4 months old! (for Eli)

Eli,

You turned 4 mos old 4/13. I cannot believe this!!

You have turned into a VERY happy baby!! You smile so much now; it's magical, really! You giggle and squeal almost anytime mommy, daddy or Oliver talk to you. You love, love, love to be talked to. You are cooing so much right now. Yesterday you were "talking" all day! I love this!

You are just so sweet in the mornings. You will lie in your bed making the sweetest sounds, waiting for mommy or daddy to come get you. The moment we walk in your room you start smiling your huge bright smile that just makes my day.

You are becoming so strong! You still hate to lay on your tummy; but you have rolled over a few times, so mommy doesn't force it on you as much now. I know, bad mommy, but really... I just love to cuddle with you! You are holding rattles and your Sophie giraffe. Your eyes light up and get so big when I put a toy in front of you, especially your Sophie. You love it when Oliver talks to you and all morning at breakfast you were just laughing at him.

You love to look in the mirror at yourself and flash the greatest smiling during this time! You are sitting up really well; and you kick like crazy when we let you lie on your back. You love to lay on your changing table, naked for as long as we will let you. You will lie there cooing, giggling, smiling and kicking like crazy!! I love this!

You still love to sleep on your little lovey that Jamie made you, and in fact you have a hard time sleeping if you are not right on top of it. You've been sleeping from 8pm to 5am for the past month, except for the past 4-5 days. I believe that you are starting to teeth as you are very drooly and are fussy. You are never a fussy baby; and you've been waking up at night again. I'm hoping this goes away, as I LOVED having you sleep all night. I also love the cuddle time with you in these early hour mornings. You really are great about going right back to sleep after mommy feeds you, so I can't complain.

You now weight 16.4lbs and are 26" long! You are doing great and I am so happy you are here. You are such a sweet sweet baby. I really think you are going to be like your daddy; very calm (yay!), sweet and sincere.

I could write all night about how amazing you are. God has blessed us immensely by placing you in our lives.

Sleep tight my sweet baby Eli.
I love you.

Memories (for Oliver)

You being 2 1/2 years old brings so many new things to the table each and every day. You are such an intelligent little kiddo, which, again, at this age brings a whole new bag of worms to face each day. Some days you out smart me 100% of the time, other days we tie 50/50. It's so hard for me to look at you and remember that you are only 2 1/2 yrs.

I have been filling photo albums with your first year photos the past couple of days and looking at all of these photos has brought back so many wonderful memories! Seeing your ornery grin when you were only 2 mos old, and remembering the thought that you were going to be a very ornery little boy and my hands were going to be full with you (so far so good). Looking at the pictures of you developing your hand-eye coordination, it's so fun to look back and see these photos of you when you were unable to sit on your own, then stand on your own, then walk on your own; and seeing your excited facial expressions when you accomplished these things.

These pictures made me both miss holding you in my arms, when you fit in my arms lengthwise, and look forward to a life full of great memories. You have been such an amazing kid. It's crazy to call you a kid; and I feel like you just grew up over night. Now, you put yourself to sleep, you potty on the potty, you drink out of "big boy cups," you play outside by yourself (not for long and of course mommy watching you every second through the window), you sing your "ABC's," you count to "eleven," you recite all of your books (a rather amazing feat as you have over 200 books), and you are the best big brother. You give Eli kisses, put his blanket on him if it falls, hand him his toys, sing to him, and lately, make him laugh. You help mommy bake with cracking the eggs, and you are better than me at this as you never get shells in the egg, you help me pick out presents/cards for others, and you can write the letter "O" -"like Oliver."

I just wanted you to know that although life is so super busy right now and you are growing up so fast; you are always my sweet baby Oliver. Thank you for these amazing memories and making me realize that life is so much sweeter with having you here.

Sleep tight my love, (hopefully all night).
I love you.