Elina: Seven Months

Dear Elina,

Happy seven months baby girl. I say this every month but I really can’t believe you are seven months old. Minutes, hours, days are slipping through my fingers. My infant turned into a baby and my baby is in the process of turning into a toddler. This past month has seen so many changes and you are taking them with the same pleasantness and contentment you do with all changes. You are a sweet, sweet baby and everyday I wonder how it is possible for me to have gotten so lucky to have such an “easy” baby. You’re easy to care for, easy on the eyes, and easy to love. You have made me realize all that I missed out on with Cati because of the emotional fog that was present for my first few months with her. It’s as if I was given a reset on this whole mothering-a-baby thing and now I understand why some women completely adore this stage.

In the past month you have gotten steady with sitting, learned how to crawl, learned how to move from crawling to sitting positions and vice versa, been introduced to solid food, and dropped one of your bottles. I love to see the grace in which you move to go from crawling to sitting and the jerky movements of going from sitting to crawling. I love that your crawl is part leg shuffle and part body drag. I love to see how messy your face gets after a meal because you prefer to eat food straight off our plates instead of pureed. More than anything, I love how you just go with the flow. With Cati I would always become anxious when change was near, but with you I am calm because you handle change so well.

One of the best parts of this past month was getting the opportunity to have alone time with you. Cati started school and that has given us about an hour each day to be together. In a way, I feel like I am just now starting to get to know you because I get to see how you are on your own. With your sister around my attention is split and it’s hard to really focus on you. Don’t get me wrong, I love when it’s the three of us because I love seeing how you two interact but I also love showering you with undivided attention.

The second best part of this past month has been seeing how interactive you have become with Cati. You light up when you see her and she loves to do whatever she can to entertain and comfort you. She’s my little helper and it’s amazing how quickly I can get her to do certain things when she knows it’s for you. My favorite moment was when you started to cry and she stopped what she was doing and ran up to you, touched your face, and started singing your favorite song (“All Night, All Day”). You calmed down right away. This sisterly bond is already taking shape and I feel so lucky to see how quickly you two are starting to fall in love with one another.

I love you little one. I love everything you have done for our family. I love being a mother of two. I love seeing your father be a father of two. And I love seeing your sister become a sister. We all fall deeper and deeper in love with you everyday. Thank you so much for allowing us to love you and be your family.

Love,

Mami