letter – deeperrin.com

Dear Caleb,

My dear, sweet, loving, cuddly, little miracle surprise baby, I love you with all my heart. I’ll admit that when I found out I was pregnant with you I was scared. I wasn’t sure how I would manage to keep up with another baby, but I fell in love with you and all of those worries went away. I honestly cannot imagine what our family would be without you in it any more. You truly do complete us. It melts my heart to see the way your big brother and sister adore you. I just can’t see it being any other way.

However, the last few months have been extremely challenging for all of us. You see, you started walking, and with that new found ability to move (fast!) you also gained a new sense of independence…and attitude. I’m really proud of all of the new advances you are making, I really am. I just need you to stop every once in a while and take a break from touching and climbing and jumping off of ALL THE THINGS! You are quite a force to be reckoned with these days and you are wearing this old mama out.

There really is no containing you any more, aside from strapping you in a car seat, which causes screams that bring the neighbors running to see what is wrong (not really, but I’m surprised they haven’t yet). You have already managed to climb over the side of your crib, have nearly gotten over the side of the pack ‘n’ play, have escaped your “baby jail”, and figured out how to open doors. This week you also managed to escape from the seat of a shopping cart (while strapped in – thankfully I turned back around at just the right second) and the stroller (while also strapped in). Oh, and also the high chair. When you are done eating you are outta there, one way or another. The only thing you have not managed to break and/or escape from (as long as it is properly closed) is the living room gate, but I’m sure that time is coming.

Once you have managed to escape from whatever latest contraption we were trying to contain you in, you are into E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G! I am not exaggerating. You seriously have to have someone 1-on-1 with you at all times to keep you from getting into things that you shouldn’t. Perhaps I have not baby proofed as well as I should have because I got a little relaxed with the other two being older, but pretty much if there is anything within your sight that you want, you will find a way to get to it. I have found you standing on top of tables, on top of the back of the sofa and chairs in the living room, and even standing on toys so you could reach just a little farther. There is no stopping you.

Your other favorite pastime seems to be annoying your older brother. One of your favorite things to do is to turn the TV off when he is mid-show, or even worse, in a crucial part of a video game. You also constantly grab his glasses from his face (and mine) which gets old really quick. He’ll let you slide a couple times, but after that he gets a little angry. You better watch out because paybacks are hell, and boy do you have it coming! It’s a good thing that he loves you so much, because there is no one else he would be so patient with.

And can we just talk about this sleep thing for a minute? It took me 13 months, yes THIRTEEN MONTHS, to finally get you sleeping through the night in your own bed. I swear the first morning I woke up and realized you were still asleep in your crib I heard a choir of angels singing above me. There were 8 weeks or so of you doing this pretty much every night, with a few exceptions while you were trying to cut those horrid molars, but hey, that’s understandable. Then came vacation. You actually did amazingly well while we were out of town, despite the crazy schedule, sporadic naps, and getting to bed late pretty much every night. You ended up in bed with mom and dad a couple of times, but it was a nice big king size bed and there was plenty of room. The trouble happened when we came home.

Once we arrived back home from our trip, you forgot how to sleep without me attached to you. In fact, you pretty much forgot how to do anything without me attached to you. I can barely put you down without you screaming (unless there is food visible and within your reach, anyway). Bedtime is horrible. You scream and scream and scream until I finally give in because I’m afraid you are going to scream your lungs up. Eventually, I can get you to sleep by nursing you (which we were nearly done with before vacation but you have now let me know in no uncertain terms that the boobies are still yours) and then put you down in your bed. Some nights that works and you sleep through most of the night before the screaming commences, but others it doesn’t. Those nights are the ones when you wake up just as I try to lay you down and I wonder what on Earth ever possessed me to want to have these little screaming things called children. Ugh, mommy is tired, honey. So, you’ve ended up back in my bed more times that you should have lately and the end seems to be nowhere in sight. Seriously, mommy is tired. Sixteen months of not sleeping (shy of those 8 precious, glorious, weeks) is just too many. I need to sleep and so do you.

I know you have a lot going on. You are growing like a weed – 34 inches (>98th percentile – off the dang growth charts!) tall, and nearly 25 pounds. Plus, you just cut your first 4 molars and 4 incisors all seemingly at once – a total of 16 teeth! Besides all of the walking, climbing, and exploring, you are trying really hard to learn how to talk. You have several words that you use, but you spend a lot of time right now pointing and making sounds that we are supposed to translate into words. Your favorite word seems to be “daddy” as you go around saying it over and over and over again all day long. Sadly, when he tries to pay attention to you, you push him away. You can also say mommy, zach, evie, hi, hello, please, this, bopbop, yay-ya, something that sounds similar to caleb, and many other words that you repeat when you hear them. You also have started dancing whenever you hear music. I love that you are doing this and often turn music on just so I can watch you. It is the cutest thing. We used to have lots of dance parties in our house and I kind of miss them.

It may seem like I’m complaining a lot, but the truth is, I really just want to remember every little bit of your babyness. It is flying by so fast. I feel like I miss out on so many moments with you because I’m busy working, or busy with your brother and sister. I struggle to find the time to just sit and snuggle, which is why when you wrap your arms and legs around me and won’t let go as I’m trying to put you to bed I don’t struggle with you very long. We go right back to my chair and snuggle until you fall asleep in my arms. I know just how quickly these days will pass and you will no longer want to sit and snuggle with mom. You will be grown before I know it, though I hope you’ll still come back for a hug now and then. Until then, I’ll cherish ever minute of time with you I can get.

I love you so much, my little monkey!

Love,

Mama

p.s. Sorry for the lack of photos. You don’t hold still long enough for me to take them anymore!

Comments closed

Dear Evie,

I’ve missed two months now of these “monthly” letters and I really have no excuse other than that I just can’t seem to find the words to describe you these days. You are beautiful and charming. You are so full of life and attitude. One minute you have me in tears laughing so hard and the next minute all you want to do is snuggle up on my lap like we did for hours at a time when you were an infant. You make my heart swell and hurt in such a good way.

You are growing up so dang fast. Some days it seems like you are one going on fifteen. You still let me pick your clothes out in the morning, but heaven help me if I try to put the wrong pair of shoes on you. You will kick and scream and fight until I give up and let you choose the ones you want. As long as something is covering your feet it doesn’t really matter much though. You just love your shoes and even though you can’t manage to put your own shoes on yet, I keep finding you walking around in your brother’s. I’ve also found you walking around trying to wear a t-shirt as pants because you are trying to dress yourself already. There were even a few days when I had to laugh because you started asking for a “bow” in your hair every night before bed and refused to lay down until you had one. It seems I may have a little miniature diva on my hands.

You talk all the time now. You can still only say one or two words at a time, but girl you have a lot of words for your age. Your favorite word? Shoes. (You may have to get a job when you’re 3 to keep up with your shoe habit.) I can’t possibly list all of the words you say, but the most common are: shoes, mommy, mama, daddy, zach, bubba, bopbop, cat, bye bye, more, night night, outside, belly (while you lift your shirt to show it off), hello, hi, ball, baby, bath, potty, yes, no, and cup. I know I’m forgetting some because you’re always spouting off new words. You try to repeat pretty much anything we say, even if you can’t get the sounds quite right.

You are getting more and more social all the time. You love your friends at day care and your cousins, but you love your big brother even more. You want to play with him all the time, which means I hear a lot of “No Sis!” coming from the playroom and living room when you start messing with his toys. Most of the time he ends up giving up the toys and playing with you instead. When he does pay attention to you the two of you giggle like crazy and it is the best sound in the world.

It’s been fun watching you develop your motor skills lately as well. You’ve been walking since just after your first birthday, but now you love to dance as well. In the last week or so, I’ve noticed you trying to jump. Every kid does it, but I think it is the cutest thing when you try to jump and your feet don’t leave the ground. You are so proud of yourself every time even though you aren’t going anywhere. Your fine motor skills are improving as well. You have started picking up crayons and coloring and you are doing much better feeding yourself with a fork and spoon.

Along with all of the growing, you’ve been cutting teeth like crazy. You cut all four of your 1st year molars and all four incisors within a few weeks of each other. In between cutting all of those teeth, you somehow got a bacterial infection in your skin, got a cold, and a horrible sinus infection that caused a week long fever. You were a pretty miserable girl for a couple weeks, but once we got through the antibiotics you were back to your normal goofy self.

Baby girl, you are just so much fun. You are so lively and funny and just perfect in every way (except for maybe your sudden obsession with princesses). I can spend hours just tickling you and giving you zerberts on your belly and you never get tired of it. You just ask for “more” and lift your shirt to show me your belly. You bring so much joy and love to our family. I can’t imagine a more perfect fit. I love you, my little monkey!

Love always,
Mama

Comments closed

Tag: letter

Caleb – 16 Months

Evie – 16 1/2 Months