Six Months

Dear Savannah,

Tomorrow you are six months old.

It is almost impossible for me to really accept that it was six months ago today that we knew you were coming tomorrow. I remember in such specific detail how I felt when Dr Bruner told us he was going to induce labor and that they had an opening first thing the next day. It was such a mixture of nerves and excitement- I had butterflies in my stomach for 24 hours straight. I felt so unprepared- your Daddy and I ran around town all day, making sure we had everything that we would need for when you came home from the hospital. We got into bed that night and I spent the next 8 hours lying awake in bed, so excited that I couldn’t get a minute’s sleep. I lay there, imagining what your face would look like, what you would smell like and feel like in my arms after so many months of feeling you from within. I felt your strong kicks for the last time and just held my hands pressed against my swollen belly feeling those movements, the movements that had me so excited the first time I felt them and sustained me throughout my entire pregnancy. It was a connection between the two of us, something I could never share with anyone else, now matter how hard I tried. There are no words to describe how a little movement could make me fall so in love with a little person who I had never even met, but for in my dreams.

Little girl, you are every dream come true.

And now you are six months old. I can hardly put my mind around that thought. Oh, how you have grown in just half of a year. Still so tiny, so petite that strangers are awed when we reveal your age. Such a dainty little girl, the way little girls should be. How I treasure the ability to still hold you close to me, as close as I can possibly get to you. You bring tears to my eyes just watching you grow up- I am trying to drink it all in, to remember each and every moment for the rest of my life but I know that it will pass so quickly and I will only have photographs to remember your sweetness by.

You are trying so hard every day to crawl. You have become proficient in scooting around the living room in circles, sometimes resorting to moving backwards to get where you want to be. You’ve gone so far as to get up on all fours (with a little help from mama and daddy) and rock back and forth but you are not quite brave enough to maneuver your little body forward. Just this week you uttered your first word- “dada”- a sound that filled your Daddy’s heart with so much love and excitement. He will never tire of hearing you say his name- whether you whisper it, as you have delighted in doing today- or yell it out when he walks through the door after a long day at work. At night when we are getting you ready for bed, you repeat it over and over and over, as if you are trying not to forget this new trick you learned, and then it is the first thing on your lips when you wake in the morning. It is as if you think about it, dream about it all night and have to try it out just to make sure it didn’t slip away in your slumber, never to be remembered again.

You bring such joy to my life, Savannah Belle, and I can only pray that you will live your life in the way the Lord has set forth for you, that you will forever cherish your family and God above all else in your life. I don’t even want to think of you growing up but I pray that when you do, you don’t ever change your sweet temper and disposition. I love you more than words can describe, no matter how many different ways I try to tell you. You are my love, my life, my firstborn angel sent directly from heaven to my life and I cherish you in a way I never knew possible.

All My Love,
Mama.

Splish, Splash!

 

 

Savannah & Grandpa Hill

 

Gator Girl

 

 

 

 

 

Laughter