Dear Aidyn,

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks.  I’ve been meaning to write you but I just haven’t gotten around to it.  I’m sorry, kiddo.  Today I saw that your 6th tooth has finally broken through!  You have all 4 of your central incisors and you just cut your 2 top lateral incisors.  The left one just made it’s appearance this morning. (I checked yesterday and no dice!)

You had tubes put in both of your ears on Friday morning.  I woke up about 3am and was too nervous to sleep after that… but you slept great!  We got you out of the bed around 6:40 and put you straight in the car.  You didn’t really wake up until we were almost at the surgery center.  Your least favorite part of getting checked in was when they put a sticker on your toe to check your oxygen saturation.  You screamed and screamed… Then they turned Blues Clues on and you danced a little.  The anesthesiologist carried you back to the operating room at about 8:00 with you bunny and paci… I cried a little in the waiting room.  They called us back about 10 minutes later and when we saw you, you were still asleep.  You were so still… and then about 5 seconds later you started squealing and crying.  You didn’t even open your eyes for about 5 minutes- you just cried.  The doctor said that was completely normal and not to worry- you were just confused from the anesthesia.  It was still scary for us though.  I nursed you for a few minutes and you calmed down a lot…  You cried until about 9am when we got home and then you were fine!  You were actually more hyper than normal!  GranJan came to the house to help us out… and we were both laughing at you.  You’re such a trip.  I’m just so glad it all went ok.

Sunday afternoon you started running a fever… It’s doing much better now and you’re eating some again, but you’re still not back at 100%.  The doctor said it’s probably just a virus and you should get better in a couple of days.  I hope so- I hate it when you’re sick.  Especially when I can’t do anything to make you feel better.  I can’t wait until you can tell me what hurts… and what you want.  It’s such a frustrating feeling- to love someone more than yourself and not be able to make them feel better…

You’re in the bed taking a nap now.  You look like an angel when you’re sleeping.
You have a whopping vocabulary of about 15 or so words-
Lately you:  Will walk to your room when I tell you it’s time for a clean bottom or time to go to night-night, say nie-nie (night-night), no no!, da-ddy, mom-my, bub-by (for bunny), baby, pu-ppy, ball and ahh-poo (for apple juice)- that one was a complete surprise!  We were sitting at the dinner table and daddy asked if you wanted water or apple juice- you sweetly replied, “ahh-poo”. Ha!  You say dod-dee (doggie) and you bark “woo-woooo” when I ask you what the doggie says (or when you hear Snoopy barking outside!)  The last 2 mornings Snoop has woken you up barking… and I know it because I hear you on the monitor going “woo-woooo”! 

You say “hot” any time I use the microwave and you blow on your food if I say it’s hot.  I hope you’ll blow your candle out for your birthday!! You say “bit” for book- you love when we read to you.  Your favorite book is “I Love You Through and Through”.  Your favorite page says “I love you hair and eyes”- you say “eye” and like to point at the little boy’s eyes.  I’m working on getting you to point at your eyes too.  “Uh-oh” was one of your firsts after “ball”…  you say that anytime anything falls (or you throw it!) My favorite new trick of yours:  Peek-a-boo.  You put your little hands over your eyes and throw them off… sometimes you say “boo” too!  It’s amazing.  Another favorite of mine- I say “love mommy” and you put your head on my shoulder and say “awwww-wee”.  You’re precious.  Even when you’re running a fever over 103, you’re still such a sweet baby.

I love you so much, Aidyn girl.
I can hardly believe you’re almost 1.

Love,
               mom-my

Here’s you playing “peep-eye” as GranJan calls it.  She videoed you at her house about a week ago… so cute!

My sweet, baby girl.

I was reading back through some of the first letters I wrote to you… thinking about how much more I love you now than I loved you then.  I thought it was amazing when you were born- but today when you came walking into my room and exclaimed, “mama!”… my heart almost exploded all over again.  You’re sleeping 12 hours consistently from about 8:30-8:30.  I’ve got to figure out how to get you to stop wanting my milk… you know when it’s time and you walk over, take out your paci and lean into me.  Funny kid!

You said your first word at the beginning of the month- our anniversary, actually!  You just pointed your perfect little finger and said, “ball” at your little pink beach ball.  You definitely know what a ball is too.  Any round thing that rolls is “ball”.  You say “mama” “dada” “mimi”- for milk.  You know what your bunny and puppy stuffed animals are and will get them when I ask.  You pick up your cup when I ask too!  You wave and say “bye bye”, blow and give kisses.  SO sweet and smart.  You’re trying to run… still need a little practice with that.  There are more than a few bruises all over your body from your frequent, ungraceful moments.  You’re priceless.

I’m at work now and not feeling so hot… 
I still can’t believe you’re going to be a big sister.
And that I’m going to be a mother of two.  It seems so surreal.
But hey, I did turn 24 three days ago… I guess that’s old enough, right? 
I still feel so much like a kid though…

We’re so blessed, baby girl.
I love you.  Hope you sleep well tonight!

       ~ mommy

Dear Aidyn,

We’ve had some very sad things happen lately.  MaMa passed away on July 21st.  She was tired and she missed PawPaw.   They’d been married 70 years and she died 2months and 2days after he did.  We’re going to miss her so much.  Sunday lunch will never be the same.  For all of your short life, we spent hours at MaMa’s house on Sundays.  We still all met there and ate the first Sunday after she died, but it just wasn’t the same without her there.  We ate lunch yesterday at GranJan’s but we left around 2:30 because I had work.

That’s you and your beautiful MaMa when you were less than a week old.  Even though it’s been so sad to miss MaMa, we’ve had something exciting happen lately too.

You’re going to be A BIG SISTER!

We found out on the 17th that there’s another baby on the way.  He/She should be here in the middle of March!  We’re so excited about having another baby.  You were our unplanned, wonderful surprise.  I don’t know what I would do without you in my life.  You are my life.  …and even though this new baby isn’t a surprise, it is just as special and wonderful as you are.  You’ve been so great and so much fun… it’s going to be great to do it again!  I think you’ll love having a sibling so close in age.  You’ll be 17.5 months apart!
I started another journal at www.xanga.com/AnotherSweetBlessing

You bled for the first time (not in the dr’s office) yesterday.  You were in the front yard playing with a flag from Snoopy’s wireless dog fence and fell over on it.  It scraped up your left thigh and poked into your belly.  It looks pretty nasty and you cried and cried… I cleaned it up and put gauze over some neosporin.  It’s under the flap of your diaper so it actually stays in place.  I felt so bad… you did too, because you actually let me snuggle you for a good 5 minutes.  Such a rare, wonderful thing.  You have a black eye from falling into the wall a few days ago too.  Walking causes lots of owies, I’ve noticed.  And you’re walking everywhere now.

I love you, Aidyn.
You’ve totally opened my eyes up to my flaws; my impatience, my anger, my selfishness among other things.  But at the same time, you’ve opened my eyes to how much I’m able to love.  Even if in a moment I lose my temper or am impatient, I look at your innocent face and wish I could take it all back.  I want you to go through your life as untouched and unhurt as you possibly can.  I hope you know that your daddy and I love you more than you’ll ever know.  You’ll get a glimpse of it when you have a little one of your own…

I can’t believe your daddy and I will be married 2 years tomorrow…

Sweet dreams, my love.

See you in the morning.       

Well my love,

Daddy’s putting you to bed right now.  It’s been a really interesting week!  You’ve been sleeping longer… I’m so excited about that!  You’re sleeping from about 8:30pm-7:30 or 8:00am!  The biggest thing that happened is that you took your first steps.  Last Sunday you toddled 3 little baby steps to Daddy.  He was SO excited.  I was still in bed.  Daddy came running down the hall and opened the door, “She walked !” with you in one hand and the other on his hip like superman.    He’s so proud of you, Aider Gator.  I am too.  You’ve been getting more steady each day and today you walked about 6 feet from Daddy’s chair to me!   You seem way too little to be walking. 

At your 9 month checkup you were 28 inches tall, 17lbs13oz, and your head was 15 inches around!  You’re still pretty tall and skinny.  You’re getting more hair now too.  Hopefully I’ll be able to start clipping bows instead of just using headbands in the next month or so!  Your 2 top teeth finally came in too… you look so funny with 4 teeth in your little mouth!

I start working at Eastside tomorrow.  I’m excited about switching hospitals, but nervous at the same time.  I don’t know anyone except for the nurse manager.  Everyone I’ve talked to on the phone seems really nice, but I’m still a little nervous about it.

I love you so much, little one.

I hope you sleep really well.
Sweet dreams,
                             mommy

Happy Independence Day, my love!

I’m sitting at work right now and I can’t stop thinking about you.
Today would have been PawPaw Smith’s 93rd birthday.  He passed away May 19th, 2009.  He absolutely loved you.  No matter how confused he was, he would always ask, “How’s that baby?”  No matter how sick he was, he always had a smile on his face when he could see you.  “She sure is growed” he’d always say… Here’s you and PawPaw when you were 5 days old.

You’ve been showing us so much more of your personality these last few weeks.  You have strawberry blonde hair coming in and a firey temper to match it!  We got daddy a reclining leather couch for his first Father’s day.  Pretty cool… except that you keep trying to stand up underneath the foot while it’s extended and you bonk your head.  That makes you pretty mad.  The worst is when I walk by you and don’t pick you up.  (Gasp!  What a horrible mommy!) Your little face turns red so fast when you’re screaming…  You seem to think the world has ended… drama queen. *sigh*

Cute things you’re doing now:

Walking all around the furniture
Pulling up on everything in sight
Standing alone for 30-45 seconds (while clapping for yourself)
Opening your eyes really wide/squeezing them shut until someone mimicks you
Making really really cute surprise faces
Fake laughing anytime you hear anyone laugh
Holding toys out for Snoopy to grab and laughing at him
Chasing Snoopy around the house
Crawling so fast that sometimes your arms can’t keep up… and you face-plant.
Gasping/Squealing/Flapping your arms like a bird when you’re excited…

You’re finally sleeping at night un-swaddled… that’s such a relief.  Still only about 10-10.5 hours at a time from about 8:30-7.  You’re putting yourself to sleep for naps now too.  It only takes about 5 minutes of whining before you stick your little bottom up in the air and drop right off to sleep, usually with your paci in your hand.  You’re down to nursing 4x/day: 8:30, 12:30, 4:30 and 8:30.  I think you would still like to nurse more often, but you’re doing really well eating oatmeal for breakfast around 7:30.  You like cinnamon in your oatmeal. 

You have your 3rd ear infection from teething.  The doctor says you’re trying to cut 4 at once.  Blah!  You just have 2 bottom teeth now, but we’re waiting on 2 top + 2 more bottom teeth to break through any day.  I can hardly wait ’til all of your teeth are in and you don’t have to hurt like this anymore. We’re going to have you all checked out when we go for your 9 month visit next week.  I can hardly believe you’re over 9 months old already!!  Time really does fly.   

I’ve started planning your 1st birthday party already.  I mean, hey, it’s less than 3 months away!  It’s going to be bright pink, lime green, polka dots and alligators.  We’ve got favors, decorations and utensils already.  We are going to put alligator bath toys and mini beach balls in green polka dot boxes for favors.  I’m imagining a pull-apart cake in the shape of an alligator face… I wrote a poem for your invitation and David Welday is designing it.  He’s going to make an alligator into a “1″.  How cute!!  Maybe I’m going a little overboard, but I’m really excited about your first birthday party, kiddo.  I really hope it’ll be nice weather at the end of September because we’re planning an outside splash/cookout bash for you.  I know you won’t really care (or even remember) but I sure will.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy looking at pictures later… and laughing at how ridiculous your mama is for doing all this for a one-year-old.  I can’t help it.  I’m totally enthralled in my baby girl.

I love you so much, Aider Gator.
See you in a few hours.
                                                                

  Aider Gator.

     You can crawl !!

     You’ve been scooting backwards and forwards for about a week now, but today… oh!  Today you are completely crawling.   You are SO funny!!  You know what you’re doing and are so proud of it!  I’m pretty excited too, kiddo.  I sat in the floor and cried and you kept crawling to me and pulling up on my legs!  You seem too little to be getting around so well.  I can’t believe how quickly you picked up your pace either.  You can really move, little girl!  I’m so proud of you.  You’re growing and changing so fast!
     You have two teeth on your lower gums and now your top gums are pretty swollen.  You have your 2nd ear infection from all the snotty drainage that comes along with cutting teeth, but you’re still doing really well!  The most pitiful thing is that you cough and cough and cough.  We have to keep your head elevated while you’re sleeping and give you cough medicine at night time.  Otherwise, you wake yourself up hacking away… and you just whine.  I know you’re so tired.
     We’re really into separation anxiety now too.  Last night, you wouldn’t let daddy put you to bed.  You just kept fussing and crying until I came in and rocked you to sleep.  It really broke daddy’s heart… but I think he’s planning on being home earlier from work to play with you more now.  I can’t complain about that!
     I’m pretty set on your birthday party theme… I mean hey, it’s only 4 months away…   We’ve taken to calling you “Aider Gator” a lot now, so we’re going to have an Alligator/Crocodile party!  I think I’ll get the parents to RSVP with their kid’s shoe size so we can give out Crocs for favors!  I’m so excited to see you taste your first cake on your birthday!

     I love you so much, Aidyn.  Sometimes I just go into your room at night while you’re sleeping to watch you breathe.  You’re amazing… I can’t believe you are my daughter… you’re such a miracle.  I don’t want to miss a moment of your precious life…  Sweet dreams, my sweet baby.

     You’re still my heartbeat.
                                                 ~ 

Dear Aidyn,
I can’t believe you’re over six months old already!  At your checkup today you were 14lbs 13oz (28%) 27 inches tall (90%) and your head was in the 93%!  So… you’re going to be tall, skinny and have a big head I guess.   You’ve started saying “dadada” and “babababa” now… SO cute.  You’re also “helping” me write this letter.  At least you think you’re helping…

You’ve been trying to cut your first tooth for the last month and a half and you’ve been congested and gnawing on everything in sight since the beginning of February!!  I’m beginning to think it’s never going to end.  I know we’ll all be happier when these teeth finally break through!

We’re in the second stage out of four to becoming a missionary family.  Hopefully by this time next year we’ll be in another country.  It’s so exciting, sweetpea.

Oh, Aidyn.  you’re changing so fast… Won’t you just slow down a little bit, please?
Stay my baby forever…

I love you.
~

Dear Sweet Pea,

It’s been so long since I’ve written to you!  I’m sorry.  Things have been so crazy around here lately.  You got your first cold on February 6th and that caused your first ear infection about 2weeks afterward.  We have you on video still laughing and smiling though!  …just not when we were giving you medicine!  You gagged every time we put a little bit of amoxicillin in your mouth!

You’re growing so much.  You’re over 5 months old, you weigh about 14.5lbs and you’re 26 inches tall!  We’re working on getting you to sleep unswaddled… that’s not the most pleasant thing.  We’re making it though.  Oh, Aidyn.  You’ve changed so much since Christmas.  We took you last week to get your picture made at the mall and you did so well!  We got some really good pictures.  I’ll put some of my favorites in here:
                                
                           

  
Something funny about you: you are  s l o w  at waking up.  We leave  you in your bed for a good 20minutes after you wake up… daddy picked you straight up when you woke up this afternoon and you cried for about 10 minutes!  You’re just like him in that respect…  you two hate to wake up in a hurry!

We started trying to feed you rice cereal at just about 5months… you’ve had applesauce, peas, peaches and tonight you tried bananas.  You’re SO funny about eating. You try to suck in off the spoon and usually just make me spill it everywhere!  It’s a good thing you get your bath not long after supper.  You LOVE to watch us eat.  Lately, every time I drink anything, you want to taste it.  Your new favorite thing is to sip out of my cup.
 
                          I love you so much.

It’s so hard for me to believe that you’re going to grow up to be a beautiful, independent woman someday.  It scares me to think that someday you’ll tell me that you hate me.  I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately.  …. and about how much I love you.  I can’t even express it…  You’re my heartbeat…

Well love, daddy’s sleeping and I should be too.
I can’t wait to see you in the morning!

Sweet dreams, love.
                                           -mommy

Sweetest Blessing of my life…

It’s been exactly a year since we found out about you.
Our lives are so different now…

I can’t imagine being a family of 2 anymore.
I can’t imagine being without you.

I love you.
Daddy loves you too.

… I wonder what He has in store for us in this next year…