ketchup.

our nugget will be a whole year old in less than a week & i have yet to document . . . . a lot. after reading this beautiful post, i recognize that the little milestones are trivial in the grand scope of little monroe's life. however, as a first time mother i cannot help but glorify is those tiny, yet ever so monumental & victorious, achievements.

to my baby roe,

month 10 was a rough month for you. i cant say i blame you since you were fighting with all your tiny might to beat the awful ear infection that has plagued you for two whole months thus far. but in true fashion to your cheerful demeanor, you, were quite the champion.

on top of being a champion of sorts, you are the most tender & loving babe. now when i gather you in my arms, either to carry you to bed or to force you into snuggling, you lay your head on my shoulder & gently pat my back with your tiny palm. you & i then take turns patting each other on the back, until you get bored with that game & move onto the next. however, amidst the game playing, booking reading & regular non-sense that consumes our day you find those brief moments to drop what you are doing, climb into my lap & either lay your sweet head on me or plant a big-wide-mouthed kiss on me. you just came out with a sweet disposition & for that i thank my heavenly father each day.

as all mothers do, i wonder if i am doing a good enough job; teaching you the right things, feeding you the best ingredients & raising you in the proper way. & you do a perfect job of confirming that my efforts are not in vain. you have learned how to sort & stack toys. you hand me toys when i ask for them & are willing to share with others. you throw a ball out in front of you & scoot after it. you know what a dog says & what noise a car makes. you flip through books feverishly & then insist that we read them again saying 'boh! boh!'. you shake the maracas & bang on the drum, just like the musician son your papa & i always hoped for.

among other news, you learned how to sip through a straw, prefer to feed yourself, love watching cats, adore baths in the kitchen sink, your first & second teeth poked through, you squeal at the sight of dogs, finally figured out how to crawl, perfected your fake cry.

your ear-to-ear smile is the bright sonshine in my life.

i'll love you forever, i'll like you for always. as long as im living, my baby you'll be, mama

book worm.

never mind the fact that i have about a zillion photos to edit & document here from the holidays. never mind the fact that my carpets need to the cleaned, my couch needs to be vacuumed & the cushion covers need to be washed. never mind the fact that i have a load of laundry to fold & put away & a few more waiting anxiously to be started & dried. never mind the fact that there are toys strewn about my house & remnants from a certain someone eating breakfast is all over the kitchen floor. never mind the fact that the dishwasher needs to be unloaded & re-loaded.

never mind all those facts because, all of those are irrelevant when it comes to caring for our dearest nugget bebe.

aaron said sarcastically to me this morning, "good thing Roe has a million books." my cheerful reply, "ya it is." but really though. & everyone knows that you can never have too many books - duh. & it really is a good thing because our child has become quite the 'reader'. he would much prefer pull a book off the shelf & flip through its pages than mess with the slew of toys that are all over our living room. so, no thanks to aaron & i {both self-proclaimed non-readers} our son has become quite the book worm. not only does he flip through the pages on his own, but he will toss a book on the floor & chuck it my way while saying "bo, bo" & insist for me to read.

the best part of all of this though, is that all the while the nug sits like this:

also, never mind that all the above photos are blurry. you get the idea & in true mom form, i still love. every. single. image.