Seven months old

Seven months old.

Seven months of being parents.

Seven months of no sleep.

Seven months, filled with Joy.

I am rocking you to sleep.

You are seven months old, today.

How many more nights do I get to hold you while you sleep? When will you be big and not able to curl up against my chest like this?

This month has raced by, faster than all the rest. We keep falling more and more in love with you!

You love to eat breakfast and dinner with Daddy and Mama, at the table.

You love patting/hitting/banging anything that makes a sound. Your hand patting Mama or Daddy's face or bare back is your favorite, thus far... Followed closely behind by banging your arms on the tray of your high chair, yelling "BA BA BA!"

I noticed you were cutting your first tooth on October 5th, and just ten days later, Daddy noticed your second one coming in. It is so heartbreaking for us to watch you in pain like this, sweetheart. We are doing our very best to comfort you. You are a teething rockstar, though, just needing a lot of extra cuddles, kisses and naps. You're nursing much less, we think it's because your teeth are giving you pain. I can't wait for those teeth to be done, because I can't wait for you to nurse like we are used to!

You're getting so close to crawling, your Daddy thinks it will happen in the next couple weeks.

You are sleeping in your crib by yourself ...most of the time.

We can't go to the grocery store without at least eight different people stopping us to "ooooh" and "awww" over you. There is no such thing as a quick shopping trip, anymore.

Actually, there's no such thing as a quick anything, anymore.

But I wouldn't have it any other way.

You are so funny, Addi Bird. You have a way of making everything a game, laughing at the simplest things. I pray that you're always stay this way.

You know exactly what you want, and you've started to let us know. Sometimes, you won't stop whining until someone is holding your hands so that you can pull yourself up. Over, and over, and over again. But I see your heart - so determined and strong. I am thankful for that, sweet girl. 

I can't wait to learn you even more, to help you grow and to kiss you with each morning that comes. 

You are a complete Beauty.

Happy 7 months.

I love you,

Mama

Five years together

I was seventeen. 

and I was getting excited, like I always did before I got to see him. He had never been to my house, though, and I couldn't wait to show him around. We had been friends for three or four years, and I had only "liked-him-liked-him" for a few months... but he had been crazy about me for three years. I was, of corse, oblivious to it for much of those three years. I wore jeans and my orange Old Navy v-neck, scrunched my hair and checked my make-up. I sat with my Dad and brother on the porch swing, laughing and taking pictures together.

When he got there, I showed him around the house, and we ate some food. He asked me to go with my sister for a few minutes, then he sat alone with my dad and asked for permission to date me.

After a hesitant talk (this boy was a wild boy) my dad agreed, and this wild boy took me outside for a walk. We walked and we talked. Standing there in the weeds, with bare feet next to the pond, shivering in the October night chill, he asked me to be his girlfriend.

Today, five years later, I celebrate that night. We have grown from two clueless teenagers into two twentysomething's who still have no idea what they're doing. 

I graduated high school

We went to college

He asked me to marry him... Twice.

We got an associates degree/dropped out/left college

We got married, spent a lovely week exploring Maine

Moved 567 miles away, to Nashville, into a super tiny and very junky apartment

He went to school for a couple months

He has had 4 jobs, I have had one

Moved another 28 miles south, to a beautiful apartment that we are very blessed with

We've regularly attended 3 churches, and have visited at least 10.

Made a baby

Birthed a baby

Raising a baby

A music career beginning to take significant shape, being blessed more each day

...Five years.

We've had countless fights, sleepless nights, many moments of feeling like completely giving up... On school, on friends, on marriage, on money, on dreams... On God.

And it's been worth it. So very worth it.

We are blessed far more than what we deserve, and right now at this very moment, even through all the yucky things going on...

this is the happiest I've been.

Thankful for him. My best friend.

And now! Six million pictures of our life during the last 5 years.

...Because I can.

Sweet Matthias,

I'll be your girlfriend for the rest of my life.

It's amazing, doing life with you.

Thanks for asking me to come along with you on this journey.

Happy October Tenth, My Love.