A Letter to Ella

Dear Little-one,

Even though we've only been together for a few months now, I've already learned so much about you, my sweet child. For example, you are my little water-baby, and it shows in everything you do and are. You absolutely love taking baths and splashing in the water. Even when water splashes on your face, you just blink it away with your bright blue eyes and continue playing. Your favorite animals are tigers and hippos, which is fitting because tigers are the only big cats that enjoy swimming, and hippos are animals that spend most of their time submerged underwater. You fit right in with them, too: if you had a choice, you'd prefer to just stay in the water all day, splashing around and luxuriating in the tranquil buoyancy surrounding you. You soak up all of that tranquility and make it a part of yourself; you have such a soothing presence which just flows off of you in waves of peace and calm. You have the gift of quiet clarity, so whenever I hold you, I'm able to just slow down and reflect on the truly important things in my life: you and your sister and your daddy.

You're a relatively quiet baby with very simple pleasures: as long as you're being held and fed, you're happy. In fact, you would love nothing more than to be held all day long! This has caused me to wonder if your primary love language is Physical Touch. After all, when you cry, almost any physical contact works to calm you down. You like it when I stroke your face, but you love grabbing onto my finger and holding on while you drift off to sleep, as if you need tangible proof that I'm still there watching over you. You are, without a doubt, the most snuggly baby I've ever met, and I love picking you up and holding you close to my heart. I'm grateful that you're still exclusively nursing because I feel like it give me an excuse to just snuggle you several times a day, which I think strengthens our love-bond.

Because you're only a few months old, there are many things I don't know about you yet, but I'm looking forward to learning all of them. There are some things that I already know, though. For example, I know that I love you absolutely, and I know that you are a very special little girl. I'm thankful for your beautiful little spirit. I'm thankful for the blessing you are in my life. I'm thankful for your calming influence. I'm thankful that I get to be your Mommy. I'm thankful for YOU. Thank you for coming and making our family complete. You are my precious baby, and I love you so very much! Happy Thanksgiving, Little-one!

Love you forever,
Mommy