J
Jenn
Guest
Month Four Newsletter
Dear Caitie,
This was our fourth month together. I’ll probably say this every month for the rest of your life, but this month was the best one yet!
You’re a real little person now, with your own personality and preferences. You let your likes and dislikes known – and very rarely by crying.
You achieved so many milestones this month that it’s hard to keep track of them all. You started trying to sit up on your own in a movement that looks like your version of ab crunches. If I give you my fingers, you can pull yourself up.
You have now rolled from your back to your front twice, and from your front to your back twice.
You still hate being on your stomach, but not quite as much as before. You are pretty good at holding your head way up and you’re working on the whole chest-off-the-ground thing.
This month you have enough of an attention span to watch a whole 33 minute Baby Einstein video.
You’re also playing with toys this month. You like to hug and try to eat your Baby Ernie, you grab and whack your toys on your toy bar thing when you’re propped up on a pillow, and you pretty much just try to stick things in your mouth. Daddy bought you an exersaucer this month and you love to stare at the toys and explore them with your fingers. You’ve figured out that when you wiggle, you make it play a song.
You’ve started really laughing this month, big belly laughs that just slay me. You think it’s very funny when I sing you “I Like Big Butts†and “Best I Ever Had.†You’ll also laugh sometimes when your feet are tickled.
You’ve found your ears and hair and your hands are always exploring your head when I’m nursing you – if they’re not busy clutching my shirt.
You love doing baby exercises – touching your hand to your opposite foot, lifting your legs, bringing your hands together, pulling yourself up and being rolled over and over on a blanket.
You’re also a big fan of ‘super baby’ – being held way up in the air over my head. And you like it when I try to eat your face. Your cheeks are so soft and sweet, I just can’t resist kissing them all the time.
This month you attended your first horse sale. We didn’t buy you a pony. Maybe when you’re older.
For most of this month, your two oldest cousins have been staying with us. You love Taylor and you tolerate Justin. Having them here has disturbed your sleep pattern so much that you don’t often nap and you don’t sleep as well at night. You’re just starting to get used to having them around, but they’ll both be going home soon – Taylor for football and Justin to get a job.
Kendra came to visit you again this month. She taught you how to wave. By the end of her visit, you liked her enough to let her hold you for quite a long time. You played strange sometimes this month, but not always.
You still love shopping and going in the car. You don’t always sleep during car rides anymore, but usually. Shopping is fun for you because everyone has to stop and talk to you and you smile at almost everyone.
You keep outgrowing your clothes and that makes me sad. You’re mostly wearing 6 month sizes now, though there are a few 3-6 month outfits you’re still fitting in. There are also a few 9 month and 12 month items you’re wearing. With my rough estimates, I figure you’re 14 lbs. and 24 inches long. Too big! I want you to stay my little baby forever.
You are definitely your mama’s mini-me now. The only parts of your daddy that you’ve retained are his forehead and possibly his butt. You were pretty much screwed in the butt department anyway. You do have a longer waist than mama, though, and longer fingers, and that’s good. You’ve even lost the reddish tinge to your hair lately and now your hair is just brown, like mine. Your eyes are almost the same color as mine now – break-your-heart blue.
You’re so incredibly beautiful. I can hardly believe, sometimes, that I made something that is completely perfect. And I’m not just saying that because I’m your mama. You really are a beautiful baby, much more beautiful than other babies your age that I see around town or on the internet. Your daddy is already looking around for a big stick to beat the boys off with. He’s going to need it.
You’re also so smart. There is a definite look of intelligence in your eyes and sometimes I think you’re teaching us stuff, instead of the other way around. You love to stick your tongue out when I stick mine out, and when I say, “You did it! You’re so smart!†you give me a big smile and a happy wiggle. You’re an old soul, and a happy one. You spend much of your time smiling and that makes me very, very happy. Sometimes I’m so happy just looking at you that I want to cry. You’re beautiful when you smile, when you sleep, when you’re just hanging out, and even when you’re having a rare cry.
You’re not into the sleeping thing. We thought we had it licked when we got you a swing. We’d put you in it and you’d go to sleep for a couple of hours. Well, that only lasted for a couple of weeks. You now think your swing is fun, but not sleep-inducing. And at night, if you let me sleep three hours in a row, life is good. Some nights you’re up every hour or every two hours. I can’t really blame you, though – between the recent heat, noisy birds outside the window, cousins who interrupt your life and a mama who has to get up to pee in the middle of the night, I guess it would be hard to have a good, solid sleep. You’re still sleeping with me in the big bed and that’s the way you like it. Your crib is still in a box.
If I could change one thing about you, I’d make you into a sleeper – a baby who actually naps during the day and sleeps for more than a couple of hours at a time during the night. No, I take that back. You’re perfect just the way you are. You just like to do things your own way, and I’m cool with that. I like that you’re an individual.
As I write this you’re sleeping with your head in my lap, where you fell asleep after nursing. You just smiled in your sleep, as you often do. Your baba says that means the angels are playing with you. I don’t blame them. I want to play with you all the time, too.
I feel empty when I’m away from you. I left you with daddy for a whole 40 minutes while I went to pick up pizza and I sped the whole way there and back. I don’t think you even knew I was gone because daddy is FUN, but I felt like there was a huge hole in my heart. I need to have you with me at all times. I’m just not myself when you’re not with me and instead of feeling a sense of relief for having a few moments to myself, I worry about not having you within arms reach. If I can’t take you somewhere with me, then it’s not worth going.
It’s impossible to put into words just how much I love you. The love of a child is very different than all other kinds of love; it’s all-consuming. I’d gladly sacrifice anything, even myself, for you. Just having you, loving you is all I’ll ever need. Your smiles sustain me. Your coos lift me up. Your tiny hugs melt me. Your expressions rivet me.
I’m so lucky to have the privilege of loving you.
Love,
Mama
Dear Caitie,
This was our fourth month together. I’ll probably say this every month for the rest of your life, but this month was the best one yet!
You’re a real little person now, with your own personality and preferences. You let your likes and dislikes known – and very rarely by crying.
You achieved so many milestones this month that it’s hard to keep track of them all. You started trying to sit up on your own in a movement that looks like your version of ab crunches. If I give you my fingers, you can pull yourself up.
You have now rolled from your back to your front twice, and from your front to your back twice.
You still hate being on your stomach, but not quite as much as before. You are pretty good at holding your head way up and you’re working on the whole chest-off-the-ground thing.
This month you have enough of an attention span to watch a whole 33 minute Baby Einstein video.
You’re also playing with toys this month. You like to hug and try to eat your Baby Ernie, you grab and whack your toys on your toy bar thing when you’re propped up on a pillow, and you pretty much just try to stick things in your mouth. Daddy bought you an exersaucer this month and you love to stare at the toys and explore them with your fingers. You’ve figured out that when you wiggle, you make it play a song.
You’ve started really laughing this month, big belly laughs that just slay me. You think it’s very funny when I sing you “I Like Big Butts†and “Best I Ever Had.†You’ll also laugh sometimes when your feet are tickled.
You’ve found your ears and hair and your hands are always exploring your head when I’m nursing you – if they’re not busy clutching my shirt.
You love doing baby exercises – touching your hand to your opposite foot, lifting your legs, bringing your hands together, pulling yourself up and being rolled over and over on a blanket.
You’re also a big fan of ‘super baby’ – being held way up in the air over my head. And you like it when I try to eat your face. Your cheeks are so soft and sweet, I just can’t resist kissing them all the time.
This month you attended your first horse sale. We didn’t buy you a pony. Maybe when you’re older.
For most of this month, your two oldest cousins have been staying with us. You love Taylor and you tolerate Justin. Having them here has disturbed your sleep pattern so much that you don’t often nap and you don’t sleep as well at night. You’re just starting to get used to having them around, but they’ll both be going home soon – Taylor for football and Justin to get a job.
Kendra came to visit you again this month. She taught you how to wave. By the end of her visit, you liked her enough to let her hold you for quite a long time. You played strange sometimes this month, but not always.
You still love shopping and going in the car. You don’t always sleep during car rides anymore, but usually. Shopping is fun for you because everyone has to stop and talk to you and you smile at almost everyone.
You keep outgrowing your clothes and that makes me sad. You’re mostly wearing 6 month sizes now, though there are a few 3-6 month outfits you’re still fitting in. There are also a few 9 month and 12 month items you’re wearing. With my rough estimates, I figure you’re 14 lbs. and 24 inches long. Too big! I want you to stay my little baby forever.
You are definitely your mama’s mini-me now. The only parts of your daddy that you’ve retained are his forehead and possibly his butt. You were pretty much screwed in the butt department anyway. You do have a longer waist than mama, though, and longer fingers, and that’s good. You’ve even lost the reddish tinge to your hair lately and now your hair is just brown, like mine. Your eyes are almost the same color as mine now – break-your-heart blue.
You’re so incredibly beautiful. I can hardly believe, sometimes, that I made something that is completely perfect. And I’m not just saying that because I’m your mama. You really are a beautiful baby, much more beautiful than other babies your age that I see around town or on the internet. Your daddy is already looking around for a big stick to beat the boys off with. He’s going to need it.
You’re also so smart. There is a definite look of intelligence in your eyes and sometimes I think you’re teaching us stuff, instead of the other way around. You love to stick your tongue out when I stick mine out, and when I say, “You did it! You’re so smart!†you give me a big smile and a happy wiggle. You’re an old soul, and a happy one. You spend much of your time smiling and that makes me very, very happy. Sometimes I’m so happy just looking at you that I want to cry. You’re beautiful when you smile, when you sleep, when you’re just hanging out, and even when you’re having a rare cry.
You’re not into the sleeping thing. We thought we had it licked when we got you a swing. We’d put you in it and you’d go to sleep for a couple of hours. Well, that only lasted for a couple of weeks. You now think your swing is fun, but not sleep-inducing. And at night, if you let me sleep three hours in a row, life is good. Some nights you’re up every hour or every two hours. I can’t really blame you, though – between the recent heat, noisy birds outside the window, cousins who interrupt your life and a mama who has to get up to pee in the middle of the night, I guess it would be hard to have a good, solid sleep. You’re still sleeping with me in the big bed and that’s the way you like it. Your crib is still in a box.
If I could change one thing about you, I’d make you into a sleeper – a baby who actually naps during the day and sleeps for more than a couple of hours at a time during the night. No, I take that back. You’re perfect just the way you are. You just like to do things your own way, and I’m cool with that. I like that you’re an individual.
As I write this you’re sleeping with your head in my lap, where you fell asleep after nursing. You just smiled in your sleep, as you often do. Your baba says that means the angels are playing with you. I don’t blame them. I want to play with you all the time, too.
I feel empty when I’m away from you. I left you with daddy for a whole 40 minutes while I went to pick up pizza and I sped the whole way there and back. I don’t think you even knew I was gone because daddy is FUN, but I felt like there was a huge hole in my heart. I need to have you with me at all times. I’m just not myself when you’re not with me and instead of feeling a sense of relief for having a few moments to myself, I worry about not having you within arms reach. If I can’t take you somewhere with me, then it’s not worth going.
It’s impossible to put into words just how much I love you. The love of a child is very different than all other kinds of love; it’s all-consuming. I’d gladly sacrifice anything, even myself, for you. Just having you, loving you is all I’ll ever need. Your smiles sustain me. Your coos lift me up. Your tiny hugs melt me. Your expressions rivet me.
I’m so lucky to have the privilege of loving you.
Love,
Mama
