9 Months

Hello Miss Paige,

A couple weeks ago you turned 9 months old. It pains me a little to think all that time has passed. It seems like just yesterday that you were born. You were so tiny, helpless, and actually a fairly cranky baby. Now you are the complete opposite! You are my chunky, independent, carefree, blue-eyed beauty. I love to kiss your chubby cheeks and those eyelashes are to die for! You will probably get comments and compliments on your eyes for the rest of your life.



I wish I could explain to you what a blessing you have been to me- to our family. I couldn't have asked Heavenly Father for a more perfect baby to have while I've dealt with life since you were born. Our family fell apart and was mended and you went through almost all of it without any trouble. I want to apologize to you for not being the kind of Mom I wanted to be for you when you were so little. I wanted to spend hours playing with you on the floor and taking thousands of pictures like I did with your sister. Instead I played with you a little bit every day, fed you, took care of you and loved you as often as I could and you spent the rest of the time playing on the floor while I cried and tried to sort through the hard things. I have so much guilt that I carry with me for those few months of your life, but I pray that we still have a lot of time together and I hope I can make it up to you. I will forever be grateful to have you in my life and for how easy you were for me when times were hard.



You are my little sunbeam. Your eyes and your smile light up a room. You have learned to shake your head "yes" and "no", clap, wave, and keep your hands on the highchair tray when you are being fed. You are quite mobile using rolling and the "army crawl" to get around with little difficulty. You are starting to discover what "real food" tastes like and will vigorously shake your head "yes" when you like something. You love music and will dance if you hear it. You like to touch people's faces when you meet them, unless you are feeling shy. You love your sister and are always watching her to see what she'll do next- sometimes warily as she tends to be a little rough with you. You are tough! You'll fight back if you have to, get angry when someone takes something from you and aren't afraid to show it with a scream or a cry, and you'll even grab hold of a dog if it gets too close to you...and it won't bother you again! You have a funny low-pitched laugh and like to growl and "talk". Sometimes what you say sounds like words we like to think are "hi" "mumum" and "dad". You are sweet and special. I only wish I could know what thoughts you are having when I look into those big, blue eyes.



I hope you know just how much I- we- love you. I can't wait to see what you do next!

Love,

Mama