Love Love Love

Hi beautiful girl. Right now, you are napping.  Your daddy rolled his ankle really badly yesterday, so he is laying in bed with his foot up taking a sick day from work.  Your favorite, the doggy, is cuddled up with daddy.  I am trying to get a few things done before you wake up and want all my attention again. I have some delicious coffee with peppermint creamer, which always makes me happy, especially around Christmas! Christmas is my very favorite time of the year- it really is magical.  I absolutely love getting people gifts and watching them open them.  It is also pretty fun getting a few gifts. I can't wait until you are old enough to start giving gifts- it will be so fun to take you shopping and let you pick out what you want to get for daddy or grandma.  I can hardly believe that you are already 8.5 months old- time is flying by! You have been learning so much lately and are really mastering some new skills! You wave hello and goodbye, you do the sign language for "all done" when you don't want to eat any more food, you army crawl like a pro, you climb up onto things (like through the coffee table or the legs of the chairs), you can turn a light switch on and off, you push your little play table around and walk with it! you are so quick at getting where you want to go! I can turn around for a minute to put away a jacket or something and when I look back, you are across the room standing up when you were just sitting by my feet a minute ago.  You have recently gotten so chatty! Your little voice is probably my favorite thing ever! You are always telling me things- especially right after you wake up. I will put you on the changing table and start getting you changed and dressed and you will just talk and talk and talk to me. It is so precious. I kind of don't want you to start saying words yet because I am enjoying your babbles and squeals sooo much. but i know it will be adorable when you start saying real words too.  actually, you do say "ma" when you are calling for me. you will do it mostly at night when you are tired and i leave the room ;) You are SO attached to me. it is crazy. I love it and feel like the luckiest mama in the world, but sometimes it is so exhausting. You are in the process of getting your top 2 teeth! I can feel the little bumps when I rub your gums and you have clearly been teething- you have been extra drooly, cranky, etc.  I will be happy when those pop through and you will be so much more comfortable! You are still waking up once a night- you usually wake up around 10-11pm and then again around 2-3am...so if you wake up early enough I feed you before falling asleep, but if i head to bed around 10 sometimes you wake me twice :( I do not even know how I am handling so little sleep. It has literally been over a year since I have slept through the night and yet I am doing fine- adjusting and learning to function. and you make it all worth it. You are so perfect and precious my baby! I just thank the Lord for you every day. I am so THANKFUL that He gave you to me to raise and take care of. What an honor to be your mama! I am making myself cry. I just love you more than I knew I could love. You fill my heart and my life with so much joy. I am so happy to have you in my life, sweet girl! I am getting so excited to spend our first Christmas together- and even though you won't remember it, to watch you open a few gifts! I hope that Christmas will always be a time of magic for you and a beautiful time to reflect on the love of the Lord for us.  It takes on a whole new meaning for me this year thinking about Mary with baby Jesus in the manger. The song "Mary did you know?" talks about how the tiny baby Jesus would someday die for us and save the world and it is so much more powerful to me this year because I know a mama's love.