6 Month Letter

Dear Maya,

Wow. Just wow. You are half a year old already, and I couldn't for the life of me explain how that happened. But here you are, a sweet, wonderful little half-year-old. This past month has been a really busy one for our family, but we haven't failed to notice all the growing you've been doing!

For one, you are getting really close to being able to sit on your own. Actually, you can sit on your own for a little while-- but then you get excited about something and like to launch yourself backward or to the side. You have also become quite the little grabber. We are constantly looking to make sure that certain things aren't within your reach, because we know you will grab them if they are! The other night, I was giving you your bath when you accidentally dropped your rubber ducky over the side. Next thing I knew, you were launching yourself over the side after it-- and you successfully retrieved it, I might add! You grow stronger by the day, and I know that our days of you being immobile are short-lived. You love doing your baby push-ups on the floor, and sometimes pull your knees up underneath you. It's only a matter of time before you put all the pieces together and start to crawl. sigh...

Sleep-wise, yours is a history of constant improvement and then regression. We weren't as strict with the sleep training this time around as we were with your brother, and that may be part of it. It's just easier to go in and feed you or give you your pacifier than it is to listen to you cry and worry about waking your brother. At any rate, you tend to still wake up once at night for a feeding. The problem is that you've been waking for the day at 5am lately, which means that we've been bringing you into bed with us for that last hour before our alarm clocks go off. We long for the day when you realize just how awesome sleep truly is. Once you and your brother figure that out, then we've got it made!

I mentioned before that it has been a busy month. The past week alone has been a big one for you! First, your brother turned two, and we celebrated all weekend long. We had family portraits taken later in the week, which was a lot like herding cats-- working with a toddler and an infant is tricky! Finally, you celebrated your very first Halloween by going trick-or-treating with your big brother. You didn't collect any candy (since you have no teeth!), but the consensus was that you were quite the beautiful little flower.

Basically, you are an incredible kid. The word that keeps popping into my head is "synergy." It describes a situation where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And with you in our family, that's just what we have. You aren't just the fourth member of our family, but you are the missing piece of our puzzle. We simply can't imagine our life without you. You are the sweetest, most amazing little girl we know, and that will never change. We love you!!!

Love Always,
Mommy and Daddy