A Birthday Letter to My Daugther

This letter is to my daughter.  I realize it is long and tedious so if you prefer just skip to the end and look at how much she has changed.  Amazing.  Without further ado...

Darling Peach,

It has been 1 year, 52 weeks, 356 days since you entered our lives.  You are my third child, my second daughter.  This year has gone so fast.  Before you were born your father dreamed of you.  He told me you would be my child, the dark one, dark hair, dark eyes, round cheeks.  He told me you would be a mamas girl.  He was right.  Peach since the moment of your birth you have been the love of your families' life.  Your brother, your sister, your mom, and dad, we all love you so much.  You are our brown eyed girl, brown hair, olive skin.  You are our littler talker.  For months you have called your dad, mom, and brother Ezra by name.  You point.  You clap hands.  When you blow kisses you enunciate each kiss with an "um".  You love to stand.  You walk along furniture.  You've taken running steps in between mom and dad but for the most part you won't strike out on your own.  You have one little tooth on the right bottom.  You have a second little tooth on the left bottom just waiting to poke through and two bulging gums on the top.  You love to eat fruit, especially berries, grapes, melon, and apples.  You want to eat your apples whole.  You use that one little tooth and gnaw away until you get a little chunk off.  You hate sitting in your car seat.  I think it has something to do with the fact that you despise having sun in your eyes.  The irony of course is the fact that you love being outside.  When the door opens you head for it.  You want to be outside.  You love outside.  You have no fear, you are totally confident in your ability to be outside.  You love crawling in the grass, eating dirt, throwing sticks, riding in the bike trailer.  You are artistic.  You have a thing for music.  When music is on in the house or anyone sings you start to dance.  When it is on in the car you tap your feet against the back of the seat..  You yell out when we sing.  You already know how to hold a crayon and you love to draw.  Everything you see gets put in your mouth but when you see crayons you pick them up and start drawing. You are a flirt.  When someone smiles you, you smile back, then you look away sly, and then rush back to look again, this time with another big smile.  You are a horrible sleeper.  When I put you down for a nap, you instantly jump up and start crying for me.  You prefer to get your sleep in the car while we are running endless errands with your siblings.  I love you so much girl but you are killing me with your sleep habits.  You still love the mama milk and you don't mind waking up in the middle of the night to get it.  Then you want to have a party in bed.  Oh girl it is wearing your mama out.  You are the apple of your brother's eye.  He carries you everywhere, he gets you out of bed, hikes you up the stairs, hikes you back.  He brings you toys, halves grapes with you, sings you songs, jumps hoops to entertain you.  You are your sister's playmate.  You play tornado in the doll house with her, you chew on her, you play instruments.  You empty drawers together, another favorite activity for you.  You love listening to books together, and then you try to sit on them.  You always want to be held.  You love to snuggle with your family.  Darling daughter when you were one day old your brother named you Peach.  When we asked him why he simply said because Peach was a good name.  When I was 15 we went to Seattle.  One early morning my mom and I went to Pike's Market.  I can't remember everything we bought, but I do remember a gigantic peach, the biggest peach I'd ever seen.  The peach sat in the bag through our shopping.  It made it back into the car.  Then I had to pull that peach out of bag.  I bit into it right there sitting in the car.  Juice went down my chin and onto my fingers.  It was worth it.  That moment, the green of Washington, the smell of the ocean, the sweetness of the peach, the early morning sun, the excitement of the Seattle, the joy of having a moment alone with my mom, that day was one of the best of my life.  You are like that day.  A Peach is a good thing!  

Peach at 0 months :)

Peach at six months.

 I wanted to try and recreate these two moments to show how much she has changed in 12 months.  She is huge now in the basket and two old to leave the bow alone.  Wow it has gone by fast. 

This one is my favorite.  It is like looking in an egg.