One Year Old

Sweet Leah,

One year ago, you came into our lives, and brought with you two precious dimples, a flexible and adventurous demeanor, and a sweet, joyful spirit. You've grown into a near-toddler overnight, and I sometimes can't believe my eyes.

You're incredibly portable; you're up for adventure pretty much anywhere. You attack life with such purpose, such drive, and I know that you're going to stake your own claim, make your own way, and take whatever life throws at you in stride. You do occasionally get upset when we divert you from something, or throw your arms straight up, making yourself as straight as possible, when we try to pick you up and you don't want to be picked up, which makes me think you may be as strong-willed as (or maybe even more strong-willed than) your big sister.

You never stop moving. Even sitting in your high chair, you rock back and forth and grin that huge grin of yours and sometimes scrunch up your nose like something is so hilarious you can't stand it. When I'm holding you I'm often a bit afraid you're going to pitch yourself out of my arms and onto the floor - and you've come close a few times! I always have to make sure I have a good hold on you, girl!

Despite your love of movement, you still have very little interest in walking. On your birthday you got yourself to standing on your own (without pulling up on something) for the first time, and you've done it a few times since then. But always, once you realize you're standing, you slooooooowly crouch back down to sitting. You do walk with a push walker just fine, but you haven't yet figured out how to turn it around, so when you run into something, you just repeatedly slam it against the wall or furniture and yell until someone comes to turn it for you.

You're such a lover, and you're a great hugger. You love to hug your baby dolls, the doggie puppet you got from our former landlord for your birthday, and - most of all - you love your SISTER. "Duh Duh" does NOT, as we initially thought, mean "Dada" (you actually say "Daddy" pretty clearly). It means "Eden" and it's the first thing you say in the morning. I love that relationship SO MUCH. It was the thing that I was most excited about when I found out you were a little girl, still kicking around in my belly. I wanted you both to have a sister. There's nothing like it, and I pray that it continues to be as sweet a relationship as it's starting out to be.

You continue to eat like a champ, and when you're all done you wave your arms like crazy and then start throwing food on the floor. You're now 100% on whole milk in sippy cups, and we've cut out the bedtime milk altogether (you did that on your own) so you pretty much only take milk with meals and snacks.

You still take 2 naps a day most days, but you're starting to slowly transition to one. That transition is about to be accelerated, though, because you're starting daycare this week and your class is a one-nap class. I'm confident you'll do fine, but I also think you'll probably sleep at least 3-4 hours of the day. (Yesterday I had you at home, because you were sick, and you slept from 11am to 4:15pm, when I woke you up to get some fluids in you!)

Other than "Duh Duh" you say "Daddy" and "bye-bye" and "Mama" (when you want to, which unfortunately is NOT very often!) and "Uh-oh" (which comes out as "uh uh ooo ooo"). You can still only reliably sign "bye-bye" and "all done" but I think this morning you signed "milk" and you've gotten the point that shaking the head means "no," and sometimes you shake your head at things you know you're not supposed to get into. But mostly, you point at things and grunt to get your message across, and it's working for you right now.

I wish I could adequately convey what fun you are, what a JOY you are. People comment all the time on what a happy kid you are, and they're absolutely right. You're so good, so happy, so precious, and I can't wait to see who you become, my littlest love.

Keep smiling, keep being unstoppable, and keep growing big and strong! I love you so much I can't stand it, my Munchie.

Love,
Mommy

Eleven Months (plus a little)

Leah,

You are killing me right now with how big you're getting. Seriously, kid. You're my baby. Can't you just stay little for a while?? But it's hard to stay sad when you are so amazing. And so.much.fun.

You are going to walk any minute. Seriously. We've been thinking you'd get to walking any minute for a while now, but now it's really true. Just a few days ago you took a step - toward your big sister. You can stand on your own, but you're still not sure about it for very long. You cruise along furniture and push a walker with great ease. You can't yet get up to standing by yourself in the middle of a room (without something to pull up on), but you're trying to figure it out.

You've started figuring out what things are for. You hold play phones up to your ear and say "Ehhhh?"; you babble and turn pages of books; if we hand you a shoe you'll try to put it on your feet. And my favorite: you got a baby doll for Christmas that you LOVE. We ask "Leah, where's your baby?" and you will look around for it, zoom over to it, grab it, wrap your little arms around it and put your head down it and say "awwwww!" (And then you'll try to eat it. We're working on that part.)

I think we can say you're officially saying at least two words. You occasionally say "bye-bye" ("buh buh") and wave, but the biggest word - the most repeated right now - and the one that makes me at once joyful and frustrated? "Daddy." Yep, it is unmistakable - "Da-ddy." I would argue that you use it for all three of your family members, but you ALWAYS say it when you see your Daddy. I love it because it melts my heart to see my favorite people love and appreciate each other, but at the same time, I wish you were saying "Momma"! :) (It's ok, you'll get there, I know.) You can sign a little bit, I guess, but we're not great at follow-through on these things, so you only know "bye-bye" (which is easy) and "all done" (which is essentially bye-bye with both hands).

You've switched almost completely to whole milk, and about 50% of the time it's from a sippy cup instead of a bottle. At mealtimes we struggle with this, because you love to play the "drop" game with your cup and milk goes flying everywhere. (I've honestly never met a spillproof sippy cup). But first thing in the morning and just before bed, we snuggle in the rocking chair with a bottle and I kiss your sweet cheeks and smell your little head. Oh, those are some of my favorite moments.

You are still so, so, so HAPPY. You squeal and smile and squeal some more. All the time. You love to give hugs and kisses, and you especially love to maul Eden. Luckily she loves to maul you right back, so you guys just hug and kiss each other and make your mommy turn into jelly. I love it.

One funny thing you've started (well, funny for now anyway) is mini-tantrum throwing. You get frustrated over something (sometimes we know what it is, often we don't) and throw yourself onto the ground on your stomach and cry. Approximately two and a half seconds later you get up and start crawling again, and Daddy and I are trying not to laugh at the hilarity of an eleven-month-old's "tantrum".

Another image that is often on my mind right now is you crawling toward the staircase (which, obviously, is strictly off-limits to you unless an adult is with you), turning to look at me with that little impish grin, and turning back around and crawling full speed toward the stairs. It's as if you're saying, "Look at me Mommy. I'm about to do something bad! See if you can catch me!!"

You eat incredibly well. You eat 100% table food, and there's very little we give you that you don't gobble up immediately. You LOVE feeding yourself. But if we're not fast enough, you start rocking back and forth really hard, banging your head on the back of the high chair (doesn't that hurt?) and going "uuuuhhhhhUUUUUUhhhhhhuuuuuuhhhhhhUUUUUUhhhhh" very loudly until we stop you by cradling the back of your head (seriously, I'm afraid you'll hurt yourself!). I think it's your way of saying "more." Let's try to find a less potentially-destructive manner of communication, OK?

Sweet Leah, you are such a JOY. I am so thankful for you and while I am sad to see you getting bigger, it's only because I love you so much just how you are right now that I can't imagine moving on from this moment. But I know from experience that what's ahead of us only gets better.

I love you little Munchie.

Love,
Mommy

Nine Months - wow.

Leah,

How did it happen that all of a sudden, you're nine months old? All of a sudden, you're fitting into the clothes you'll fit into on your first birthday. You're solid. You don't feel breakable anymore. There's not much about you that seems tiny!

You've got two bottom teeth, and you're working on one on the top. You still have very little hair, and what you do have is very short and very light. You're still quite tall. We haven't had your nine month well visit, but I think you're still going to be above average for height. Aside from that, you're built like Daddy. My little skinny minny with the energy to burn as many calories as we can stuff into you. Last time we checked you were 97th percentile for height, 45th for weight. I bet that's close to accurate now too.

One reason you're thin is, babygirl, you Never.Stop.Moving. From the time you wake up until the time you crash in your bed, you're going somewhere, you're doing something. Even when you eat, you do it acrobatically, and when you're done, you want to get down and explore. I can barely remember a time you didn't do this - you started crawling and it was GO TIME.

Last week Uncle John and Aunt Kelli were in town and we moved the furniture so that you and Eden and Quinn could play. You LOVED pushing your walker back and forth, back and forth, smiling so big and so determined. Twice this month you also stood for a few seconds on your own... but once you realized what was happening you plopped down on your bottom.

You've started to pick up on the tone of our voices. If Mommy or Daddy (or your beloved nanny, Angela) says your name in a "warning" tone, you look up so sad, stick your bottom lip out, and start to cry. You get upset if Eden is upset (this is new - you used to laugh at her when she cried). But it doesn't matter what we say to you if we say it in a happy, upbeat way - you're all smiles. And oh, how precious your smiles are. I love that you got your Daddy's sweet dimples!

I say it every time, but girl, you LOVE your sister. You hug her and kiss her and if she's around, you want to be ON her. She can make you laugh so easily, and she loves doing it. It just makes my heart so, so happy when we're in the car and you and Eden hold hands, and she talks to you or makes faces at you and you just laugh, laugh, laugh. There is nothing in this world like having a sister, and I am so happy for both of you that you get to experience that.

You are still such an easy baby. Daddy and I are so thankful for your sweet, easygoing personality. We comment at least once a day about how easy you are. We know the day may come when you become difficult, but we are just so thankful that, right now, you're so happy and content.

One very sad thing happened for me this month, Leah, though it didn't really seem to bother you. I ran out of frozen milk, and my production basically cut itself in half. This, I confess, is largely because I have been very busy at work and I have not been taking very good care of myself, and I feel guilty about that to no end. I'm still producing enough to keep nursing you twice a day, usually, and you don't mind formula one bit. But it still makes me sad to know that I'm not making enough milk for you. I feel like I let you down. You're fine, of course, and it's not as if formula is BAD for you. It's just not what I had planned for you and I'm disappointed. Other than getting a little impatient when the milk comes slowly in the evening, though, you really don't seem to care (a bottle is still a bottle, I suppose, even if the contents are different).

Mostly I think I'm sad about the production issue because it shows me very clearly that the day is coming, soon, when you will be completely weaned, and that means another change in our relationship, which is so precious to me right now, as it is. But, honestly, I know we're going somewhere great, Leah, because every stage is the greatest, and I love you more every day.

Love,
Mommy

Eight Months

Little Leah,

You're not so little, actually. You're the littlest Thomason, but you're getting to be so big. You're eight months old - that's 2/3 of a year!!

You are about to walk, Love. You can pull up, cruise on furniture, and this month you figured out how to push a walker, all by yourself! You can cruise across the condo, and it's so funny to see you do it because you're still so small (even though you're big for your age - still hanging out at the 95th percentile for height, wherever that came from)!

You just learned how to wave goodbye, and if we wave and say "bye bye" you'll start saying "buh buh buh" - it's so sweet watching you try to communicate! You babble a lot now - muh muh buh buh dah dah. But your favorite method of communication is still a high pitched squeal!

My favorite thing you do right now is this: when you're being held by someone else and you see me, sometimes you'll start kicking your legs - your whole legs - and your whole body will be shaking, your big gummy smile lighting up your face, your dimples showing. Oh, you're such a Mommy's girl, and I love it.

Speaking of gummy smile, you have a tooth. :) It's slowly coming in, and it's barely visible right now, but you got it. And it didn't seem to bother you at all. Which, really, is typical Leah. You're an easygoing baby!

You continue to sleep really, really well - you sleep from about 7:30 or 8:00 pm to 7:15 am or so. And then you're back down at 9:30 or 10:00 am until 11-11:30, and then again at 1:30 or so to 3-3:30. You rock the sleep routine, too. Read a book, sing a song, put you down with your Lucy, and you're done. You might cry for a second or two, but you're very soon out. Love it!

You continue to be totally awesome, sweet Leah, and your Mommy and Daddy and big sister love you so very, very much!

Love,
Mommy


(yes, this post is back-dated, because I had it mostly drafted and just forgot to publish!)

Seven.

Little Leah Bear,

You're growing up so fast. Can you slow down a little please?

As of yesterday, you're 16 lbs, 13 oz. (It was a sick visit, so I didn't get your height). You are no longer way above average for weight (this isn't what I meant by slow down, by the way).

But in every other way it seems, you're just growing up as fast as you can. You're crawling like crazy (which may explain why you're no longer as high on the percentile charts...). You have started pulling up on furniture; you can't quite get yourself to standing on furniture, but you pull yourself up to your knees quite well and if we hold your hands you can pull up to standing.

You're actually pretty strong on your feet. You LOVE to stand, and if we hold your hands, you will walk. It's crooked and you're still a little pigeon-toed, but you put one foot in front of the other and bear your weight.

You've slowed down with the babbling, but every now and then you bust out a "mmmmmmmuh" and it makes my heart goo. :)

You're still going strong on solid foods. We've introduced many more fruits and veggies, and you're now eating three meals of solids on top of your four meals of breastmilk. You've also started mastering the pincer grasp, so we got you some puffs, which you love. (Your sister loves them too...)

You are sick right now, battling another ear infection following a cold. You've been a trooper, though; your fever has topped 102 a few times and that's when you get a little fussy, but anything below that and you're pretty much your normal, happy self. Even last night, in the midst of 102.4, you were smiling and giggling in the bathtub.

I can't say it enough: you are SUCH a happy girl. You are easygoing, non-demanding, and your smiles light up the room; lucky for us, you smile a lot. Those dimples kill me! I can predictably get you to smile if I make a "boogaboogabooga" noise or blow in your face, but of course, your biggest smiles are reserved for Eden. You love each other so, so much. Yesterday at the doctor's office after the doctor tried to look in your ears, you were very upset, your face all red and pinched and screaming. Eden came over to you, gently rubbed your head, and said, "It's OK, Leah. It's OK." She kissed your head and hugged you, and you calmed down. It blesses my heart so much to see the two of you loving on each other!

Sweet Leah, I love you so much. I pray you remain the sweet, happy girl you are. I've said it before and I will say it forever - you are the best surprise I ever had and I am so glad you're in our family.

I love you to the moon and back.

Love,
Mommy

FOUR MONTHS!

Leah,

You are officially an infant. Nothing about you is "newborn" anymore. You are a full-on baby, and you're so perfect right now I can barely stand it! Your daddy and I keep knocking on wood that you stay so easy.

You so rarely cry. You occasionally get upset if it's past time to eat, or if you're tired and not in your bed, but you mostly just go with the flow, and smile and squeal and - lately - GIGGLE your way through the day! You love to sit in your exersaucer or your Bumbo seat, if you've got toys to keep you busy. You love to lie on your play mat, either on your tummy or on your back, and chew on anything you can reach.

You're consistently able to roll from your tummy to your back AND from your back to your tummy (just like your sister, you learned back to tummy first, and it would upset you when you'd find yourself on your tummy!). Over the last few days, you have started being able to sit for a few seconds by yourself, or "tripod" yourself for a few seconds (before you topple over head first!).

You think (other people) sneezing is HILARIOUS. You think fake sneezing is sort of funny, but real sneezing is HILARIOUS.

You love to be tickled, and you love it when we kiss your cheeks and neck and belly. I love to pretend to eat your jellyroll legs. Sometimes I can get some chuckles out of you for that. :)

Your FAVORITE thing, though, by far... is your sister. You always smile when you see her; you squeal when she looks at you; and you just love it when she gets down on the floor with you and plays. Just so you know, she loves you very much too. She loves helping Mommy and Daddy take care of you, she loves playing with you, she loves talking to you and telling you all about things she knows. It melts my heart to see that. I wanted so badly for you both to love each other, and I hope you continue to be close and loving sisters. There is no relationship in the world like between sisters.

You're the perfect baby. I want to freeze you here, but I know it keeps getting better. I'm just trying to be in every moment I have with this sweet baby-you. I love you so much, Leah, and I hope you always know just how cherished you are.

Love,
Mommy

Three Months Old - Already?

Leah Bear,


You are three months old, and it has FLOWN by. Yesterday you were a newborn, and today you're an infant. You smile and coo (you're very vocal, and love to have conversations!), and just this week you actually giggled for the first time. That was a very welcome treat, because I've gone back to work now and I miss you (and your sister, and your Daddy) all day. It was very hard to come back to work, especially knowing that the demands of my job will very likely keep me from you much more often than I'd like. It's been almost a week and things are going fine so far, but I miss spending my days with my sweet little baby girl!


You are such a delight, Sweet Girl. You are the easiest baby I have ever met. You're perfectly content most of the time. You have been fighting something viral that keeps kicking in a fever, and we know when you start to get hot because you start to fuss a little bit. Not scream or even really cry all that much, but just get a little discontent, just enough to let us know you're uncomfortable.


You haven't rolled over yet, but you're awfully close. You get to your side from your back and just sort of hang out there. On your tummy you're usually more interested in balancing on your belly button or eating your hands than rolling over, so I bet that takes a little longer (though, yesterday morning was an exception and I really thought you might do it - I was afraid to look away!).


Speaking of your hands, you've mostly given up the pacifier except for a few sucks right at bedtime. But you've discovered your thumb and you LOVE it. Sometimes you wake your Daddy and me up at night because you're sucking so loudly! You're consistently able to get your hands to your mouth now when you want them, and you're grasping toys and bringing them to your mouth as well.


You sleep through the night now, eating at about 7 and then again just before I go to bed (I wake you and "dream feed" you in your sleep - I LOVE that time together, because you're so peaceful and the house is quiet and it's just us), and then you usually sleep until 5:30 or 6:00 (and then go back to sleep for another hour!). You're not on too much of a regular schedule throughout the day just yet, but you're getting there. You're at least eating pretty predictably, which is really nice for your pumping mama.


You seem to really recognize the members of our little family, and light up when you see us. But, without a doubt, Eden is your favorite. You see her and you're instantly smiling. She's constantly saying, "Mommy, look at that pretty smile!" She loves you very much too - and you are often both found lying under the arches of your play gym, smiling and cooing a each other. I sure hope that you continue to be great friends.

I love you so much Little Leah. I am so happy you've joined our family; you're such an incredible joy, and I like to call you my favorite surprise. Keep growing big and strong and smiling like you own the moon.


Love you babygirl,
Mommy

One Month Old

Sweet Leah,

You were officially one month old yesterday! (I would have posted this yesterday but I was saying goodbye to your Uncle John and Aunt Kelli. They moved to Texas yesterday and we were all pretty consumed with saying goodbye.)

You're such a great baby. We are so blessed to have you. To be honest I am a little afraid of it, because I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop! But so far, we've been so incredibly blessed. You continue to nurse very well, to sleep very well, and to delight us with your sweet, easygoing personality. You love to be held, and often want to be bounced or rocked to sleep. You'll cry and fuss, and then all of a sudden fall asleep - all at once. It's kind of funny.

You're a big girl. At your one-month checkup, you weighed 10 lb 2 oz, which puts you somewhere around the 85th percentile for weight. You are a whopping 24 inches long, which puts you around the 95th percentile for height! Your torso is very long- you're outgrowing onesies right and left!

You have what I call a "witching hour" in the evening. It used to be at least an hour of crying and fussing until you fell asleep, but lately it's more like half an hour or 45 minutes, so we're cutting it down!

You sleep well at night, waking up to nurse and going right back to sleep. You and I are up for about 15-20 minutes, usually. It's usually twice a night, but occasionally only once (!). You surprise us with a 5, 5 1/2, or even longer stretch between nighttime feedings every couple of days. A few days ago, you stretched it to almost 7 hours! I was excited about that!!

You continue to be a pro at tummy time. You're turning side to side and lifting up your head. You don't mind being on your tummy. You'll spend half an hour or more lying there until you get bored and want a change of scenery. Several times you've gotten so comfortable you fell asleep!

But the best development of the last month just happened a few days ago. You smiled!! A real, solid, responsive smile. Your sister was the (completely unaware) recipient. Then you smiled the next day at your Daddy. And then you smiled yesterday at Aunt Kelli. And today, I finally got in on the action! :) We haven't gotten a picture of the full smile, but we've gotten a few pictures of the half-smile. We'll work on that.

We love you baby girl. Keep growing big and strong! And keep smiling - it's beautiful!

Love,

Mommy

Two weeks!

Sweet Leah,

I can hardly believe it's only been 14 days since you were born. You are already such a part of our family it almost feels like you've been here all along. For the first several days after we brought you home I had stuck in my head the last couple of lines of the theme song to the Wiggles - it goes, "We’d like you to clap and sing and dance along too / Now that everybody’s here, That’ll be so easy, That’ll be so easy, That’ll be so easy to do." It's the "Now that everybody's here..." part that got me. You're here now, and it really does feel like you were always meant to be here. (Please forgive the Wiggles reference - you have a big sister who loves them at the moment...)

You're such a good baby. I realize that you're two weeks old, still very much a sleepy newborn, mostly just eating, sleeping, and pooping, but you're still such a good baby. You have nursed well from the beginning (and efficiently since we got home from the hospital and you started eating "real" milk!), you've slept well from the beginning (you're now in the habit of giving us one 5-hour stretch at night!), you're strong (you picked up and turned your head side to side like a pro your very first session of tummy time), and you are super cuddily! (And, much to your Daddy's chagrin - he handles output, I handle input - you poop a lot!)

We took you to the pediatrician today and you got a clean bill of health. You've gained back all the weight you lost at the hospital and then some (you were down to 8 lb 5 oz at discharge, now you're a robust 9 lb 2 oz, the 75th percentile!). You're long - you were 20.5 inches long at birth, now you're 22 1/4 inches, also about the 75th percentile, I think. Your head is right around average.

One of my favorite discoveries about you so far is that you have dimples in your cheeks. I'd forgotten that your Daddy has dimples - he's had a beard for nearly seven years now so I haven't seen them in a while, but you reminded me. They are beautiful and make your sweet, chubby cheeks even more kissable.

You've started to look at us now. When you're awake (a little rare, admittedly, but it does happen!), you catch my eye and I can't help but anticipate that first real smile. Tonight the two of us had some quality alone time (Eden is in bed and Daddy's out with the guys), and we started at each other for quite a while, you making funny faces and me trying to mimic you. And then we cuddled and rocked and bounced when you got fussy and ready to sleep.

Your big sister adores you. She asks for you first thing in the morning - "Where's Leah? I want to hold my baby." You tolerate her for now. You don't fuss when she holds you, so I suppose that is a good sign. One of these days you are going to love her. Trust me. And then you'll both be teenagers and things will get spotty. It's OK, it's what sisters do.

I can't wait to see what you'll look like as you grow, whether you'll look like Daddy or Mommy or Eden, or just some new combination all your own. (My guess is the latter!). You're doing great, little girl. We love you so much already, and we are so thankful that God gave us such an amazing surprise - as your Daddy said while we prayed over you a few days ago, He knows what we want so much more than we do, and we are so thankful that He knew we wanted you, precious girl. We are so, so thankful that He decided to bless us with your presence in our family, and we're so glad you're the one completing it.

Love,

Mommy