Nine Months

Dear Sweet Sylvia,

You are incredible.  I still can't quite put into words how my heart feels when I see you.  You are nine months old today - a snowy, sunny Saturday.  When I heard you stirring in your bed this morning, my heart flipped a little bit because I was so excited to be with you today.  I went into your room and peeked over the rails of your bed to see you lying on your back, kicking and playing and "bah bah bah"-ing.  You were keeping yourself happy and I snuck up on you to say, "Good morning, sweet baby!"  You turned your head to see me and a sleepy smile spread across your face.  When you realized it was morning and you were about to get out of bed, you started flapping your arms and squealing through that smile, flashing those two teeny teeth.  You are such a happy baby, and you make us so happy, too.

The last month has been filled with many milestones and important family events.  We celebrated your first Christmas!  We spent a long time with family this year and you became quite accustomed to people passing you around and playing with you.  You loved opening your presents, especially the part where you got to tear the wrapping paper!  You love tearing paper.  Whenever all the commotion became too overwhelming, you'd reach for me or Daddy and snuggle in our arms until things calmed down a bit.  You're starting to need us a little more than you used to...just for safety reasons, I guess, but we're kind of like your headquarters during any giant family get-together.  And we don't mind one bit! 

You can do so many things now, Nugget!  You can pull yourself up and play in your toy box, walking back and forth all by yourself.  When we ask you "How big is Sylvia?" you strech your little arms high up to the sky and smile until we say, "Sooooo big!" and then you laugh and laugh and laugh.  You also like to hunt for the cat.  You can crawl all over the house and when you turn a corner to find the cat, you squeal and crawl as fast as you can to get to her, but she usually runs away before you catch her.  You can do all kinds of things, but my favorite trick of yours is your kisses.

You love to give kisses to your stuffed animals and to the faces you see in your bedtime books.  You have a Sesame Street book that we read every night, and even though you give a goodnight kiss to every character, you like to kiss Big Bird about ten times before you let me turn the page.  You have a thing for yellow birds, I guess!  You like to kiss Mama and Daddy, too.  Sometimes you'll kiss us when we ask for one.  "Give Mama kiss?" I'll say, and you'll open your mouth wide and slobber all over my face.  But sometimes when I'm holding you, you just get so excited about life, you get so happy about being with us, you think everything around you is just so amazing and wonderful, that you start hopping up and down in my arms, smiling and laughing until finally, you open your mouth for a kiss, wrap your arms around my neck, lean in, and really plant one on my cheek.  Those are my favorite kisses.  The ones where you get so filled up with love and happiness that you have no choice but to let it all spill out.  You are the sweetest.

You are growing so quickly and I don't ever want to forget these special family moments.  Daddy and I are so happy to have you in our lives, we just couldn't imagine what we'd do without you.  You make us smile and we love you for it.

Happy Nine Months sweet baby girl!
I love you,
Mama