Letters to Finley: 8 months

It's ten o'clock, you are asleep next to me on the couch and I am trying to figure out how to put into words the essence of you, your sweetness, your, spunk your carefree charisma.  You like to stay up late, well later than most babies, you like to sleep late too. You are just awesome like that.  On the weekends your dad likes to get up early, (because he's weird like that) but you and I, we sleep in. You had such a big month full of milestones! I don't even know where to start.  You do not have to wear your helmet anymore and your noggin' looks great!  Your hair has grown a lot! I like to comb it into a mini mo-hawk  It's the cutest thing ever! You have two little teeth, I adore them.  I have started letting you try foods other than just baby food, so far pizza crust and applesauce are your favorite, but I haven't found anything yet that you won't eat. You went from army crawling to crawling, crawling! You are always on the move. Always. You are a very independent, determined, baby and are already transitioning from crawling to pulling up and cruising.  I am scared to blink, because I don't want to miss your first steps. You are growing so fast, too fast.  I had to lower your crib, because now you love to stand straight up and hold onto the rail.  It is so exciting to watch you grow, but the weird thing is, even though you are right her with me, I sometimes miss you, the littler you. I sometimes think back to how small and squishy you were when we brought you home and how you would sleep scrunched up on my chest in a frog position. The thing is I wouldn't trade now for then or then for now, I am sure all moms know what I mean and you will too someday. You will always be my baby and I'll always be your momma.

XOXO

Letters to Finley: 7 months

The days are long the months are short.  You continue to bloom and grow.  This was a busy month, full of firsts.  We flew to Kentucky and Grams and Captain took you to the aquarium   You loved the penguins.You learned to clap and are pretty proud of it. You started sitting in a highchair at restaurants and you are pretty proud of that too. You love servers and get a lot of attention from the waitstaff.  You are famous at a few restaurants around town.  They whisper "she's here" when you come through the door and the whole staff swings by our table to say hello. You greet them with your grins and dimples. You're pretty easy to fall in love with and have lots of fans. You went swimming for the first time and turns out you're a fish just like your dad and I.  You splashed and kicked.  I was amazed how relaxed you were in the water.  You would put your head on my shoulder and just lie and float. Your chatter has become more pronounced.  You can say dada, mama, and baba, but not necessarily with meaning or purpose.  You like to hear yourself talk, I like to hear you talk too and we have the best nonsensical conversations. Everyday that goes by I love you more, I'm not sure how that is even possible, but it's true.

XOXO,
Momma

Letters to Finley: 1/2 dozen months

*Little late on this one, but technically she is still six months....

I still have those moments, those moments where I just sit and stare at you and can’t believe that you are really mine.  I have enjoyed every minute of being your mom, every. single. one.  My favorite time of day is when I get to go pick you up from daycare.  You give me the biggest smiles and even though you don’t quite understand hugs, you reach for my cheeks, grab my hair and rub your slobbery, gummy, smile all over my face. It’s the best.You started to say MaMa Mamama MamaMAAMAMAma mamaMa, so far it only comes in the form of a whine and really isn't necessarily directed at me, but it is my favorite sound in the whole world, I have never heard anything sweeter in my life.You love people.  You smile with your mouth wide open at everyone you meet, making them feel extra special.You are sitting up independently, although you prefer to stand and now that you have discovered sitting and standing with assistance, you have declared that tummy time is for the birds. You want to be up, you want to be moving, and you prefer for someone to dance and sing to you at all times.You are a busy bee always reaching, twisting, talking, giggling and bouncing.  You resist sleep, (just like your dad) and literally collapse in my arms at the end of the day.  

So many of my smiles belong to you.

XOXO

Momma

Letters to Finley: 5 months

You are five months old. It is so crazy to me that you have only been here with us for five months, yet I can't remember what life was like without you in it.  You are the best part of my day, everyday.You are so much fun. Seriously. I used to get so emotional about the fact that you were growing, but now I realize how silly that was because watching you grow and learn new things is so amazing. You are such a happy girl.  You wake up with a huge smile on your face. You giggle and laugh and talk, talk, talk and for a baby who doesn't crawl, you can get around! You can scoot in circles to the left and to the right and roll, roll, roll. You love your toys especially toys that make  crinkly sounds (including paper, especially the mail) and Sophie. You loooove Sophie the squeaky giraffe. The weekends are the best.  You don't understand sleeping in yet, so when you wake up at 6:00a.m. we pull you into our bed and plop you in the middle of us.  We both lay there with one eye open watching you play, you roll back and forth from mommy to daddy reaching your little hands out and putting them on our face.  It is the sweetest thing in the world, we kiss your hands and you smile. We do this until all three of us fall back to sleep.  You were sleeping through the night, but this month you have started waking up again. Secretly, I love spending that sweet cuddle time with you. You are such a funny girl and life is so good with you in it.

XOXO,

Momma

Letters to Finley: 4 months

You are 13 lbs of giggly, drooley, cuddly, sweet baby.  Your personality is starting to shine though. You are very curious and love new environments, especially Kroger.  Your dad carries you where ever we go. He faces you out so you can see the world. You smile at everyone and your happy noises are getting louder and louder, they often come in the forms of screams and squeals, sometimes so high pitch it turns from a squeal into a gurgley hiss. I think it's the cutest thing ever. You love to sit up, we prop you up with pillows or put you in your bumbo seat.  If your on the ground you are rolling.  At first you didn't really like to be on your tummy, but you loved to roll.  You would roll to your tummy and throw a fit. I would put you back on your back and you would immediately roll to your tummy again.  Funny stuff. Now you love tummy time and can roll from your tummy back on to your back.  You are a much happier baby now that you can roll and play.  YOU SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT! You put yourself to sleep around 8:30pm and wake up promptly at 5:30am, I can't seem to convince you that 6:30am is so much better than 5:30am...
You are a great eater!  Your dad and I gave you rice cereal for the first time and you loved it so much. We couldn't get it in your mouth fast enough, you tried to grab the spoon and take over.   You are getting so big, ahhh, stay four months forever?

Letters to Finley: Three Months

Sometimes I think if I stare at you long enough I will actually see you grow.  You are getting bigger and stronger everyday. You have chunky little legs and a chubby little chin we call your "gully gully." You love to try to sit up and if your legs would carry you, I'm pretty sure you would be running all over the place.  You seem to think you are a much bigger baby than you are, you want to do big girl things.  We prop you up on the couch and it's funny to see such a little girl sitting up like a big kid.  You have discovered you have feet, but still don't know what they are for. You talk to them and grab them with your hands, and if you were coordinated enough, you would put them in your mouth.  You put everything in your mouth!  You have started to play with toys, you love to hold onto them, drool on them, and bite them. When  you are tired you rub your eyes. You love fuzzy blankets and want them up by your face when you sleep. You tried so hard to roll over and finally did it, but just once (with a little help from me). You haven't attempted to do it again, to your surprise, you ended up on your tummy, and you DO NOT like to be on your tummy. Smart girl. You are on the verge of laughing and every once in a while we get you to giggle, but we are still patiently waiting for the BIG belly one. You can be pretty ornery.  You know exactly what to do to get your way. For someone who is only three months old you can be pretty bossy, but what can we say we love you, so we let you think you are incharge. You are a wild one and we love your free spirit.  It's hard to believe that we only met you three months ago and now you consume our whole world. 

Letters to Finley: Two Months

You just keep getting more awesome.
You are growing so fast!  You have lost that newborn look and are now a chunky little 10 lb baby.  I could kiss those cheeks all day long.  Since you were born,  you have always had the best smiles, but now they are on purpose and daddy and I can't get enough.  We compete for them and you probably think we are crazy, we do all sorts of silly things to try and make you grin. Mornings are the best.   You are a morning person, you must have gotten that from your dad. When I come to get you out of your crib you smile big happy smiles over and over and wiggle, it makes getting up early worth it. You are learning so many things, you are very curious.  You love to look around.  Your favorite things to look at are leaves on trees, chandeliers, the picture wall behind the couch and Zoey and Leonard.  Zoey is a small zebra, you love her stripes and Leonard is a funny little lion.  You love being read to, your favorite book is Good Night Gorilla.  Daddy and I read to you every day.  You have discovered your hands and love to suck on them.  You talk! Well you don't say words, but you make all kinds of happy noises.  You love to have conversations with Zoey, Leonard, mommy and daddy, and the chandeliers. You have become much more independent. You used to want to be held all the time, but now you like to play by yourself and wiggle,wiggle,wiggle. You love to be rocked to sleep and listen to the sound of the ocean on your sleep machine. When we rock you hold onto my shirt with your tiny little hand and I have a hard time putting you down for the night. You are so sweet when you sleep and I could just snuggle with you forever.  You are perfect.  You are beautiful. You are smart and we love you.

Letters to Finley:  1 month old. 

 

We love everything about you.

• You have so many facial expressions.  You smile all the time.  You have the cutest dimples! People love to tell me that your smiles are "from gas", but I prefer to think that you are just a happy girl.
• You are so alert. You didn't sleep the whole first night you were born and even now you prefer to sleep with your eyes half open.  
• When you do sleep we call you The Frog Princess because you squish up into a frog position.  You love sleeping on my chest or in the wrap.  The wrap is perfect for a Frog Princess.
• When you are awake you love to kick your feet and move your hands. Daddy loves to play with you and you respond with smiles and lots of wiggles.
• You love having you diaper changed and prefer to be naked.
• You love taking baths, you love the warm water.
• You have two different cries, one says feed me now please (usually without the please) and the other is a funny high pitch squealy one that says hold me please (usually without the please).
• You are incredibly patient as we learn how to be a mommy and daddy.  You sometimes give me a funny look like "Do you know what you doing mommy? Who left you in charge?" 
• You snore.
• You love to look at the pictures above the couch.  When ever you're fussy we show them to you and your eyes get so big.
• You are perfect.  You are beautiful. You are smart and we love you. 

Letters to Finley: Getting to know you.

                

Our first week together has been the best week of my life. It has been so much fun getting to know you. I could stare at you all day and I can't get enough snuggle time. You are so sweet.  You love to eat.  You love to sleep and you love to be held which is fine by me because I can't seem to put you down.  I don't want to miss a minute of you. You have changed my whole world.  I sometimes have a hard time slowing down and I am guilty of living in the future and taking for granted the present, until now. Now, I just wish time would stand still so I could be here like this with you forever.