11 Months Old

Dear Zachary -

Today you are 11 months old.  Only one month away from your first birthday!  I am starting to plan your party.  It is going to be a Little Monster party, which is pretty appropriate for you these days. You are  literally into everything...it is as if you know what you aren't supposed to touch and that is ALL you touch - Isabella's cereal, Alex's Legos, Daddy's shoes, Charlie's tail, Mommy's wine bottles, the Christmas tree.  I say, "No. No."  You stop.  You give me this look.

And then you keep on touching! If you are awake you are on the go!  You never stop for a second.

We call you "TROUBLE!"  I call myself "EXHAUSTED!"

But as ornery as you are, you are still the sweetest, happiest little baby.  You have been having a lot of fun this holiday season.  We celebrated your first Thanksgiving with our family. We went to see Santa - you weren't scared at all.  You looked like you were having a very serious conversation about your list!

We went and picked out our Christmas tree. You looked perplexed as we put it up and decorated it, but then promptly decided it was going to be a fun new game to crawl under it and pull off all of the decorations you could before I pulled you out by your stinky feet!

I can't believe my next letter to you will be your birthday letter.  I know I say it all of the time, but time is going too quickly.  This was the fastest year of my life.  I am hoping for a Christmas miracle - time to slow down just a little bit so I can cherish and enjoy every second of this next month with you, my baby.

I love you! 

Mommy



Happy 7th Birthday!

Dear Alex,

Tomorrow you will turn 7 years old. I fell in love with you the moment I knew you existed. Then the moment I saw you, I thought my heart would burst with love. I knew that I would never be the same.  My love for you continues to know no bounds, and each day I love you more than the day before. You are the most loving, smart, thoughtful kid.  Don't get me wrong, you have your moments - you can be short tempered and a little dramatic- in fact you are arguing with Isabella right now.  But before I finish this paragraph, you will resolve whatever your conflict is, and you will be playing nicely together as if it never happened.  You two are the best of friends, but you sure can battle sometimes.  She can really push your buttons and you torment her to no end. I don't worry about it too much though, because your big heart and loving ways usually shine through.  You aren't afraid to say you're sorry-even though I know sometimes you say it just to get out of trouble.  You tell her you love her.  You give into her whims more often than not. You are a wonderful big brother - to Isabella and to Zachary.  You worship Zachary and the feeling is mutual.  My favorite moment of every day is when I bring him into your room to wake you up every morning.  He climbs all over you, and you open your eyes and smile.  You are such a big helper with him.  You read to him and play with him and make him laugh.  They are so lucky to have you as their big brother.

You and Zachary are rocking the same smile these days.  He is getting teeth as fast as you are losing them.  A few weeks ago you lost another one and the tooth fairy gave you $5, and Pop Pop matched it.  You took the money that Pop Pop gave you to church and donated to the poor box.  And for your birthday, you decided that your family could bring you gifts and your friends should bring gifts to donate to poor children. You always are thinking of others, and I get compliments all the time on how kind and thoughtful you are to others. 

Your teachers in first grade love you. You are doing so well in school. You love math and can read anything and everything.  Right now you are loving the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.  Mrs. Thomas, your reading teacher, says you are so nice, and the other kids seek you out to be your partner in class.  You have a lot of good little buddies.  They were all here to celebrate your birthday on Friday.  You had the best time running around playing flashlight tag and bouncing in the bounce house!

I am so proud of you, buddy.  Sometimes it is hard to see you as such a big kid.  You are growing up too quickly. But it is also so fun to watch you grow into such a great kid.  I am so blessed to be your mommy. Happy 7th birthday to my first born - the boy who stole my heart - and I'm pretty sure is keeping it forever!

I love you with all of my heart,
Mommy