Perfect Six

Dear Theodore,

Your name means God's Gift. You really are God's gift to us, my darling.

Six years ago today I got the greatest gift, a healthy baby boy. You.

I remember telling myself to take it all in, because I was sure my life couldn't get any better. I was wrong. You still give me hugs and kisses all day long, you still call my name in the middle of the night, you love me like I'm the only one. Except now you are so much more fun. You can read and write and count and draw and you never stop talking. You can swim and run and play for hours. You are an amazing son and big brother.

Thank you so much, Teddy. I know we incredibly lucky to have you.

Love, Mama, Daddy, Sera, Pippa, and Baby

Deux

This is the morning you were born. A character from the start.

At the beginning you were so content.

And then you formed an opinion on everything, and it usually ended this.

We loved you anyway.

You started getting so big.

This is the moment I realized you weren't an infant anymore.

And then you went and turned one on me. You were pleased.

You really liked your cake. A lot.

And Elmo. Oh, how you loved Elmo.

You started to look just like the Gerber Baby.

And all of a sudden there was a ton of sister love.

Some copying....

And a whole lot of following.

There were many early mornings where you and I both looked like this, unfortunately.

You like to frolic in the sand.

When I leave your hair alone it does this.

You've played hard.

You've gotten very goofy.

You've posed for pictures.

And now you've turned 2

My dearest Philippa, there aren't enough words to describe you.

You're rarely an angel, always a handful, you make me laugh so hard I have contractions, and a minute later you will have me wanting to pull my hair out. You're so independent, loving and snuggly only before you fall asleep, and the rest of the time you would like everyone to get out of the way, thankyouverymuch. You love dogs and you dance to music and occasionally you acknowledge that you have siblings by playing with them for a few minutes. You love water and I'm pretty sure you're going to turn into a fish soon, because your favourite thing to do is splash around in the dogs water bowl. It's a good thing the dogs like you.

We like you too. A lot.

~Mama, Daddy, Theo, Sera, and Baby~

Almost Two

Tomorrow my baby girl turns two years old. I've spent all of the past few days soaking her in because she's growing up so fast.

I miss the beginning. The first month or so, when all she did was sleep and eat and at night when we were all in the family room together playing games, Pippa sleeping in a moses basket in between Nick and I. She was so quiet, the kids didn't pay her any attention, and it felt like Nick and I were the only ones who knew of her, she was only ours.

And then she got an opinion. And the opinion was that nothing was nice and everything sucked and crying as loud as possible while never pausing to sleep was the way to make things better. I don't miss that. Those five months? Can go suck it.

From 6 months on she's just been Pip. Extraordinarily opinionated, independent like no other, and so cute you could eat her up.

I can't believe that tomorrow morning I'll be able to call my baby girl TWO.