The Tenth Month of Millie
Amelia, my Sweetest Girl,
This month, I've been my most emotional yet. It seems like daily, I find myself tearing up over the simplest things. The way your hands slap on the ground when you crawl. The funny sounds you hum while falling asleep. The way you stick your fingers into my mouth to touch my teeth when you're nursing. I'm so in love with you. It grows daily, and as I get to know you better and better, I fall harder and harder. Amelia, you are incredible. Beautiful. Such a joy. I love showing you off. I love holding you close. I love the best things about you. And even the worst. And though there aren't many "worsts," your first solid poop was pretty gross! That and I didn't like the fact of how bad it hurt you coming out. You're not used to big people food, but you do like it. This month, you tried sweet potato and broccoli for the first time, along with some others you've already tried like banana, acai, avocado, smoothie, and spaghetti. Yum! You're to the point in your little life where you'll literally put anything into your mouth and so finally, Daddy and I decided that rather dust bunnies and dirt clumps, we'd cut up food and place it within arms reach instead. Girl, you shovel that food into your face like a pro! You officially skipped the puree stage and I'm VERY happy with how well you've done in your transition to a few solids a day! You're still fed primarily by MamaMilk - probably 95% to 5%, but you sure like whatever grub you can get your itty bitty mouth on!! So cute. And though I love seeing your face light up when you try new things, it's so incredibly bittersweet for Mama. My baby's growing up.
What's not bittersweet however, is the undeniable connection between you and Dada. This month, the bond between the two of you lit up like never before. You crawl to him, you respond to him, you climb up his legs and laugh at his silliness. You sit with him and read with him and color with him and play with him. This month I left you twice with Dada for maybe an hour each time, and though you did miss me, you knew Daddy would take care of you. It's moments like these that just get to me so deeply. My heart almost aches with the amount of love I have for you. Seeing you light up in the presence of my best friend every morning makes my soul sing. Watching you wobble over to him for morning kisses and snuggles is what I live to witness. It's enchanting and lovely and everything I hold dear. You two make me the happiest woman alive.
I don't know how we ever knew life before you.
You're spunky and silly and perfectly pleasant. A great friend and pal. I love even your whine - you know, the one when I'm trying to put you to sleep but you still want to play? You sit up and "backtalk" me and tell me all about how much you want to stay awake. But I say, "No No Millie, Ni-Night" and just as I finish my sentence, you make that one scrunched up face of yours and then...you laugh at me! And so I laugh! And then we're laughing together when I know full well just how tired you are and how much you actually need to sleep! You can't help it either, Amelia...I know you only want to stay awake so you can see more of us. And Baby Girl, we feel the exact same way. The only difference is...you have to rest, my Dear! Or else you'll get sick. And we already had one sickness this month - your very first one (a little cold that lasted 3 days while your top two front teeth came in) - so we need to always rest, rest, rest when we're tired! And while we're on the subject, can I just tell you how proud I am of your little immune system?! In 10 months, you traveled on 34 airplanes and slept in 36 different beds and not one time did you get sick (other than last week) or require medication! That's TEN months of intense traveling and teething and time changing and bed-switching and baseball-watching and and train riding and Ubering and not once did a single drop of any kind of medicine cross your body. You are a warrior, My Princess. So strong.
And there they are, in all their glory. Teeth Five and Six. Front and center. You surely got them just in time for Christmas too! Those puppies claimed a lot of attention this month, and though I know just how much they bothered you, you never once cried over them. You did a whole lot of slobbering and snotting and funny face making though! We have you wearing your Amber teething necklace and girl, that thing is amazing. Just like you. Dad and I can totally tell the difference when you're not wearing it and we're so thankful for it. So is Whitacre. Your Partner in Crime hates seeing you miserable just like we do.
This month you celebrated your first Christmas, which was a very special for us. For the first time ever, we bought a tree together and set it up together and...Mommy decorated it. You tried, but turns out, a 9.5 month old can't really help with that sort of thing. You enjoyed tearing the ornaments off the tree with Whit though! You also semi-enjoyed our Christmas card photo shoot as well as Christmas dinner AT OUR TABLE! Daddy made it especially for us for our first Christmas in our first house!! He's just too good! On Christmas morning, we loved watching you rip the paper off your presents and chew on every toy (and avocado, which we totally gave to you in your stocking!). What we enjoyed even more though, was sharing the story of Jesus' birth with you while Dada held you and read from Luke 2. It was a sweet memory that'll forever be etched into my mind. You sat on his lap quietly, listening to him speak. It was all I could do not to burst out in praise. And tears. He read from your pink Bible - a gift Grandma Heather and Grandpa Dan - and after, he shared with us a sermon message he'd been planning all week. We'll do that every year with you, Amelia. And all the days in between, we'll continue our prayers that one day, you'll trust Christ as your Savior.
More about Y.O.U.
You make Mommy and Daddy tired. Clearly. Ha! You're an incredibly busy lady with lots to do. You never stop unless you need milk or a hug or a nap or...another hug. You like to cook with us and laugh at us and point your fingers at us. You like to give high fives (we taught you that in two days!) and sing songs and dance like a crazy person with Mommy in the kitchen. You love listening to Christian music just like we do, and country music too! It seems you've found your most favorite place in the house besides laying on me: the dishwasher. This month, I turned around from cleaning off the counters, and there you were...sitting IN the dishwasher! I laughed and shrieked and then pulled you right out. It was dirty, after all! And when I looked back down only seconds later, you had your grubby paws on a plate! Before I could grab it from you, you smashed it to smithereens on the ground! Uh oh! You weren't hurt though and you didn't break a new plate. A win-win if you ask me!
You're getting so big. You're such a curious learner and you're always in the middle of the action. This month, you were drawing so much on our tile floors with the pens you figured out how to un-cap(!!), that we decided to get you your own pen and paper - the magic kind that doesn't ruin things!! Hooray! And know what else we hooray about?! The fact that you have so much hair that we can put it in pig tails! It's just so cute! I especially like your new "Daddy flip" that curls out on top of your ears! It kills me!! I also like the spit sound you make and the smell of your sweat when we crawl into bed with you every night.
The days are getting shorter and you're growing up fast. It's incredible to experience, but I feel like it's all happening too quickly. I desire so badly to cherish every moment I have with you. I try my best to be present for you, to give you everything you could need, to show you how much I care. I hope I'm doing ok. And I hope someday, you understand just how much you mean to me. How vastly better our lives are with you in it. And why, after 10 months, you're still sleeping by our sides. We can't get enough of you and we know these moments won't last forever. We have only so much time with you before you're eventually across the hall from us. Then across the street. Then across the town, and maybe one day, even across the country or world. And so, we'll hang on as long as we can. We'll snuggle and snuggle and take in these precious infant moments before they're gone. Ah! My heart!
We love you forever, Amelia. You've got us hooked like never before and we just can't get enough of your six-tooth grin. Thank you for making our lives infinitely richer than we ever dared dream. You're OneInAmelian, our little "DillerDoo."
Always and forever,
Mommy
Oh yeah, I forgot...you're now 21.5 pounds and 30.5 inches. You're really tall and really...you're quite fat. And we LOVE it! You're so adorable. Also, you're a great car-shopper too. Dad couldn't have bought his Nova without your help, of course! An adorable, chunky car shopper: what could be better?!
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