dear hazel: 11 months

XII

dear hazel,

11 months! hazel, how is this possible?? i’m late, per usual, in writing this letter and i have to blame most of my tardiness on the fact that i’m sitting here in a corner in the fetal position trying to figure out how in the world we’re even talking about your first birthday party. when i first started taking these monthly photos in the white chair…you couldn’t even begin to sit up and i remember thinking to myself, “man i can’t even imagine when she will be bigger than this char!” well, that time is now….

not a lot has changed since last month (that could be because i wrote your letter SO late). still not crawling, standing or pulling up. still only 2 teeth, but judging by the change in your gum line (and the fact that you had us up from 12-2 the night before last), i know the top ones are trying so hard to poke through. transitioning to table food still isn’t going so well either. yesterday i got you to eat 3 or 4 bites of banana (i wish you could remember the cheers you elicited from your dad and me) but then this morning? no go. drats.

the biggest event of your 11th month?? CHRISTMAS! we survived, baby! not without, naturally, a trip to urgent care on christmas eve! your dad and i have officially been hazed into parenthood. i took you in just to rule out anything serious since we were leaving for ohio on christmas day and whatdoyouknow, an ear and sinus infection! i should probably add in here that you met santa at your dad’s christmas party. you held it together for the most part and shed one single ginormous tear. so sweet.

i reflected a lot this christmas on what your christmas day will look like when you’re older…(my first thought was “i’m sorry”)…our schedule from christmas eve to the day after christmas looked something like this: presents at grandpa jeff’s christmas eve morning (your uncles love you SO much), home for a nap, dinner and more presents at great grandma hopf’s, home for “bed”, woke you up for 9pm christmas eve church (you were a complete champ, charming the entire congregation), home for bed, christmas morning presents as a family, walked across the street for presents at grandma/grandpa bear’s (i don’t know who was most excited), nap while we brunched and i drank too many billinis, visit with your schnarr dc cousins, dinner/presents with the vonderheides, go to bed/jump in the car and drive to ohio (you slept the ENTIRE way while your dad and i binged on SERIAL), spend a few days celebrating with your premuda cousins (you and your cousin connor are tight), aunt/uncle, grandma/grandpa, great grandma and great great uncle dick. whew. did you keep up? you handled all the craziness and travel like an absolute champ and your dad and i were/are SO proud.

so many people told me it would be and it was true, christmas with you was pretty darn magical. you obviously don’t understand what’s going on, but you loved unwrapping gifts and watching your face light up (along with those gifting you said present) was amazing.

i can’t believe i almost forgot, you now say “momma” and “dadda”! how cute?!

since you were at the doctor, i can say that you weigh 21lbs though i have no idea how long you are, but man you are LONG. i scratch my head daily trying to figure out where you got that from. you’re wearing 18-24 or 2t clothing. the 2t is mainly bc i get so tired of you constantly outgrowing clothes so i just buy fairly big. you’re still in size 4 diapers and your feet are still tiny. my lord, we have our work cut out for us when you start wearing actual shoes. you have these tiny, skinny little heels that will make narrows an absolute essential.

you continue to be a ray of light in our lives, hazel, and i try to very hard to remember that even when you frustrate me to no end. i’m better at that some days than i am others. i’d say that’s what being a mom is all about.

love you, peanut,

momma

some random photos from the month from my camera and iphone: