Dear Luke, 6 months

Dear Luke,

I must confess I had a little cry the other day when rocking you to sleep.  The emotions I felt in that precious moment made me teary-eyed when I became keenly aware of how sacred it was.  You are growing up so fast and learning so many new things in such a short time.  I find myself wishing it would all just slow down.  Yesterday morning, your dad got up to get you out of your crib and found you sitting up!  He came running back to our room screaming, "Luke is sitting up all by himself!" and then went running down the stairs to get the video camera.  When he came back you had already fallen back over :).  Waking up in the morning to get you from your crib is like experiencing a little Christmas each time, we never know what we might find you doing :).

As I said, you have done a lot of growing this past month despite the major upheaval in our lives.  Over Thanksgiving you learned how to roll over from back to tummy, scream really loud, and spit in 3 different ways.  The week after Thanksgiving you decided it was time you started to try and CRAWL!  Whaaaat!?

This one really threw me for a loop!  You keep getting up on all fours rocking back and forth, doing all you can to figure out how to move forward.  You get stronger and more stable every day.  

We haven't seen a "true" crawl yet, but somehow you find a way to get the toy you were reaching for 2 feet away.  

Have I ever told you how much you LOVE to eat?  When you were first born you were not the best eater, always falling asleep and never finishing a meal.  Well my boy, you have turned into a real champ.  You finish your meals with me in 10 minutes or less!  When we give you a bottle you down that sucker in no time at all.   Once it's finished you always cry, letting us know you WANT MORE!  You also started solid foods this month. You have adapted to the spoon like you were always using one.  You grab for it when we feed you and try to guide it into your mouth all by yourself.  You didn't make any weird faces when you tried your cereal for the first time, you just opened the hatch and went with it.  

You have really been an incredibly easy baby Luke.  You are doing an awesome job sleeping (thank-you-very-much) and you LOVE to snuggle before you go to bed.  Although, I fear you are becoming a little picky as to who does the snuggling at bed time and are starting to make your preference clear (me :).  You are a very content and sweet little baby, people always want to love on you and hold you.  You seem to find the fun in anything you can put your hands around and always find a way to put it in your mouth.

Did you know you will be exactly 6 months on Christmas Day?  That's a very special half-birthday to share on the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus!  In honor of your very first Christmas I immediately put the Christmas tree up in our new home (despite the many other boxes that needed to be unpacked) because this year is very special to me.

This is the first time we get to celebrate Christmas as a family of 3!  Your Dad and I have thought a lot about what we want our family to understand and experience during the Christmas Season.  We want to help you understand the GIFT of God's one and ONLY son to the world.  We want you to understand the MIRACLE of his birth and the significance it has to the WORLD.  We want you to have sweet memories of our family time, experience cool traditions, and learn how to be a thoughtful giver.  We know that as you get older and as our family grows we will have nothing but fond memories of the time we have together during this magical season.

Merry Christmas my precious little baby.  May you soon experience the WONDER of the awesome birth of His son-  His special gift to you.

Love,
Mama