To My Dearest Darling Son,

Today you turn one which means you have been part of our family for a whole year.  I can't believe it has been a year since you surprised us with your early arrival and with the fact that you were a boy. I will never forget that moment, anticipating the announcement of "it's a girl" only to hear daddy say "it's a BOY!" I was grinning from ear to ear and have continued to smile everyday watching you grow. Plus you haven't stopped smiling since the day you started and your smile is quite contagious.  You truly are the happiest little guy I have ever seen. So easy going, adventurous, and genuinely happy. You hardly make a peep about being unhappy and if you do it only lasts a second.  You have made your sisters laugh and smile even more, and they absolutely adore you. And boy can they get you going. Madi loves to play tickle monster with you. And Emma just loves to touch  you, pat you, kiss you, hug you, carry you, and be around you. Don't worry though,  daddy has been training you and teaching you how to deal with your sisters someday.  He has you practicing rights and lefts. And you have already shown us you are a master of the bob and weave move.  You love your daddy training sessions. Although I don't see boxing as your sport. I am hoping for basketball or football, maybe some golf with daddy. 

At one you can say mama, dada, uh oh, and ball. You love balls! You would be perfectly happy if you only had a ball to play with all day long. Doesn't matter what size, you love to throw it and chase it all over the house. You have 8 teeth and are feeding yourself finger foods pretty well. You will try just about anything and your tastes change from day to day. You are also a total water baby like Madi. You love to splash, love the bath, love Papi's water bowl, love swimming pools, love the tide pools on the beach although not to fond of the ocean waves. You have tried a couple times to just crawl off the edge into a pool and weren't too happy when I stopped you. You are a great and quite fast crawler and do a great bear crawl, you don't like to sit still much. Thankfully, for me at least, you haven't figured out walking yet.  You have shown us that you can stand but haven't attempted any steps. To be honest, this makes me quite happy as I am not ready to start chasing you. You are hard enough to chase on your hands and knees. And you love a good game of chase especially up the stairs.  And speaking of stairs, you are a climber.  Once you figured out the stairs, you quickly learned to climb other things like the baby gate blocking the stairs.  Only took you a couple weeks to figure out that you could scale it and make your way upstairs. All with the biggest grin on your face.  

You do everything with the biggest grin on your face!  My hope for you is that you smile that big and that hard every day for the rest of your life.  

I can't wait to see what this next year brings, how much you grow and learn and how much more you can smile.  

I love you with all my heart Benjamin James,

Mommy

Five Fabulous Years!!!!!

How in the world are these two little girls five?  I can not wrap my mind around it!  Can not believe how incredibly fast the last five years have gone by. Can not believe what little people these two have become!  It makes me so excited to see what the future will hold, and at the same time makes me a little sad that the time is going by so fast.  Too fast!

To My Dearest Darling Madeline,

Watch out world, here you come! You have grown so much this past year. You have always been a strong, spirited child but now you are able to focus your strength. You have developed such a strong sense of self. Your self confidence has blossomed and it is so fun to watch. The best part is watching you light up when you do something well or try something new, often with fist pumps or hands in the air with a little dance. I love hearing Daddy tell me how you did at soccer and skiing. Two things you were very timid to try, but now do very well and love. You are also quite competitive especially with Daddy when you are playing a card game. You can be competitive with Emma at times too, but it is usually playful and you are quick to encourage her and tell her “good job”.

You still don't miss a beat. You are so aware of what is happening around you and remember everything. Your mind doesn't stop and I can't sneak anything by you anymore. Long gone are the days of little white lies to get you to go along with me. You are quite the little negotiator and often bring up good points and good ideas that I have no choice but to give in at least a little. And it works with your sister too most of the time. You are good!

Emma is still your best friend. The bond that you two have is indescribable. Listening to you two play is amazing. Somehow you both can be on the same page with your imaginations and creativity. You two can disappear for hours a day and escape into your little world of puppies and ponies. And the conversations that occur are incredible. I don’t know where you come up with that stuff. You are still typically the ring leader, but often surprise me by letting your sister lead the charge or choose first. You like Emma to choose what she wants to wear each morning and then base your decision off her, often picking the matching shirt.

This past year, you also became a big sister to baby Ben. To be quite honest, I wasn’t sure how you would adjust to someone needing mommy more than you. You have always been a mama’s girl and now you really have to share me. You were a little frightened and unsure of things when you saw me in the hospital when Ben was born but as soon as we got home you embraced your baby brother. You have been a big help and are very curious about everything he has or does. You like to sing to him in the car and do things to make him laugh and smile. I think having your baby brother around has also made you step up your independence and build your confidence. But I do love that you still find moments to come snuggle on my lap and look up at me with your big baby blue eyes.

You were in preschool again this year at Seattle Preschool. I think because the environment was familiar and comfortable it allowed you to come out of your shell and really enjoy school and your friends. I love listening to you tell me about your day, the good and the bad. You are very animated and very honest, even telling me that you “fighted” another little girl in gymnastics. After hearing you tell the story of how you “fighted” I secretly was very proud of you for sticking up to someone bigger and stronger. Although I would never tell you that because fighting at school is not okay!

You have one more year of preschool before I have to send you into the big world of kindergarten and elementary school. This year you will be gone 5 days a week and I am not sure what I will do with myself. I can’t imagine my days without you and know that this year I will have to make the most of everyday and moment I have with you.

I am very proud of you! I love you more than I could ever put into words!

Love,

Mommy

 

To My Dearest Darling Emma,

Still my little happy jack! You have such an amazing attitude and really embrace life with wild abandonment. You are so comfortable with who you are and what you like. You are rarely afraid or intimidated to try something new. And if you are, it doesn’t take long for you to find the courage to try. You have this incredible way of going through your day not letting things get to you and not worrying about the things around you unless they matter. You are a “try, try, try again” kind of kid until you get it right. You don’t let anything discourage you or stop you from having fun. You are also still very physical, I don’t think a day has gone by that you don’t have a bruise. And I just don’t know how we have made it another year without landing in the ER for stitches or a broken bone. You still run, skip, jump everywhere! Daddy often says your picture should be in the dictionary next to the word “kid”. You are all kid, just want to have fun.

I think your picture should be next to the phrase "daddy's girl" because you are the ultimate daddy's girl. He is the world to you! It never gets old watching you wait for him to come home after work or a trip. Sometimes you get teary-eyed talking about how much you miss him when he is away. You crawl on my lap, snuggle in, look up at me with those big brown eyes and say "I miss my daddy". You still love my snuggles and need your mommy time, but daddy is the best.

You have grown to be very independent and brave. You love to make new friends at the playground or beach. It is really cute to watch you approach other kids and strike up a conversation. You really are a super sweet kid that likes to have fun. Madi is still your best friend and you are really good at including her even when you make new friends at the park. You have found a way to share your ideas with Madi and get her to go along with you, even though it can be hard sometimes. You have learned to stick up for yourself when things matter to you, and still are able to let the other things roll off your shoulder. You still don’t like to see your sister get in trouble and will often stick up for her even when she has done something mean to you. I don’t think you have a mean bone in your body.

You also became a big sister this year. And you are the sweetest big sister to your baby brother Ben! You embraced him the moment you met him. You two already have a bond that cannot be put into words. You can make him laugh harder than anyone else including Daddy or me. You love to help him, play with him, make him laugh. You can’t run by him without patting him on the head or giving him a kiss. You are very proud to show and tell everyone about your baby brother. I love it when you come into his room as I am rocking him to sleep and give him sweet kisses on the forehead. Sometimes you can be rough but it is because you just love him so much and it shows. It won’t be long before he will be running after you.

You are also the sweetest little friend. You went to Seattle Preschool again this past year and were so good at being friends with everyone in the class. You would often come home telling me all about who you played with and how they were your best friend. At the end of the school year you were so upset and sad that you weren’t going to see your friends for a while and told me all about how much you are going to miss them. You have such a big heart for everyone.
I am so excited to see how much you grow and learn this year especially at school since you will be going five days a week. I know it will be a great year, but am so sad I don’t get to spend my days taking you on play dates, swimming and to the park. We will have to do it as much as we can before you head off to kindergarten and you really grow up.

I am very proud to call you my daughter, my love, my KID!! I love you so very much!

Love,

Mommy