Letter to my 5 month old.

My dear Amelia,

At this time last year, you were just a tiny heartbeat in my tummy. We did not know your due date, we did not know if you were a boy or a girl, we did not know what an amazing little person you were going to be. We only knew you were on your way and we were already madly in love with you.

Now you are 5 months old and another year is coming to an end. 2010 has been the most wonderful, exciting, scary and love filled year of my life. You have changed my world, my days, my perspective and my ideas on love. You are a constant source of joy for everyone who loves you and I am in awe of what a wonderful and happy person you are. I am so excited to spend the next year with you and watch all that you do. As always you are changing and experiencing firsts day by day.

This month:

• You started eating cereal, so far we have tried rice and oatmeal. You absolutely love to eat your cereal and are becoming increasingly impatient with the bottle.

• You are becoming a pro at sitting up. You can sit unassisted for longer periods of time, but still fall over frequently.

• You are consistently sleeping about 11 hours a night. Usually from about 9:30 pm to 8:30 am.
  

• You are trying so hard to crawl, and are getting so close! You can get up on your knees and and raise up on your hands, just not at the same time.
  

• You had your first visit to Santa.
  

• You had your first Christmas! And loved it! We spent a lot of time with family in Stillwater and Ardmore. You had so much and got way to many toys, but you love them all.
  

Amelia and Santa (Uncle Jon)

4 Generations
Great Grandma Hodson, Grandpa Hodson, Daddy, Amelia

Wooden rocking horse from Great Grandma Hodson.
Made by your Great Grandpa Dewey for your Daddy on his first Christmas.

Paw Paw

Cousin Braden, Aunt Jessica, Cousin Austin, Uncle Christopher

Grams

First family Christmas

The holiday season was so much fun to celebrate with you. Your smile and joy brought so much happiness to our family and renewed my Christmas spirit.

So much has happened and so much has changed in the course of one year. As this year comes to an end, I am so thankful for you, all the changes and all the blessings you bring to our lives. I know 2011 will be full of new firsts, new challenges, and new surprises. I have no resolution for the new year, but my goal is to always live in the present and treasure each day. I will spend the next year trying to be the best mommy that I can be. This is my promise to you , my sweet baby girl.

Letter to my 4 month old.

My Dear Amelia,

This month you have changed so much! You are growing so fast and becoming so many new things. Day by day you are changing from a sweet little newborn to an infant with a very big personality. You love to entertain and laugh and be the center of all attention. You are very curious about everything around you and love to explore new things. You are a charmer, you can give a little grin that will melt anyone's heart.

This month:

• You found your voice. You love to scream and shriek and make noise. You rarely cry, but you love to be heard and learn new sounds.

• You learned to (almost) sit up. You can sit by yourself for short periods of time, but don't yet have full control.

• You like to try to stand up by yourself. And can do so for approximately 1 second before you start to topple. But it makes you happy so we let you try.

• You became really aware of Suki and Sullivan. You love to reach for them, pet them and grab their ears.
  

• You found your feet. The left one is constantly in your mouth.

• You have become aware of food. You watch everything we eat and follow each bite of food to our mouths. We hope to start you on rice cereal within the next month.

• You go to bed between 8:30 - 9:00 pm and sleep until 7:30 - 8:30 am.
  

• Had your first Thanksgiving. Actually two Thanksgivings. We had Hodson Thanksgiving the Sunday before and you saw your first turkey, sat at the table and drooled over all the food. On Thanksgiving day we were in Ardmore with Grams and Pop, where we cheated and gave you a taste of cranberry sauce, gravy and sweet potatoes. You did not like any of them.
  

At your 4 month well baby visit you:

• weighed 13 lb 12 oz. (50th percentile)
• were 15 1/4 inches long (75th percentile)

During this month of giving thanks and celebrating our blessings, I am ever reminded that I am so thankful that you are in my life, my sweet sweet baby girl.