For my baby

Dear Matthew,

I absolutely cannot believe you are 6 months old today!! How fast you are growing up. It seems like just last week when you were snuggle-bugged up on my chest, curled in a tiny little ball, taking your very first nap at home. And now you nap and sleep all night in your big boy crib. There are so many exciting things that have happened in the last six months, I only hope and pray I remember every little bit of it. You have become quite the little traveller, flying on an airplane to Texas and then again to go to Connecticut to meet your GREAT dziadzieu. You learned to make noises, laugh and smile (which happens to melt my heart), roll over and sit up. In fact you LOVE sitting up. You are so content to sit up on your blanky and play with all your little toys. You started eating real foods, and loved every bit of it (well, you didn't love the green beans, but we're working on it still). You absolutely adore your dog, Boss. Anytime you are getting cranky or bored, if Boss comes around, you smile and stare at her. She does not enjoy it when you pull on her hair, but she just gets up and walks away. (She's even become a bit protective of you and comes to find mommy anytime you're crying and I'm in a different room!) Your favorite toys right now are your counting crab, your talking candy corn, and lots of little handheld rattles. You're starting to enjoy some of the bigger toys you got for Christmas, but seem to prefer the little ones still. You love to people watch whenever we go out, and people are always telling mommy and daddy how cute you are.

There's so many things that I want you to know about the first six months of your life too. Like, I wonder if you know that every single night I (and sometimes Daddy) sneak into your room before we go to bed and just stand there watching you sleep. You look so serene and peaceful and I amaze at this special little miracle that we made. I wonder if you'll remember that when I rock you to sleep at night, I hold you longer than I have to before I put you to bed, simply because it's so cozy there. You smell so sweet after your bath and you just cuddle so perfectly. I want you to remember how excited you are to see your daddy when he gets home from work each day. He puts his bag down and walks over to you with a "hi buddy!" and you smile so big back at him. Bath time...oh bath time! You LOVE to take a bath. When you hear that bath water running, and we take your clothes and diaper off and sing that silly little "naked baby" song to you, you start jumping, dancing and smiling because you know it's time for bath.

You have so many people who love you, Matthew, and they all love to watch you grow and learn. Six months ago you came into our lives, and now we simply couldn't imagine life without you.

Love,

Mommy