One Years Old

Dear Camdyn,

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skys are grey. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away."

These words have been sung to you more times than I can count. And they are so true. You, baby girl, are my sunshine. You are a beautiful and precious gift from God. I love you so much.

This letter has taken me several days to construct because I want to capture you. I want to tell you so much!

When you were growing inside of me, you were so fiesty! You kicked and hiccupped constantly. To this day, I am convinced you used my rib cage as a punching bag! But I didn't mind. Every kick and punch was a not-so-gentle reminder that a life was inside of me and God was entrusting another human being to me!

The day you were born was amazing. After being in labor for 25 hours, I was so ready to meet you. When I saw you for the first time, my eyes welled with tears. You were beautiful. Ten fingers, ten toes...perfect! You may have been 4 weeks early, but at 7 pounds 11 ounces, you looked nothing like a preemie! That should have been my first clue that you would march to your own drum!

Your first month was a wild one. I thought you would never sleep! You ate every 2 hours, so I apologize to you for being such a zombie! On the plus side, you made such cute noises. I remember you saying "Ang-gah" when you were crying hard. It reminded me of "Anger" and I couldn't help but laugh. You were telling me "Mom I am angry, HELP me NOW!" :)

Your second month was much easier for mommy. You actually slept through the night beginning at 10 weeks! :) You laughed outloud around this same time. Melted.my.heart.

Your low chuckles turned into flat out giggles in months 3 and 4. You began rolling over, eating baby food, and were constantly changing!

Month 5 carries mixed emotions. The good: You found your toes. (You loved to eat them!) You began learning to sit alone. You began to say Momma - "Om-ma" Oh how it warmed my heart that you said momma before dadda! ;)
The bad: You had to spend your first Christmas in a hospital room. You were sick with Ecoli and a UTI. It was a hard month for you sweetheart, and you had to endure more that month than I have ever had to in my life, but you were so brave!

At 6 months old you sat on your own very well, squealed with delight at all things funny, and rolled all over the floors to get where you wanted to go.

Month 7 was the month of independence. You began standing up (holding on to an object), and you learned to crawl too! You started feeding yourself and loved taking the spoon away from mommy!

Whoa! At 8 months, you were on the go! Crawling all over the place, talking all the time, popping handfuls of Cheerios in at one time - You had us on our toes! One other cute thing you did this month was learn to wave bye-bye!

9 months was an adventure! You began eating table food (You had your first taste of ribs- Thanks Grandma!). You began pulling up and standing all by yourself. You also finally learned to clap and love to clap along with Patty-Cake.

At 10 months, I knew you weren't my little baby anymore- You were too quickly approaching toddlerhood! You took your first steps! You began saying Hey, Hi, Hello, and Bye. That made 6 words you could say! (I always knew you'd be smart!)

The next month was your 11th. This month you learned to say "Dog". It's pretty funny, because you only would say "dog" in a whisper! But you say it over and over again as soon as you see one! You also started taking about 4 or 5 steps before falling down.

July 26th marked your 12th month, your first birthday! You dove into your cake with both hands! This month you began walking all over the place, opening cabinets (babyproofing was needed ASAP!) and getting into everything.

You have such a sweet personality. When I am upset, you will lay your head on my shoulder as if you are comforting me.
You are so inquisitive. You stare at everything, taking it all in.
You are so kind, never meeting a stranger. You wave hello and goodbye to everyone you see!
You face the world head on, no fear! That may lead to a few more bruises than most, but it will serve you well as you grow and become a young lady.

I love you so much Camdyn and I thank God for you, my sunshine, every day.

Love,
Mommy