Six Months

My Dear Liam,

In five short days, you will be six months old!  How does the time pass so quickly?  With your older brothers, I was always anticipating what they would learn next and working with them to help them meet developmental milestones.  With you, I wish that I could just freeze time and enjoy you as you are now.  Moments turn to minutes, which turn to hours, days, weeks, and now half a year.  In just the blink of an eye, you've grown up on me without me getting enough out of those baby months with you.

Last night as I sat in bed nursing you, the house was silent with the peace of sleeping boys. You fell asleep in my arms, and although I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open, I held you and admired your every feature, pulling you close to me and feeling your chest rise and fall with each breath that brought you deeper and deeper into sleep.  As I rubbed your wispy blonde hair between my fingers and admired your little hand wrapped around my finger, I wished that somehow I could remember this moment forever.  Your peaceful expression and your sleepy smile as I whispered how much I love you were just so very precious.

When I open your door each morning, your head pops up like a rocket and you stretch as high as you can to see if you can find me in your dark room.  You frantically kick your legs and swing your arms, reaching for me as you impatiently wait for breakfast.  After eating, as I change your diaper, you giggle and give me your biggest toothless grin.  Once you are ready, we go into your big brothers' room.  As I dress Wesley, you happily roll around on the floor and play with your toys (or his).  I thank God every morning for blessing me with such a content baby.  I am continually amazed that you will play happily for 45 minutes each morning while I get your brothers ready for school.  You easily entertain yourself with your toys until I come to get you again.

You are our first baby to really want big people food.  Rice cereal is not your preference and squash is OK, but french fries and freezer pops and soda...now those are delicious!  You clearly know where soda comes out of the can, and every time you see Daddy with one, you reach for it and carefully manipulate the can to get the top to your mouth.  When Daddy pulls a freezer pop out of the freezer, your little tongue starts going a mile a minute as you wait for him to offer you a taste.  And when we go to Chipotle, you are thrilled that Wesley shares his guacamole with you.

You are also my first baby to really snuggle with me.  Your brothers never liked to be held facing in, but lately that seems to calm you when you are particularly upset.  Whenever I pick you up, you burrow your head into my shoulder and snuggle in for a moment before resting against me and lifting your head up to look around and explore the world.  You would be happy if I held you like this all the time, but unfortunately that leaves me with no free hands to help your brothers.

While I speak of firsts, you are also my first baby to really discover his toes!  I always laughed when therapists were concerned that Wesley did not play with his toes, because Zach never played with his either.  But you are fascinated with yours.  You lean down when you are sitting in your Bumbo seat so that you can inspect them carefully, and you grab at them as I change your diaper.  You would probably play with them more often if you didn't roll over onto your tummy as soon as I set you down on a blanket.  That makes playing with toes a bit more difficult.

Your smile brightens my life.  You are such a personable baby, looking intently at others and patiently waiting until they notice you.  As soon as someone looks your way, you break out your million dollar smile and get so excited that your little head bobbles as your legs kick and your hands wave.  Most of the time you are pretty quiet, content to observe the world around you, but in the last week or so you have started squealing quite loudly.  You also learned to babble "dada" and thoroughly enjoy the attention you get as we all gather around you and encourage you.

God has given you and Zach a special bond, and I love watching how he cares for you, talking so sweetly with you and making you giggle with his antics.  He loves to hug you and keep you happy.  The other day I caught him reading a book to you quite animatedly as you gave him your best belly laugh.  Wesley loves you too, but he is still learning to be gentle. Sometimes when he "gently" rubs your head, he puts a little bit too much pressure into it, and you are not a big fan.  And you don't know what to do with his energy when he runs straight toward you, narrowly missing you.  You close your eyes and brace yourself, not knowing if this will be the big blow you've been waiting for these past six months or just another close call.

Today I was reminded again of how unique you are when I pulled you out of your stroller and Wesley's new physical therapist commented that you look like neither of your brothers.  You are definitely not made in the mold of Zach or Wesley.  You are your own individual person, and even as a baby I am thoroughly enjoying watching as you do things so differently than your brothers did.  God has blessed me abundantly and far more than I deserve in giving you to me.  You are the third child that I never thought we would have, and I am so thankful that God saw fit to give you to us.  While I still wish that I could hold on to your baby sweetness for a bit longer, I look forward to enjoying each day as you learn new things and grow up to be the man that God has called you to be.

I love you, my sweet and precious son.

Love,
Mama