in awhile, but not very directly to me. Sometimes she would babble "mamamamamama" when she was crying. Hmph.

Then, on a date I can't remember and couldn't care less about, she finally took this step as a toddler and announced to me my role in her life. "Mommy," she said (though it sounded like Mammy, which is even cuter). "Mommymommymommymommy". MOMMY. Knowing my child as I do, I suspect that she chose to wait even though she'd long had the ability to speak this word. She didn't want to go through phases of awkwardly or incorrectly saying Mama before adapting it and perfecting it to Mommy; she didn't want to say it until she grasped its full meaning and gave it to me as a precious gift. It blew me away.

Every night when I put her to bed, I sit with her in the near-dark while she drinks her bottle. She finishes and hands the bottle off, and snuggles in close to me in a prolonged stillness that is rare throughout the rest of her day. "Say mommy," I always whisper. She pauses. "Mmmmmmammy," she'll whisper back with a little smile.

I know a time will come when hearing "Mommy" shouted/whined/cried repeatedly at me is going to get old and irritating. For now, hearing that searching voice calling for me when I'm upstairs, or asking me for more snack, or recognizing me across the room after an absence.... it's the best gift she could ever give me and I still cherish it every single time.

Thank you, Aven, for giving me my REAL Mother's Day.

The Vocabulary Update

Aven's Current Words (and how she pronounces them).

baby (bee bee!)
daddy
doggy
kitty (giddy or key-ee)
ducky
bottle (baw-uhl)
book (buk)
ball
bunny (buddy or bubby)
papa
this (iss or dis)
hi
bye bye
hello (hi-oh)
uh-oh
belly (beh-hee or beddy)
crocs (gocs)
all gone/all done (all-doh/all-goh), usually accompanied by a shrug with palms turned up... justin taught her this one and it's adorable!

she does say other words and sounds but these are the ones she always uses in context and will respond to (like if i ask her where her ducky or ball is, she'll look for it and go get it)

One Year

Dear Aven,
You are 14 months old. I've been putting off writing your 12-month letter because I'm very busy with work and our new house, but also because it nearly hurts my heart to have to stop and think about you being a year older than that tiny bundle that arrived in my arms yesterday. Only it wasn't yesterday anymore.


The day you were born, my world stopped moving. And I couldn't grasp onto the world around me that kept on going. When that first April turned into May, I wanted to question my sanity.... how did three weeks go by without me knowing? I was so wrapped up in you that I lost a sense of time. And as every month passed, the feeling of a loss of something grew deeper and heavier. It's not a bad thing; it's just unexplainable and surreal. To see something be born into existence burns an eternal marker onto us; anything before that date is "normal", and everything after it is spent in awe of that first day, because one day you weren't there and then suddenly you were. Birth is something that I don't know if the human mind is capable of fully accepting.


Now, as I go back to work two days a week and enter 2007 billing dates into a computer, my mind constantly jumps back to those hours, days, and months of our first year and what we might have been doing together. July? Probably out for a walk with the stroller, to get the mail and hope you fell asleep. December? Bundling you up in your snowsuit and making mad dashes to shovel the path while you napped (for half an hour, of course). So many memories, my little love. My heart can't contain them. How will I keep hold of them AND add on all the new ones as time keeps racing past?




For your birthday we "gave" you a very special gift that i'm so sorry isn't coming anymore. We don't know why some things happen, but we want you to know and understand that God always takes care of us, and plans for us, and loves us no matter what. We also have a new sense of how unbelievably blessed we are to have you in our lives. You were so wanted, and you bring us ridiculous amounts of joy every single day. The light you bring into our home makes us want 25 of you (maybe... if you napped better). You are strong-willed and clever, so we know we have to be ten steps ahead of you at all times, but the depth and intensity of your personality makes you an undeniable presence that we cannot imagine living without. We are blatantly addicted to you. We feed off of your accomplishments and idiosyncrasies, trying to log each and every one of them into our emotional ledger, so that we can store them up and refer back to them later when we need to feel that precious heart-squeeze that only comes from seeing your firstborn grow up.




Love you forever,
Mommy

11 Months

Dear Aven,

Your 11th month brought so many new things into our lives! One of the fan favourites is "kick like a dolphin" ; before bathtime, we get you all stripped down naked, then hold you up high and say "kick like a dophin!" until you start flapping your rigid little body like scissors opening and closing! Muma and Papa wait for it every night before bed.



You also have learned how to clap... on demand! I'll say "where's your clap clap clap?" and you smile at me and throw your hands together... sometimes you miss, but that's even cuter. Another fine motor skill that you FINALLY learned is how to put your own soother in your mouth! AVEN! Why did it take this long! It makes my life much easier. A really cute part of it too is that if you stick it in upside down, you do a little twirl trick with it to right it.


You have a new favourite food: avodcado! When I first put some little pieces on your tray, you weren't too sure. But once you tasted it, you just couldn't get enough of that slimy green stuff. Lots of good fats in there, so eat up!


One day Muma and I took you to the Purple Turtle, a baby and kids store in Exeter. When we walked in with you, you looked around at all the stuff, wide-eyed, and exclaimed "ho-LEE! ho-LEE!" We both had quite the laugh over that one!

I'm excited to tell you that our new home is almost ready to move into. I can't wait for you to grow up there, Aven. I can't wait to lay on the grass with you on our lawn, and take walks down our country road. I love thinking about all the things we'll do and how I'll get to see you turn from a baby, into a toddler, and into a kid while we live there. It's scary to think about! But I know we will make strong and beautiful memories there.


Love,
Mommy

10 Months (photos delayed due to moving)

Dear Aven,

This month has brought some big changes for us, and I need to stop and thank you for being such a flexible and accommodating baby. We packed up and moved out of our house, then moved into Uncle Tyler and Auntie's apartment for 2 weeks, then moved to Muma and Poppa's, where we still are! At the apartment I couldn't believe how well you slept ... they live on the intersection of two highways and the trucks and snowlpows going by sounded like jets taking off! You did struggle a little bit with me leaving the room after putting you in bed, mostly because the floors were very creaky and it woke you up and made you realize I was leaving. I had to become an expert floor-creak-locater, otherwise I would remain, trapped, in the room where you were sleeping! At Muma and Poppa's house you have been sleeping better than you have in your entire life. It's crazy, because you're in a playpen, in the same room as me. And yet you sleep from 7:30 to 6:30 straight? With only a slight peep now and then? I'm baffled. Especially because a yappy dog lives here.

Muma has a fox that lives on top of her cupboards, and you love him. We'll say "where is your fox? Wave to your fox!" and you'll scan all the vases until you see him, then you'll break into a huge smile and wave to him! You now have an adorable variation to the wave... we call it the "no, no, no!". It's when you combine the pointing with the waving into a cute little finger-wag scold.. and now that we've said "no, no, no!" every time you do it, you know to make the gesture of it when we say no! Stop being so cute. It's really not fair to any of us.

Although you're cute, you also have a wee temper. The other day I was feeding you some carrots on a little plastic baby fork, and you took the fork right out of my hand and fed yourself (this is amazing, by the way, but not the point of my story). Since then you've continued to do this little trick, but when I go to take the fork back and put more food on it, you get VERY. POSSESSIVE. OF. THE. FORK. You hold it with an iron grip, make a menacing whine noise, give me a threatening look and WIELD THAT FORK AT ME. The other day when you did it in front of Daddy, he looked at me in shock and said "I'm a little scared!" Oh, my little monkey. You are so much personality in a tiny little package.

You have also started responding to a game that Daddy and his brothers all played when they were little. We say "how big is Aven?" in romanian (I have no idea how to spell it, but it sounds like "COO-tay de MAR-dia!" and you throw your hands up into the air and smile. The first few times we did it you had no idea what was going on... but it didn't take long for you to catch on. HOWEVER... you are usually selective about wanting to respond when we ask.. even though I KNOW you know what I'm asking! I can literally see the request register in your brain and your eyes twinkle and you smirk a little bit. And then do nothing. On the other hand, sometimes out of nowhere you'll throw your hands up and give me a wide-eyed, expectant look so that I'll say it!

This month you also taught yourself how to play hide-and seek... you were in the bathroom with me and you grabbed hold of the shower curtain and pulled it between you and I... then pulled it away and laughed! I said "where's Aven?" and you did it again! Funny that I never taught you this, but you found it hilarious.

Your love affair with the Small Hole has not only continued, but it has escalated. Nevermind the first 8 pages in Pat the Bunny, Mom. Just get to the good part... where Paul puts his finger through Mummy's ring. That's the best one of all! You love to play with Muma's steel colander because it has hundreds of tiny holes... you sit there and caress them like old friends. And now that we're giving you a bath at Muma's house, where there are jets in the tub, you're just in heaven. A bath... that's fun on its own. A bath surrounded by small holes? JACKPOT.

As we get closer and closer to your first birthday, the more I want to hold you tightly and not let it happen. I have tasted the bittersweetness that I've heard so many parents marvel at constantly. How does this happen? How can my little newborn become this child? One day she didn't know what I was saying.. the next day she knows a phrase and follows it like a command! There's something about the speed at which children grow that rips across the surface of a parent's strength and security, and exposes a very raw vulnerability. Emotion like this isn't necessarily a bad thing... in fact, it causes us to appreciate our blessings and try to live each day more fully.. but it still leaves us open to so much heartache and mourning.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Love,
Mommy

9 Months (photos will be delayed due to moving)

Dear Aven,
Yet again I'm writing this letter late, but so much is going on in our lives and I can't wait for you to see our new house! Hopefully we can move in two weeks from now.

This past month was an exponential explosion of new things you started to do. First, you became a waveaholic. Not only do you like to wave at every person, thing, clock, face and tractor, but you often get BOTH hands going, just to make it really clear that you're saying hi or bye. You can click your tongue back at us when we make that sound. You also became much more snuggly with us, and you'll lean in close and rest your head on our necks or shoulders, sometimes only briefly, but it's an incredible feeling. You're pointing with your index finger, and along with that is your new best friend... the Small Hole. I've never seen such a funny fixation... you are OBSESSED with the Small Hole. And they are everywhere... on the backs of remotes and toys (to hids screws), on your bath seat, on my face in the form of a nostril, in the middle of cheerios that you now love to pick up and eat, on the top of your juice bottle, so that you get cross-eyed looking at and touching it while you drink. You just cannot keep that little pointer finger away from small holes... I swear it's like a magnetic force.

You love to pick up little pieces of food now and eat them. When you first started this skill, it was incredibly funny to watch you grasp it and aim for your mouth, but drop it on the way and then look around, bewildered, when you couldn't find it anywhere. But it only took a few days and many cheerios for you to master your new talent.

We celebrated your very first Christmas and it was so much fun to spoil you and try to show you all the exciting and special things about this holiday. I know that next year you'll be able to understand it more and anticipate it, but there's still something meaningful about your first one. I took you to see Santa at the mall, and you were picture-perfect on his knee!

This month I did something drastic to the way I look... I went from having dark brown hair to very light blonde hair, and I was kind of worried that you would be scared or not know me. You absolutely made my day when I came home from the salon, and the first thing you did was reach out and touch my hair and SMILE! It's like you knew, and you were encouraging me that you liked it. You're the best.

Your vocabulary is coming along. You now regularly say mama, dada, baba, nana and sometimes lala. And I SWEAR you said a form of "kitty"... it sounded more like "key-ey", but you were looking at and reaching for one of the cats when you said it, so I'm convinced. Let's get that application to Harvard started, pronto.

Some days I just can't stop squeezing you and plastering your cheeks with kisses. You have the finest set of cheeks I've ever tasted and smelled. I never ever want to forget how delicious they are, even when you're fifteen and covered with pimples. I'll buy you some oxy. Yes, I love you THAT much.

Love,
Mommy
P.S. This month you also learned how to roll a ball back and forth with me on the floor! It's so much fun to sit and play that with you. The first day you learned it, I would ask "are you proud?" everytime you rolled it to me... and every time you would shake your head no!

8 Months

Dear Aven,
I'm sorry this letter is so late (almost time for your 9-month letter!). Things have been busy around here and we're all going to be moving soon. More about that later!


This month we took a BIG weekend trip! Your daddy used to play in a band, and we wanted to spend time with all the people he used to play with. We took a 5-hour drive and stayed two nights with Brad and Erin in Huntsville. You were so much fun all weekend, and Erin even said afterwards that she kept forgetting there was even a baby in the house! Thank you for always being so entertaining, accomodating, and just plain cute. You're easy to show off.


This month your sleeping took a major turn... for the better! One night, during your usual half-an-hour-into-sleep wake-up, I went to you as I always do, to help you get back to sleep. After a minute or two, you were still crying but I HAD TO go to the bathroom... there really was no choice! So, feeling terrible, I left you crying in your crib and left you. I was SHOCKED when, only two minutes later, you stopped crying and were sound asleep. And then you slept. And Slept. And SLEPT!!! From then on you have had amazing night sleep, sometimes going 8 to 10 hours before joining me in bed! I'm so happy for you, for me, for us. Even when you have setbacks (a cold, teething, travelling), it's still wonderful to know that it is possible, and that you CAN do it. It's been a long road, tiny. I think that's what makes it feel even sweeter.

Another huge milestone this month is that we let you be put to bed by someone other than me for the first time. Daddy and I had to go to my work party, and since you just suddenly stopped wanting to be nursed right before bed, I figured you were ready. Muma came over to go through your bedtime routine with you, and we left. I was pretty worried about you, but I was confident that you were ready. And you were! My dear little girl, you were an angel for Muma. I'm so proud of you... and proud of me for not calling even once to check in!



Daddy went away for a week this month and you and I got a little stir-crazy. We were both sick with colds, and it snowstormed for a few days. I love you ... always will... but that week with you was really hard! Sometimes we just need other places and other people to break the monotony and help us not get bored or exhausted. I was mean to daddy and sent him this photo while he was gone though:


Grandma came to visit us, and brought you lots of fun things! You got a sled as an early Christmas present, and some toys and books and a crib skirt that she made for you, to match your room. She was very sad to say goodbye at the end of the trip ... she especially loves how you rotate your wrists.


There is already SO MUCH that I have to write about for your next month, so I'll end this one here!

Love,
Mommy

Stand by me

 

7 months

Dear Aven,
My little shaggy-haired girl! I love the way it's starting to grow forward , and also how it slips out over your ears sometimes. It's really beginning to have a mind of its own, especially after you've worn a hat! Now when I look back at your older photos, you look funny and bald-ish.


This month you started drinking from a sippy cup! You like to hold the handles, and you like to drink from it... however, you refuse to do both at the same time! It's very fun to watch you sucking from a spout like a little hamster, though. You also tried some rice rusks called "mum-mums" and you like to scrape away on them with those two little bottom teeth. Usually I hold it for you, but one time i gave you the whole thing and you held it in your hands and put it to your mouth like it was a flute! When you bite a little piece off, you generally know how to gum it into mush and swallow, but sometimes a little piece will stick to your lip and you get very concerned with the little foreign object invading your personal space.



Some babies, I have heard, don't like getting shirts put on over their heads. You've never minded. But HEAVEN FORBID I make you put your arms into a sleeve... or TWO! You have declared jihad on the sleeves. WHAT IS THAT ALL ABOUT?



Today is technically 2 days past your 7-month mark, but I just have to include these milestones because i'm so excited about them! Yesterday when you were babbling, you started saying "da! da! da!" over and over and now you just can't stop! We're not sure if you really are assigning that sound to your daddy, but who cares... it's adorable and we're telling everyone that you can say "dada". One thing we are sure of, is that today you started waving. WAVING. I was getting things ready to put you to bed, and you were sitting with Daddy in your room. As I walked past your door, I saw him waving at you ... you held out your hand to mirror his and did a PERFECT side-to-side wave! And you have kept doing it all night... so we know it wasn't just a fluke. I have to admit, my stomach got all squirrely and I almost cried when you did it. There was something different about this, as compared to the other new things you've done. It was so responsive, so mature... I can't even describe it, really.


Your nights are improving, but it doesn't necessarily matter because I've come to a point where I don't ever want to be negative about spending extra time with you. It's not always easy to think that way, but sometimes even just rubbing your soft little head against my nose and mouth in the dark of night gives me a warmth that is untouchable. It's so tempting to be frustrated, when you've woken for the 4th time in 2 hours, or you just seem to be cranky for no reason. But I have heard more than one parent of older children say how much they wished they could go back ... they long for those nights nestled in close with their babies instead of waiting up for mr. teenager who broke curfew again. It goes too fast, everyone knows that. And my gut reaction is to roll my eyes and think "well, you aren't the one dealing with the night wakings and crying, so you don't understand!" But they do. One thing you need to know about me is that I like to figure things out for myself; I don't like to be told what to do, and when I receive advice I usually like to make it clear that I've already looked into the issue and I'm well-informed. That I know better. On this one though, I'm taking their word for it. When you wake up, come into bed with me, little one ... we always have such great sleeps together.



Love,
Mommy

6 months

Dear Aven,
HALF A YEAR! I'm so baffled about where the time went. I feel like summer just started, and that we still have july evening walks to take, and august camping trips to have. But fall is here now, and I have to accept that nothing will ever be still again, least of all you. You're almost sitting up on your own now, you can do straight-arm push-ups, and I won't be surprised if you're crawling by the time I write my 7-month letter.



This past month, like the five before it, is full of firsts. The biggest one is sitting right in the middle of your bottom jaw--and it already has a next-door neighbour! Your first tooth came in on September 24th, and the second appeared within two weeks. Your first didn't seem to bother you much; your second turned you into a little bear. Some days, during your normal happy times, you would just chomp on your fingers and scream in pain ... I felt so terrible for you, my little chonch.
But the day it finally cut through, you were happier than ever, shrieking with happiness and smiling at everyone.




You have also begun to notice that you have two black, furry "siblings" ... you turn your head when you hear the cats, and watch them curiously. Last week, you actually started reaching your hands out to them to feel the strange fluffy surface, and you gave Rooney's ears a little rub. They still aren't sure what to think of you, but they'll adjust.



When you were newborn, you hated your bath. Then, you loved it. Now, you've gone through a hating phase again. I think it has something to do with being reclined; you keep grimacing and trying to do sit-ups if I lay you back. So for now, until you can sit up on your own, we're in kind of an awkward transition phase where I have to support you in the bath, and you splash a bit but aren't thrilled. We'll get through it! The last time you had a bath in the kitchen, I let you play with the mini-sprayer on the sink and you tried to grab the little streams of water... you seemed very confused when you couldn't get a hold of them!

Speaking of holding, you have a very cute new sleeping ritual. Since you are no longer swaddled, I needed to give your busy hands something to hold onto. Enter Dolly. Dolly is a little yellow-and-white striped cloth doll that was handed down from my family. When you lay down in your crib to go to sleep, you roll towards Dolly and hold her tight, stroking and squeezing her. Then you usually reach a hand up to find where my hand is, and lightly touch it and inspect it with your fingertips as you drift off. It's a very precious habit!


You've also graduated to a new carseat, one that will carry you right until you're done with a booster. Although this carseat isn't a carrier like your old one, you fall asleep in it much easier. So, I've had to become a pro at gingerly plucking you out of the seat without waking you!

Your short naps are still in effect, but your nights are generally wonderful! You can now go 8-10 hours before your first feeding (although you always still wake up a few times in the first couple hours, just wanting my company and not being able to get back to sleep on your own). I'm so very glad that you decided to drop the 1/2 am feeding! I was falling asleep in the rocking chair more often than not...



We've come so far, but we still have so far to go, little pumpkin.



Love, Mommy

Saber-tooth

Someone has a tooth! You get three guesses as to who it is...

Chicken and Chonch (at the beach)