Age 3

 Dear Thea, 

Hey baby. You are a bit over 3 years old. You had your tonsils and adenoids removed recently. You were a champ. You powered through the after care without pain medication after you left the hospital. You healed up great though. You are a spit fire. You’re loud and demanding. You are also sweet and loving though. Frequently at random you’ll just say “I love you.” To daddy and I and it sure melts our hearts. 

You are currently experimenting and exploring who you are. You are very picky with what you wear. In the summer you demand to wear pants because your knees get cold lol and you forever must wear socks so your feet don’t get cold. You often want to wear boyish clothes and nothing too girly. You also have your hair cut short, though it’s also curly. You sometimes get mistaken for a boy hit you either haven’t noticed or it doesn’t bother you. 

You’re still a bit speech delayed. You just recently hit 300 words maybe a month ago. You’ve been speaking new words each and every day but according to your doctor you’re still a bit behind. But I’m not worried about it. Oh and you absolutely will not use the potty, still. 

You have a very big blankey and you still sleep with daddy and I. Sometimes you get sleep terrors big your doctor says they’re common in your age so not to worry. 

I love you, and I’m so happy you’re here with us. That’s about all I’ve got as for an update for now. My spunky little girl. 💗

Almost 3!

 Dear Althea, 

You are almost 3!! I can’t believe it! 💗 goodness I love you so much. You’re the sweetest little thing! Though, boy you are stubborn! Lol 

You’ll be 3 in just 3 weeks!! You are so loving and sweet. 

Developmentally you’re a little speech delayed but you’re not in speech therapy because of covid. Covid is a flu like illness that’s killed a pretty huge portion of our population over the last year. Thankfully we have all kept safe and covid free! Thank god! But!!! You know 220 words!! 

You’re also not yet potty trained. You have zero interest and you make that VERY clear. You are very attached to your diapers. You hate being changed too. You’ve peed on the potty before dozens of times but now you’ve decided you’re done with that and that you’re excited when you see your diapers. 

Unfortunately, another side effect of covid is that over the past year you’ve only left the house to go to mammy’s house, auntie moe’s, the daycare, or once you also went to the zoo- recently. So you haven’t really had much interaction with the outside world. 

You sometimes can be very demanding lol. Hands on your hips, yelling at us, typical nearly 3yo behavior lol 

You frequently tell daddy and I that you love us and I live for it. “Uv tsouu” is what you say which translates to “I love you!” It’s so sweet. 💗 

You love singing and you sing all the time!! You’ve just picked up the “got any grapes?” Song and you sing “waddle waddle, waddle waddle waddle” 😂 Another one you like is twinkle twinkle little star, “up adaya kyyy”. And the third one is “ahhhh, ahhh, ahhhh, ahhhhhhh” which is this voice from the movie Frozen which you also love. 

While we’re on the topic of things you love: you love Mickey Mouse and his friends, Frozen and Frozen 2, Vampiarina, and once in a while you’ll try a new show but you end up switching back to one of the ones above. 💜 

You’ve also got such a kind personality, you absolutely love feeling helpful and you love to make others smile and laugh. You’re absolutely silly and it’s precious lol 

I love you and I hope that as you grow up you’ll always feel the love from me that I have for you 💗. I’ll always be here for you and I’m excited to see what the years bring for me with you in our lives. You make our lives brighter just by being you. 

Almost 2

Dear Althea,
You are almost 2. You talk in one word phrases.... yeah!, no, hey!, more, WHY?!, wow!, and sorry!, hi, and bye. You also know how to say mommy, daddy, Lailah, and Noel.
You fell about a month back and had to get 3 stitches under your chin.. you are always running, dancing, and singing, you love it. Last night you were having your own little performance and when daddy walked by you shouted, "hey!" at him, because he must have interrupted your routine or something haha, it was pretty cute and funny.
You're super helpful - you like to help with the dustpan while we're sweeping and putting the dirt in the trashbin, you like to throw things away, and you like to help sort laundry. You're a sweet little soul.
You love our kitties and you're so gentle with them too.
You're still breastfeeding but I am currently 9 weeks pregnant with your next little sibling so it's pretty painful and uncomfortable for me to nurse you right now, so I am only nursing you to bed and down for naps. You're not too happy about it but you're coping with it well enough.
You really enjoy laying with Lailah and watching cartoons as well as chasing Noel around the house trying to tag him. I hope that you all will always have the loving bond that you currently share.
There's not much more that I can think to add right now, it's also getting late and I've got to lay you down for bedtime soon.
I love you <3 lov mommy

A bit over 8 months.

Dear Althea,
You are about 8 months and a week old and in the past few weeks alone you've started sitting up, crawling, pulling yourself standing up, and you are already talking! You now say mama, dada, yeah, oh yeah, nah, and what? LOL You also babble in baby talk in which we have no clue what you're saying which seems to upset you sometimes lol.
You also laugh when you're angry and when you're happy and we can only tell if you either screech in frustration or squeal in delight lol.
You are super easy going for the most part and you love observing things around you. Although, it does cause you to frequently fight sleep because you seem to not want to miss anything.
You are so freaking cute. You've also got two little teeth in on the bottom but so far no signs of any other teeth. You also had a weight appointment about a week ago and you are about 16 lbs.
I love having you here, you are so sweet, cuddly, loving, and you're so calm for the most part - very go with the flow.
Oh and you've also tried some lemon and blueberry recently - in which you LOVE lemon but you really don't like blueberry lol. When you tried the blueberry it was hilarious because we could see your thought process. Every time you held a blueberry up between your fingers and you looked at it your face would instantly shiver with disgust lmao. After a few tastes you decided that it was very upsetting and that you absolutely would not be trying it anymore lol. But yet the lemon you nomed on happily and you seemingly shivered with delight when it was quite sweet for you before eating more.
You've been here only 8 short months and of course I can't imagine our life without you. I can't wait to continue watching you and guiding you into the person you're meant to become as we experience this human experience together. <3
I love you my little pudge,
<3 Love Mommy.

7.5 months old!

Dear Althea,
You are about 7.5 months old! You've grown so much! I'm sorry I've been too busy to update lately but better late than never!!!

You've got two little teeth coming in! You've started eating food at 6 months and you LOVE food lol, let me tell you!

You must take after daddy. Yesterday morning you ate 1 entire egg all on your own and you also nursed lol.

You were a little Dinosaur for Halloween haha, sorry! I really love dinosaurs and it was just too cute to pass up! LOL

You can sit yourself up and pull yourself up on stuff to standing but you aren't crawling yet, you try but you can't seem to figure out how to keep both your head and your bottom up haha. It's so cute though.

You've become pretty vocal and you have tiny "conversations", you go "eh" then you wait for a response lol before another "eh!" It's adorable. You've also started having your own little personality and you get frustrated and have started having tantrums lol.

Most of the time though, you're usually pretty content. You handle playing alone well. You really love blocks!!

You also super love daddy lol daddy's little girl <3 At night daddy puts you down for the night and you fall asleep more easily for him. When he gets home from work you get so excited and you flap your little arms up and down and kick out your legs laughing.










You don't nap very frequently or very long at all, the only time you sleep somewhat okay is at night, but you've always slept pretty well at night since you were born.
You love your sissy and brother, but Lailah especially. Lailah really enjoys playing with you and making you smile and laugh. <3

You also love your Auntie Mo, her gf Kelsey, Mamee, and your Uncle Elijah out of everyone - obviously besides Dada, sister, brother, and myself.

4.5 months

Dear Althea,
You are almost 4.5 months old! And oh boy are you intelligent! You are extremely observant and you pay very close attention to everything around you.
Over the last couple of weeks you've shown just how advanced you are! Yesterday we went for dinner and Lailah's dad's ex Fiance - Emily, was tapping her fingernails on the table making noise. You started trying to copy her! You were getting pretty upset though when your fingers didn't make noise as hers had! haha.
And a week or so ago you were playing with daddy! He would look away then snap his neck back towards you making a gasping noise and you started doing the exact same back! You would look away then turn back to him smiling!

And shortly before that you saw me picking at my nails and you started holding your little hands similar while watching me intently, then you tried to copy my hands with yours (best you could lol) It is so sweet and such a pleasure to watch you learn and grow!

You're still breastfeeding and you've grown quite a bit! You're 13 lbs 14 oz and 25.5 inches long! You can roll over from back to belly and belly to back and you're already scooting yourself on your belly across the bed! You don't know how to crawl yet but I'm sure you will soon, you try so hard to!

You love to put absolutely anything you grab into your mouth, especially your feet and other peoples fingers, and toys and you get very upset if you can't fit it, can't get in into your mouth because of you poor coordination, or if you drop something haha.
You absolutely love your big sister Lailah and you seem to be ok with Noel lmao, even though the other day whenever Noel would come near you you would literally push him away hahaha.

You're such a blessing to have and I'm so very happy to have you here with us.


I love you, Love, mommy

15 weeks (3.5 months)

Dear Althea,
You are getting so big! I think you're around 14 lbs but I'm not sure. You're in size 2 diapers and 3-6 clothing - although, you're almost grown out of the 3-6 sleepers. You're very pudgy lol I actually often call you Pudge. And oh, you're so sweet!
You've started laughing! It's the sweetest little sound but you don't often do it, you're often quite serious lol. But you do smile very often now! It's adorable and a bit funny because you are so bashful! Whenever someone gets you to smile you bat your eyes and look down and away, it is so sweet! It's so interesting to me that you already have a personality.

You wake about twice a night to nurse and you sleep in your own little space in your crib next to daddy's and my bed.
Your sister and brother absolutely adore you and love having you here in their lives, although, they are quite jealous that you get so much attention since you're the baby.

You've also started rolling over but you only roll to your left lol, you can now reach and grasp for stuff - Lailah's hair being at the top of your favorite to grab list haha!, you're not very interested in toys or anything yet but you do like to stick things in your mouth and gnaw on them. When you're tired you do this whining complaining baby chatter lol it's adorable, you don't cry, you just sort of yell at me lol. You also love to be in the carrier but ONLY if you're facing outwards, you love to watch the world around you.

Lailah also wants it noted that you pout. I've personally never seen this pout but Lailah, Mammy, Daddy, and others have told me that sometimes you pout at them! I haven't ever seen it, I must not make you that unhappy :p You're observant and you like watching the world around you with your big beautiful eyes. You're growing so well physically and mentally. I'm so happy to have you here in our family.
Otherwise, you're still new to this world. I can't wait to spend decades with you. <3
Love, Mommy