18 months

My Libbie,

Today you are 18 months old. And I haven't written you a letter since you were 12 months old.

You want to know why?

Well, there was the whole living in Nashville without Daddy thing. Moving to Chattanooga. And, really, there are a lot of days where the whining, crying, no napping has got to me.

But it's silly. Because there are a WHOLE lot of days where you are a bundle of joy. (Well, if a bundle can walk, babble, and pull my hair repeatedly.)

You are learning to talk now--and quickly! It seems over the past few weeks you have added boatloads of words to your vocabulary. Recent favorites include "sock," "cup," and "spoon." You are trying to repeat more and doing a good job with it!

You love to play, especially outside. You have a car you like to ride, a Noah's Ark set you love, and you are always happy to sit on any available chair or surface. Last week we found you climbing the dining room chairs to sit on the table. Oh dear!

We have a lot of fun staying home together. You are definitely a Mommy's girl now, more than ever. You pretty much refuse to talk to Daddy in the mornings before your first cup of milk. :) We've had a great time visiting the zoo, the children's museum, the aquarium, the farmer's market, and several parks in Chattanooga! I love having more time to explore the city with you.

We have become good friends with our neighbors, Mr. Bill and Miss Ann. They are so sweet and let us come play outside and have coffee with them every morning. I hope they will be special people to you over the years!

My Libbie, you are cute and crazy. Wild and whimsical. So very "girl," from your obsession with your hair to your love for shoes. And you change your outfit three times a day. (OK, I do that. Because you get your clothes inexplicably dirty!) You love yogurt, applesauce, cheese, bananas, bread, whole apples, and cereal. I wish you loved vegetables.

Every day, you are full of adventure and surprises. I wish I had more energy to keep up with all the things I know you'd love to do! I can't wait to meet more friends for you, go more places, and enjoy more of Chattanooga. But mostly, I want to enjoy your growing-up years.

We love you, little Peanut. You're the best thing that ever happened to us.

Love,
Mommy


This post includes Amazon affiliate links. Read more in my disclosure policy. 

----
Subscribe to the RSS feed or by e-mail.
Twitter much? I'm vanderbiltwife there, too.
Join my Facebook Fan Group
A few of my favorite things on my Tumblr page

12 Days of Libbie: Day 12

10-26-09

Dear Libbie,

Last year at this time, I was in labor, probably being sent home from the hospital because I wasn't quite ready yet. It's hard to comprehend that it's been a year already.

You are still a baby and yet a little girl as well. You're fearless--climbing (and falling down) stairs, opening and closing everything, discovering every nook and cranny wherever we go.

At 12 months, you:
- stand on your own, take a few steps here and there, and move constantly
- eat a lot of fruit, bread, and cheese, despite my constant attempts to get you interested in other foods
- laugh constantly and love being tickled
- have 6 teeth (5 and 1 coming in)
- have huge blue eyes that people always comment on
- have a little mop of curly, dark blonde hair
- are a total Mama's girl
- are very easygoing and sweet, but also demanding and quite forceful!



All my life, I've wanted to be a mother. I don't have a huge career drive, although I love to write. A year ago, you fulfilled my dream. I never imagined how it would feel to have you look at me, grin, and tackle me for a hug. How your laugh would make me do wild things. How your true, heartbroken wail would shatter my heart. Being a mother--YOUR mother--is both difficult and wonderful, heartbreaking and joyful. I love you in a way so different than I have ever loved another human. It is awe-inspiring.

I prayed with you tonight and told God that now I understand a little more how much it must have hurt to send His Son to die. I can't imagine giving you up to any pain voluntarily, not for anyone. He loves us so much, Libbie. I pray you will know the amazing love of God more than anything else I wish or pray for you.

Love you always, Peanut.

Your Mama



_________________



If you'd like to help celebrate Libbie's birthday, please write a post loving on your kid(s) and link to it here. You're welcome to use something you've already written, I just ask that you link back to my site. We all get so wrapped up in the everyday of parenting that I think it's important to remember the special moments. I'm excited to share these moments with you and to read yours! Code for the button is in the sidebar.

12 Days of Libbie: Day 9

Dear Libbie,

I wish I could come up with a reason why I have very few pictures of your ninth month.

I think I will attribute it to the fact that you started crawling, and I was busy fetching you from various and sundry places.

The crawling, it's extraordinary! At first, so slow. And now you can get to the cupboard where our pots and pan are and have them all on the floor before I even realize you've moved.



It seems like we waited a long time for you to crawl. And, of course, now I miss the days of you being stuck in one place, unable to scare me by nearly falling down the stairs or pulling a coffee table book off the shelf and onto your head.

But there's something sweet about crawling and pulling up. You're so proud of yourself each time you pull yourself to a standing position, waving back and forth. You like to do a little dance sometimes, shaking your booty up and down while clinging to a chair. It's precious.

Have I distracted you from the no pictures thing? Please forgive your silly Mom. Just remember that we probably won't take any picture at all of your younger siblings!


____________

I'm feeling lazy today. MckLinky will return tomorrow if you'd like to link up a post!

12 Days of Libbie: Day 8

Sweet Libbie,

Month 7 wedding, month 8 funeral.

But also a vacation.

On the trip over to Pigeon Forge, we learned the trick of feeding you snacks from the front seat to the back in order to keep you quiet those 15 extra minutes 'til we get there.

(Now when we do that, you sassily stretch your little arm out toward me for the next piece and get angry if it doesn't appear in your hand quickly.)



First pool experience. You loved it, obviously!



You continued (and still continue) to be a healthy, happy, hungry baby. I'll never forget the look on your face when you rode the pig ride at Dollywood. It was the first "big girl" moment: you, sitting alone in the seat (with Daddy behind you for safety, of course). Hanging on for dear life as the ride whipped around at the speed of Turtle Taking Its Time. A glimpse of those years ahead where you'll tell me "My do it, Mama!" (Only...I will try to teach you proper grammar, of course.)

At eight months you started to seem more little girl than baby. Assured of yourself. Full of sassy personality. It tears Mama's heart into pieces and yet is very satisfying, that my baby is a person.

It's all very perplexing, this motherhood thing.

I love you.



______________



If you'd like to help celebrate Libbie's birthday, please write a post loving on your kid(s) and link to it here. You're welcome to use something you've already written, I just ask that you link back to my site. We all get so wrapped up in the everyday of parenting that I think it's important to remember the special moments. I'm excited to share these moments with you and to read yours! Code for the button is in the sidebar.

The 12 Days of Libbie: Day 4

Dear Libbie,

So much happened in your fourth month! Looking back through the pictures, I can tell you were a very busy baby.

You:

--had a week-long visit from Nana (AKA The Grand Spoiling)
--went to our triplet friends' first birthday party
--went with Mommy to BlissDom
--started wearing cloth diapers
--enjoyed visits from Mommy's work friends and supper club friends at our house

One thing I remember very vividly about that month, though, is that it's when we gave our dog, Chester, away.

I hope you'll understand this when you're older and begging us for a pet: we loved you more than we loved that dog. A lot more! {What my parents told me a lot when recalling the story of how Buttons the Dog tried to rip my ear off.} And there IS a reason we might never want a dog again.

Libbie, that dog woke up more than you did. And while he was very, very sweet with you, he did not care for the lack of attention from your Mom and Dad.



Honestly, sometimes I still wish for a pooch to cuddle--you don't enjoy cuddling much these days except before bed. But I think it was a wise decision for us. I'm guessing he is much happier with people who have a backyard and time to walk him and enjoy him.

So try to understand, honey, when you ask us about having a dog and we say NO. It's not because we don't love you. I promise. It's because we had one too many nights of getting up not only two or three times with you, but also four or five times with the dog; too many mornings of waking up to pee and poop on our nice kitchen floor; too much worrying about you stuffing dog hair in your mouth.

How about a nice goldfish?

Love,
Mommy

________



If you'd like to help celebrate Libbie's birthday, please write a post loving on your kid(s) and link to it here. You're welcome to use something you've already written, I just ask that you link back to my site. We all get so wrapped up in the everyday of parenting that I think it's important to remember the special moments. I'm excited to share these moments with you and to read yours! Code for the button is in the sidebar.

Eleven Months

Sweet Libbie-Girl,

I am going to have to start your "Month 12" album on Shutterfly tonight to accommodate the pictures we took of you today. A good way to give your mommy a heart attack. I am ashamed of the low number of pictures we took of you in your eleventh month. But you're always on the move; it's nearly impossible to get a good shot.



This has been your first full month with Daddy away. He's in Chattanooga, where hopefully we'll be before too long. It is hard here, us on our own, Little Bit. Mommy struggles. Some nights it's all I can do to get you fed and changed into your pajamas before bed. It seems that a lot of our life is like this right now: you eating coupons and Cheerios off the floor. It's sad, but true.



I am enjoying you at this age so much, though. You're a hoot. You love to babble and sing to yourself; you're cruising all over everything and Daddy and I think you will walk within the month; you play but keep coming back to me for hugs and reassurance.

We stopped nursing for real just a few days ago. (That is a whole other letter.) I am so glad we have had that wonderful, sweet relationship for this long. You have been SO healthy through these eleven months, and I credit breastfeeding with that. It's definitely been a transition for us, but you're doing really great--and eating tons. I couldn't believe at the doctor this week you were only 19 pounds. I guess you are so active you burn off all that bread and cheese you love to gobble down.

While it makes my heart hurt a little to know you'll be turning one in just one short month, our time with you has been an immense blessing and I can't wait to see how you change as you grow up. I know we'll have so much fun together.



I Love You Forever,

Mommy

Ten Months

My sweetest Libbie-girl,

The last four weeks, your tenth month, have flown by. With Daddy being out of town, me being insane at work, and having family come, I don't even know where it's gone. It seems like just yesterday we were having your beautiful nine-month pictures taken. I feel like I've been robbed of time, even though I know we spent plenty of time together in the last weeks.

This month, more than anything, you seem like a little girl. You are crawling like crazy and pulling yourself up on absolutely everything. You hate going to bed and avoid it at all costs. When you are tired you try to wake yourself up by hitting yourself or pulling your hair. It's quite interesting. You eat like a crazy lady. I don't know where you put all the food, but you are constantly hungry and devour pretty much anything I put in front of you (except squash and cucumber, much to your daddy's delight).

Every minute I love you more, sweetness. I can't wait to be home with you and play with you as you learn more and more. I love how you smell like apricots (your favorite food). I love your sweet curls. I love your babbling voice and it tears me up inside when you cry, your little face distorted in unhappiness. Why can't I always make it better? A mother's plight.

You are the most darling child, you make me laugh, and I am so glad to be your mother.

Love,
Mommy

Nearly Nine Months

Libbie-Loo,

You've been whiny and fussy and not napping the last two days. Maybe because you miss Daddy, but likely it's because one of your teeth is coming in, one that is supposed to hurt a lot. You keep waking up hurting, and it makes my heart hurt for you. So when we got home today, I scooped you right to my breast, purse still attached to my arm.

You hungrily buried yourself in my chest, busied yourself with eating while half-asleep. I sat, staring, stroking your face with my finger, and you gently laid your hand on mine.

That tiny hand. Little bitty fingers I love to kiss. You hold my heart in that hand.

We moved to let you nurse on the other side, and the magic was gone. More awake, you did your normal routine of pulling my hair, my lips, my face. Reaching for me with those same sweet little fingers that had been so calm just minutes before.

But still, when you look at me a little cross-eyed, I can see the newborn baby I held in my arms nearly nine months ago. The froggy-legged infant I spent hours with on the couch, just holding and loving.

You don't like to cuddle much anymore, so this sleepy afternoon feast was a rare treat. I love it all the more for that.

Eight Months

Dear Libbie,

It's been a month of firsts for you, little one. You got your first teeth--you now proudly sport those two bottom ones, which popped up one right after the other.

You tried out the pool for this first time. Obviously, you were not too crazy about it. You have warmed up to the idea, though, and we went splashing with your friends Erica and Elizabeth both this week!


You went on your first amusement-park rides, and loved at least two of them.

You ate many news things, as I've decided to stop being too worried about it now that you're older. You love to eat pretty much everything. The only thing you really didn't like was kiwis--too sour! But you will eat all manners of fruits and vegetables and get very angry if we dare eat without feeding you, too. Despite that fact that you've decided you hate your jumperoo with a vengeance, you will happily sit in your high chair because you think it might bring the food close to you.

You've turned into a mommy's girl the last month or so. While it can be a little tiresome for me, I am glad it's not the other way around, selfishly. I know it's hard for Daddy when you don't want to hang out with him. It seems to be getting better, but for awhile you wanted nothing except to sit ON MY LAP when we were together. Not next to me. Only on my lap, and preferably nursing, was acceptable.

On the downside, you also went to your first funeral, for your great-grandfather. I am sad you'll never know his quirky ways, but I will tell you many stories. You still have six living great-grandparents who are crazy about you, lucky girl.

Some things have stayed the same. You still have huge blue eyes. I don't know if they'll change color or not, but right now they are so gorgeous and get many comments from friends and strangers. You still love to read and sing, and grab for and eat anything that comes into your path. You sit up very well and are starting to scoot around on your bottom and crawl backwards. I'm a little nervous about those days when you become fully mobile!


What hasn't changed, of course, is how much we love you to pieces. Your Daddy and I think you are just the best, brightest, most beautiful little girl in all the world. You are such a sweet baby, and as I watch you transform into a little girl, I can't wait to see what happens and who you will become.

I love you, pumpkin.

Mommy

Six Months

Oh, these cheeks.

They kill me. I want to nibble them all the time.

That smile. It makes me do insane things.

Sweet little Libbie, How did you get to be six months old already? I'm at a lack of word today. I just stare at your pictures, amazed that God has sent us such a ridiculously cute, sweet, and loving baby to make us a family.

You make my life better. I love you, from your red hair, to your huge blue eyes, to the tips of your little chubby toes. It's fascinating to watch you grow. You can now sit up for a few seconds, eat some real food, and give us hugs. You show a preference for certain people over others (making Pipaw Dale extremely happy to be one of The Chosen Ones). You smile and laugh all the time. Your new favorite game is singing songs with hand motions--you never tire of me waving your hands around to "Deep and Wide" and "I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart."

I adore you, peanut. Can't wait to see what the second half of your first year brings.

Love, Mommy

Five Months

Precious Libbie,
I am writing this two days before your five-month "birthday" because we are about to head off to Pennsylvania, just you and me, for a little vacation. I think we need it after the last few weeks. I'm exhausted from being overscheduled and working to the point of insanity last week. I think you could use a few good nights of sleeping as much as you want instead of being woke up at the crack of dawn so we can get Daddy to school, you to daycare, and Mommy to work.

You didn't seem that interested in going to sleep tonight, whereas you are usually zonked out by 7:15. After two rounds of trying to get you to go to sleep by yourself, I relented and rocked you. You were out by verse 3 of Amazing Grace. But I couldn't let go. All I could think of was MckMama sitting with her baby Stellan, who is just a week or so younger than you but is in the hospital struggling for his precious little life. I thanked God that your sweet heart was beating normally, and prayed fervently that God would heal Stellan's heart for His glory.

I can't believe how you get more beautiful every day. Your dad and I aren't too bad-looking, I guess, but I find it hard to believe our genes meshed to make the most beautiful baby I've ever seen (but perhaps I'm just slightly biased). You still have deep blue eyes, super long lashes, and sweet little feminine lips. And I can't stop kissing your chubby cheeks and loving on your fat little legs.

This month you had a few firsts: your aunt Ashley and I took you to the zoo, you were on an airplane for the first time, and you visited Mommy's hometown of Richmond. By the way, I didn't fly on an airplane until I was 16--you will be much more experienced than I was in the ways of travel!

You love to play with toys now, jump in your jumperoo, roll over like crazy, and eat anything you can get near your mouth (especially your clothes as I am trying to put them on). Above all you like to be naked. Stripping you will often stop a screaming bout. This is OK since you're a little bit...but we'll have to readdress the issue in a few years!

I guess I need to go get the rest of our stuff together for our big trip tomorrow! I love you, little peanut.

Mommy

Four Months

Dear Libbie,

You were four months old yesterday. How can that be possible? I'm sure it always feel this way for parents--that in one way it's like you were just born the other day and on the other hand it feels like you've been here forever!

This month has been full of milestones and fun. You're really developing a personality. You can roll over both ways now, sit in your Bumbo seat, hold up your head for a good amount of time, giggle, and oh my, do you complain if you don't get your way. You also started playing with toys and putting everything in your mouth.

This picture is from one of the worst days of this month, Valentine's Day, when you decided to scream incessantly for about three hours. You finally wore yourself out and fell asleep on your playmat.

The more fun you get, the harder it is for me to work and be apart from you. Once we are home, you're rarely awake more than an hour or two before you settle in for the night. I feel like I am losing so much time with you. I do visit you every day at lunch. It makes it easier for me to get to see you and talk to your teachers, who do truly adore you (of course).

One day recently, I gave you a bath, bundled you up in your little towel, and looked at us in the mirror. I couldn't help but cry. I find it hard to believe that I have a daughter--a sweet, precious, beautiful daughter. I'm a mommy. It overwhelms me still.

Your daddy and I just adore you insanely, as do all of your grandparents, aunts, great-grandparents, and our friends. I know it is hard for all of our family that you are so far away from them. Your Nana and Grandma are heartbroken to not to get to see you more often. Someday, hopefully, we'll live closer to them. I want you to know your grandparents well, because they are all pretty fun.

I love you, little Peanut. Your smiles and coos make our lives so much better. I can't wait to see how you will continue to grow and change.

Love,

Mommy

The Blissdom Post

It has been an interesting weekend! Thursday I started running a fever and getting a sore throat. Mr. V surmises that I just stressed myself out worrying about Blissdom too much, which is entirely possible. Add to that a mountain of work at the office, and you have one crazy Jessie.

I was running way on adrenaline when I got to the conference on Friday afternoon. I pulled up in my car with my purse, baby, diaper bag, Boppy, AND gym bag with clothes for the cocktail party. I don't know what I would have done if Monica from Writer Chic hadn't come right up to me and said, "Are you Jessie?" It was incredibly providential. We'd been writing e-mails back and forth since before she moved to Nashville but we'd never met. So it was awesome to meet her right away and have someone I kind of knew to find my way around with!

I met so many wonderful bloggers--some I knew/read and many I did not--over the weekend. I just wish I had felt better for the whole endeavor. I needn't have worried about that ridiculous clothing issue! I didn't go to either of the cocktail parties and honestly didn't care what I was wearing once I got there.

I really, really wanted to meet OhAmanda. I've been reading her blog longer than anyone else's almost, and she was the first person I followed on Twitter. Here we are with our cute babies! They are a month apart.

The panels (what I heard of them when I was not out in the hallway with a fussing baby) were wonderful. And I got to bond with some other great ladies in the hallway, so that wasn't too bad either. Can you tell I didn't get to go to much of the photography seminar? LOL. Here is my really bad picture of Arianne, Stephanie, Her Bad Mother, and Rocks In My Dryer.

I was honestly amazed at how many women are really drop-dead gorgeous "in real life." Shannon from Rocks in My Dryer is one of those. I think Stephanie Precourt, also above, is too--I love her bangs. And Mrs. Fussypants, the Queen of Blissdom herself, is just gorgeous. Here she is with her youngest baby boy (she has 5. BOYS. AHHHH!).

So, synopsis. I met lots of cool chicks. I was sick as a dog. I learned some great tools but also that I don't think I want to do the blogging-for-money deal much. I don't have the time or will to put into doing lots of ads and such. I mostly write here to improve my writing. And hopefully provide some interesting thoughts for my "readership."

I love you guys who do read my blog. It makes me feel interesting. And it does prove that everyone's life is interesting if you think about it a certain way. Because really, I can write a lot about sitting on the couch, nursing a baby, and going to work.