Letters

I get so many great ideas from reading other people's blogs. This idea is actually in the baby books I have for M&J and when I saw it Chris and I said we didn't want to do it but then I read someone else's letters to their kids and I knew I had to do it. I know it will be so nice to have for them to read when they are older.

Dear Jackson,

You are now 12 weeks old and so amazing to me. Up until about 4 weeks ago you pretty much just ate, pooped, cried, and slept. Now you are a master at smiling and cooing at staring at whoever is making you smile and coo. The cooing is the second sweetest sound I've ever heard in my life (first was your first cry when you came out of my belly). I ask you to tell me stories and you will coo and smile and your eyes light up. Then I say something back and you reply again. You are learning to have a conversation.

You are also now determined to get your fist in your mouth. It's so funny to see you concentrating so hard on getting it to your mouth and then trying so hard to keep it there. It doesn't usually stay too long. You will often look at your fist intently staring at it. It seems to be only your left hand that you are working with so we wonder if you will be left handed like your grandpa.

You have such an animated face and everyone loves it. I just beam when I look at your picture. It makes me so happy!

You now love to lay on your play gym/matt. You didn't like it back when you used to cry a lot (you used to cry a lot...). You enjoy looking at the toys hanging and the photograph of Tiger Woods in the picture frame. You don't try to grab at anything yet but I bet that's coming very soon. You also smile when you see your reflection in the mirror that hangs from it. It's too cute for words. Looking at you makes me smile too :-)

You drink 6 oz of formula now. You look like you're in heaven while your eating. Your eyes close and you are so peaceful and calm....then I try to burp you. It's like a river of formula that comes gushing out of your mouth. I have learned tricks to catch it all but sometimes it still manages to get all over the side of me and onto the couch and sometimes even onto the floor! You are gaining weight like a champ so no one is worried about the spitting up. But our washing machine sure does get a workout washing all of your clothes and burp cloths.

Dear Madison,

You are so very precious to me. You are like a little doll...so well behaved. You rarely cry and even when you do it's really more of a grunt (nothing like your brother's screams that could shatter glass!). You are my little cuddle bug and during the day you generally nap in my arms which I know is a bad habbit but you're easily transported once you're asleep. I just love that you feel so comfortable with me that you can't help but fall asleep. Although you really will snuggle and fall asleep with anyone.

You are working very hard on getting your fist in your mouth. It doesn't seem to want to stay there though. You are using your right hand so I wonder if you will be right handed.

You are just starting to enjoy laying on a play matt and looking around. Pretty much all the time I can put you down anywhere and you are content to just look all around. You also work on your Stevie Wonder impression where you look back and forth from side to side over and over again. Not that there is anything wrong with Stevie Wonder but it just cracks me up that you do this.

You are very serious with me. You rarely smile for me even though you do smile more for other people. A little girl was singing "row row row your boat" to you the other day and you were almost laughing! It was so cute because I had never seen you smile that much.

You drink 5 oz of formula now. Sometimes if someone else is feeding you (even Daddy) you won't finish the bottle, but usually if I try to get you to finish you will do it for me. You are a champion burper! Just like a truck driver. It cracks people up because you are so pretty and girly and then you let out a belch that would make a sailor blush. It's very ammusing.

You have the prettiest clothes and I love to dress you up.

Dear Jackson and Madison,

I can't even say how happy you make me. I wanted children for so long that I knew they would make me happy once they were finally here. I knew I would feel a love that was deeper than anything I had ever known, but what I feel now that I have you is just overwhelming. The love I feel for you both takes my breath away on a daily basis. I am forever grateful that you have been brought into my life.

I love the time we all spend together. I think my favorite is in the morning after I have fed you at 6:30am and we go in bed with Daddy before he has to get up to go to work. You both are very alert. Jackson tells us stories of what I presume are the dreams he had during the night and Madison listens intently while she cuddles with me. After 30 minutes or so we're all tuckered out and fall asleep right there together. Jackson always wakes up after another 30 minutes when Maddie and I are NOT ready to get up so I get his car seat and put him in that with his binkie and he goes right back to sleep. We stay there until about 10 or 11 unless we have plans that day.

You are both amazingly easy to take out places. People are always saying how brave I am to go places with you but it's honestly not a big deal AT ALL. You mostly sleep in the car seats while I'm shopping at BJs etc. And if you do wake up you are happy just looking all around. People have actually accused me of slipping you drugs to make you so calm! The only challenge is carrying both of you in the car seats at the same time. You weigh over 20 lbs each including the weight of the seat so I can't walk long distances without getting you in a shopping cart.

Some days we go for walks in the double stoller and you always do well with that too. If one of you does start to cry for some reason you will always take a binkie and calm right down and usually fall asleep.

Bedtime is a breeze for Daddy. Daddy swaddles you up in your blankets and puts you both in the same crib right next to eachother at around 11pm. You are both out like a light and I don't hear a peep from you until 6:30 on the dot! It's amazing how your brains have internal clocks...you're so consistant!