11 Months Old!

Emily...You are 11 months old!

I don't know where to even start.  You are ridiculous. Ridiculously busy. Ridiculously dramatic.  Ridiculously adorable.

You have mastered the art of discovery.  If there is a light socket you will find it.  A loose cable wire goes straight to your mouth. Door stops make fantastic noises.  I feel like I save your life over, and over, and over again.

You make me laugh a hundred times a day.  I ask you for kisses and you give the sweetest open mouth ones. They are slobbery, and wet, and precious and my heart wants to explode when you give me one without me asking.

You have started to repeat some words.  I have heard you say "Papa" and "Duck" so far.  Nothing else can be deciphered but you talk all the time.  You mostly love to babble to your bath toys.  Monkey is your favorite. You raise him up in the air and have serious conversations with him.  It keeps your Daddy and I laughing at the most exhausting time of night.

You were a sweet angel while your brother was down with a virus and then had surgery.  You slept, and ate, and giggled as if you knew we needed you to cooperate.  Then, two nights ago you cried out at midnight.  Any thought I had of letting you cry it out went out the window when I saw you in your footy pajamas, crying "mama" with your bunny in one hand.  Must have been a virus because fever found you last night so you have gotten extra attention the last couple days.  Your Nana and I joke that you evade most illnesses because you move so fast they can't catch you...but this one did.  Bless your heart.

Luke prefers Daddy- but God knew that you would need your Mommy.  You are Mommy's girl in every sense of the word.  At night we snuggle in our rocking chair and rock and sing and rock some more. It is my favorite time.  Sometimes, just before you go to sleep you will reach up and put your hand on my face....just to make sure I am still there.

I love you so, so much.

Mommy

Luke...You are 11 months old!

I am sitting watching you play in your exersaucer right now.  You stop intermittently and look up and me and smile. You have a whole slew of facial expressions and versions of a smile these days.  You have given me every one of them over the last ten minutes and I melt every time.

Sweet boy...you have been slow to get on the development train.  This was the month I worried and obsessed about you.  Dr. Hobson wanted to hear you babbling.  While your sister pulled up to standing and took off, you remained happy sitting.  I rejoiced when you finally decided to go from sitting to your belly and back again.  You just were so darned content you weren't interested in trying and even though everyone told me not to worry....I did.

But a couple of weeks ago, everything clicked for you.  You caught a virus burned with fever all night.  We rocked, you cried, and in the darkness you finally cried out (with amazing clarity)...."DaDa."  And then you said it over and over and over again for hours.  I didn't know whether to be offended that you were crying for your Daddy or simply happy that you finally started talking!

There is no denying it...you love your Dad.  He is your playmate, your best friend.  You look for him and wait for his antics to begin when he comes in from work. While your sister melts into me in the dark as we rock and sing hymns, you and your Daddy are bonding in the living room.  I can usually hear your giggle. I don't know what games you play but they must be so much fun because I can hear your squeal.  Some nights you are so worn out that I find you passed out on you Daddy's shoulder.  But a lot of nights you are still going strong, and I walk you to bed while your peek over my shoulder trying to soak up every last minute of fun.

You had your surgery this month and I thought my heart was going to break into a million pieces.  Mommy sends little kids to surgery at work every day...but it is not the same when it was MY baby.  You were so pitiful.  But you snapped back to normal quickly and I loved the extra bonding that we got to do.

Luke, I hate to tell you this...but you are beautiful. I know you are boy, but you are a gorgeous one. 

Those early days in the NICU were not kind to you. You had to grow into your head and your eyes.  But you have and WOW.  I think you are going to break hearts.

Love you,

Mommy