The top picture says it all…

The crazy hair, the leftover sweet potatoes on your cheek, your ever-changing eye color, and that HUGE permasmile!

This month has been a pretty challenging one, with your first real sickness and swollen gums galore, but somehow, some way, you manage to keep that grin on your face.

The ladies at the gym adore you, Rella at church wants to eat you to pieces and your grandparents could play with you all day long. I’m so glad that I decided around 4 months to give you some independence away from moi. Joining the gym and taking you to church was single-handedly the best decision I’ve made thus far as a parent. Just those few short hours in a day that you have to explore with other people, has definitely made you the confident, independent little girl that you are.

It’s amazing to watch this bond that you and I have created but sometimes I swear you could whine all day when it’s just the two of us.  The second I throw someone new in the mix, or drop you off with someone else, you’re the happiest little girl in the world— with not even a whimper the entire time.

YOU LOVE PEOPLE!

Here are some awesome things that you’re doing:

1- You love to flirt, flirt flirt. You tilt your head to the side and smile whenever someone grabs your attention.
2- You’re crawling! After spending more hours than I can count, holding your hands, walking around the house, for some reason you changed your mind, and took up crawling! At first you hated it. With each move you would make, you would make a whiny sound like you couldn’t believe I was making you do it. Just tonight we finally got you to crawl with no whining! Score!
3- You say Mama, Dada, Kitty, and Nana now. You know exactly what each word means too— especially kitty. You have this new fascination with cats of all kind. Dogs do nothing for ya, but the second you see a cat, It’s “Ki Ki” this and “Ki Ki” that.
4- You eat everything! Chicken, cheese, blueberries, eggs, green beans, rice, oranges, strawberries, yogurt, sweet potatoes, bananas, green peas, carrots, anything you can get your hands on. I’m so happy that you love to eat and don’t mind the healthy stuff. Your hand coordination is insane. You can grab a green pea with little effort and chomp it down within seconds. Your main source of food is still breastfeeding, and I plan to continue as long as possible.
5- So I mentioned crawling, but yes we are still going strong with attempting to walk alone. You can still do about 3 steps alone, and I’ve noticed your courage bump up a lot the last few days, as you’ll be holding onto something then let go. Sure you fall on your bum, but I can tell you’re definitely excited to start walking.
6- You’re such a ham. You do this funny fake laugh now but only when conversing with someone else. The best is when you tilt your head and make the fake laugh at the same time. You love the attention and definitely understand that it’s funny.
7- I mentioned teething. Well, everything in your mouth say’s that you’re within seconds of cutting teeth, but still nothing to get excited about. Your gums are swollen as can be and white all the way across the bottom. You’re still putting everything in your mouth for comfort, but mommy and daddy found the jackpot the other day. I know this sounds awful, but we gave you the crust from our pizza and you sat in your highchair for an hour and chewed on it. I could tell that the rough crust on the back felt divine on your bottom gums. Sure it’s not the healthiest, but if it gave you some relief, then I say who cares!
8- I’ll touch on this a bit later, but sleep is still a struggle for us. You go to sleep fast and furious, but it’s the middle of the night that seems to be difficult.

I’m so amazed by your strong personality.  You conquer everything you put your mind to and love to celebrate it once you do. It’s amazing how confident you are with change too. You welcome it. You embrace it, with no hesitation.

I can tell this life that you have blessed us with is just the beginning of many amazing memories to come. I love you harder than I’ve ever loved in my life. You’ve made such an impression on this world already and I cannot wait for all the awesome to come.

~mom