9 Months Old

At 9 months old you are really turning into quite the little man.  You are becoming so capable and so determined.  You remember where things are, and how to get the things that you like to play with.  You remember the things that are entertaining to you in each room of our house.  You love to play peek-a-boo with the shower curtain, or the curtain in your bedroom. (you do this when you stand up in your crib when you are really supposed to be sleeping).  You love to open and close drawers and cabinets, and push toys with wheels back and forth.  It is really cool to see how your brain is developing and connecting things together.  Physically you are getting so strong.  Your crawling is for real now-no more of that army crawl stuff.  And you are fast.  It is nearly impossible to keep up with you anymore!  Our 9-month photo shoot only lasted a few minutes because that was as long as I could get you to sit still.  This stage is really fun, and I love watching you learn new things every day.  

You are also starting to try to say a few words.  You definitely say "Mama" and "Dada" intentionally and you have started to say "papa" when you have to go potty.  Sorry Papa, it is nothing personal!

With this fun also comes some extra stress.  You get scared when we leave you alone in your room to sleep, and since you don't like to sit still you stand up in your crib.  You haven't quite figured out how to get back down in your crib after you stand up so we have to go in and help you down.  You stand there and say "Mama, Mama" until I come and help you.  And then of course last week you started boycotting sleep, so for the past 5 days it has been nearly impossible to get you to sleep at all during the day, and it takes hours at night.  I am hoping this passes quickly.  Despite your lack of sleep you are an absolute joy when you are awake, which is a miracle.

Everyone you meet is still totally charmed by you. My favorite example lately is when we were eating dinner at smoke and the two thirteen year olds next to us said "you have the cutest baby ever".  They loved watching you eat your food and slam your hands on the table because you couldn't get enough.  They were happy that you never screamed or cried the whole time we were there.  

I do have real 9 month photos of you, but I don't have time to get them up so here are some substitutes for now: 

Separation Anxiety

While I love the fact that Levi loves Tim and I so much that he hates being away from us, I think separation anxiety may be the death of me. This kid will not sleep.  He won't nap unless he is so exhausted that he literally crashes, and no longer has any concern for what is going on around him, and it takes hours to get him to fall asleep at night.  We just got over the hurdle of night feedings, so now I am wary of creating any other bad habits while trying to solve this problem.  I feel like we have tried everything, so I hope this passes on it's own very quickly!  I feel bad for Levi because I know that he is not getting the sleep that he needs, and I feel bad for Tim and I because it is really frustrating and exhausting for us as well.
In light of all this complaining, Levi is happy and healthy so really, life aint so bad!

Sleep, glorious sleep!

I am a a little hesitant to put this in writing for fear that I may jinx it, but here goes...Levi is no longer eating in the middle of the night!  For the longest time he would wake up between 3am and 4am to eat.  Since our doctor was concerned about his weight for a while I did not want to cut any feedings. Since his last appointment though, he got a thumbs-up for weight and she said to go ahead and try to night-wean him.  Technically I have not cut out any feedings, I have just started giving him a dream-feed before I go to bed instead of waiting for him to wake up a few hours later and ask for it.  It was a long and exhausting road to breaking this habit, but it was so worth it!  For about a week when he would wake up we would go in and comfort him, or offer him water, but he would still be awake for an hour and a half each time.  Then one glorious night, he slept.  He slept all night.  And he did it again the next night, and the night after that.  I think that now, with the exception of growth spurts and illnesses, I will finally be getting full nights of sleep!  Let's just hope that writing this down didn't ruin everything...

First "Emergency"

This past Saturday we experienced our first Levi "emergency".  It wasn't actually an emergency, but it seemed like it at the time.  We had spent the day at Tim's parents' house babysitting Sydney.  While we were there we played with their cat.  Thinking nothing of it, we went on with our day, went out for dinner, and headed back to the city.  When we were about halfway home Levi woke up in his car seat and started screaming.  Now, keep in mind that this kid hates the car, so this was really  nothing out of the ordinary.  After a little bit of this we decided to pull off and see if he needed to go to the bathroom.  Tim takes him into the oasis and discovers that Levi's eye is completely swollen.  It was hot to the touch and seemed to hurt when we touched it.  We called the doctor and she said to take him to the ER since it was probably an allergic reaction.  By the time we got the the ER the swelling had gone down significantly, he had no fever, and seemed to be in good spirits (despite the fact that it was about 3 hours past his bedtime).  The only conclusion that we could all come to was that he may have a slight allergy to cats.  This is also based on the fact that he has developed a rash after being around cats once before.  He saw his doctor for a follow-up today and she too thinks that it sounds like a cat allergy.  She says that when he is older we can decide if we want to actually do tests to determine the allergy, but for now to just try to keep him away from cats.  We are just glad that he is not allergic to dogs!

Lunch Time Fun

Levi seemed to be having an exceptionally good time today while eating his squash and lentil soup.  Not sure why but he kept laughing hysterically, it was pretty fun!

8 Months Old

I am definitely late on this post, but I have been too busy chasing you around to sit down and write anything!  At (a little over) 8 months you:
-Have two teeth!  The bottom front ones came in within days of each other and you have several more that look like they are about to bust through any minute.  Those two new teeth are like razors.  You almost cut my finger open the other day when I unknowingly allowed you to chew on it.  Ouch!
-Are finally growing like a weed.  At your weight check at the beginning of the month you had gained over 2 pounds in 6 weeks.  Dr. Maxouris was finally impressed by this, and said to keep up the good work.  You weighed in at 17.9 pounds.  Of course, as always Dr. M. commented on your amazingly happy demeanor and your model-like face.
-Are definitely on the move.  You are quite fast with your army crawl.  We put a gate at the top of the stairs and it is fun to close all the doors upstairs and let you crawl around while I make dinner.  You are good at playing independently, but like to make sure you can get to me in case you need to.  You love to chase Joka around, and he is a good sport about you "petting" him.  That usually includes you pulling on his hair or nails.
-Have mastered a few new sounds like "Ba" and "Da" so you repeat those over and over again.  You also fake cough a lot and that tends to freak me out when I am driving and can't tell if you are choking or playing.
-Started doing a few signs to communicate your needs-"potty" and "all done" are in your everyday repertoire.
-Are still waking up at least once to eat over night.  We have tried a few things to get you to be full enough to sleep through, but you are relentless and seem genuinely hungry so I think we will keep these feedings going for a while longer.
It has been an eventful month and we are having lots of fun! You are mastering new skills every day, and it is fun to watch you practice these things and perfect them. You have two new friends: Evelyn and Philip, and I am excited for them to be old enough that you guys can play together.

Levi is on the Move!

Watch out world!  Levi is going places!  On Sunday we discovered that you can walk if we hold your hands.  You do a really good job, and yesterday walked all the way across our family room!  Then when Nana was here yesterday morning she said, " when did Levi start walking?" and I said, "I have no idea".  I had never seen you crawl before, and if I hadn't seen it, I can guarantee you no one else had.  So apparently you decided to employ all methods of movement at the same time. Neither one is perfected (your crawl is totally army style), but you are very capable of getting from one place to the next, and of doing so quite quickly!

7 Months Old

I am a little late at writing this post as you are now closer to 8 months than 7.  Oh well.  You have grown and changed a ton in the past month.  You are super curious about everything around you, and unfortunately your favorite way to learn about things is still by putting them in your mouth.  You rarely get bored because you can usually find something new in your surroundings to study, and try to eat.  You do not have any teeth yet, but are still drooling a ton.  Your dad got his first tooth pretty late, and you seem to be following in his footsteps.
You are content to play on your own for a while now, which is nice for both of us.  I like being able to put you in your playpen with some safe toys and get a few things done without having to worry too much about what you are getting into.  It seems that you like having your own quiet time as well, so maybe you will be an introvert after all!   You are eating a wider variety of foods, and have started adding rice and chicken into the mix.  You are really good at chewing finger foods up with your gums already!

EC/Potty Learning/call it what you will, we are almost done with diapers! (warning, this post talks about poop!)

So everyone pretty much thinks we are crazy except for a select few, but we have been working on teaching you to go to the bathroom on a toilet for a few months now.  You really seem to get it now, and have started to communicate on your own that you need to go.  You have not picked up on signing it yet, but do a very specific whine when you need to go.  I love this especially since starting solid foods, because rinsing that poop off of cloth diapers is no easy task!  You have mastered pooping on the toilet, and have not pooped in a diaper in days!  You also get this really cute accomplished smile on your face after you have gone on the toilet, as if to say "aren't you proud, mom?" and yes, I am!  Now I just have to figure out when/how we decide to totally do away with diapers, if we try a training pants situation, or what.  I don't think they make underwear this small...
Huge shout out to Melissa for sharing her knowledge, and simply encouraging me through this process.  Also, Tim has done a great job of being consistent with this when he is home.  Both of our mom's also have helped out while they have watched you.  It is so great to have the support of the people who take care of you, it keeps things consistent and helps you to know what to expect. 
So, at 6 1/2 months old, you are not totally out of diapers but are getting pretty close, and I am pretty proud of you!

Solid Foods Update and 6 month Dr. Appointment

You have become much more tolerant of solids over the past week.  You are trying a lot of new things, and generally liking everything.  You even love peas which is really surprising to me!  I have also learned that if you hate something (i.e. oatmeal) I should just add applesauce to it and you will eat it all up.  No matter what it is, if I add applesauce to it, you love it.  I am glad that you love apples as much as I do!  They are the best food ever :-)
According to the doctor, you have dropped down from the tenth percentile to the third but I just looked at a growth chart on Kellymom and you are still in the tenth percentile.  Maybe she read your weight from last time instead of this time.  I don't know, but I am not gonna worry about it too much.  The doctor is not concerned, saying that she knows you will just be a small kid, especially since your dad and I are on the tiny side.  She does want you to eat  more though.  You always seem satisfied though and seem to get full so I am not going to force feed you.  You seem to be thriving in all other areas, you are content, and are sleeping well so I find it hard to believe that you are starving. 
Your 6 month appointment went well.  You are growing tall, you are now 26 inches long and 15.7 pounds.  You had to get a few shots which you did not like, of course, but you were too busy flirting with the nurses to be too upset.  The nurses all especially loved you this time.  a few came in to keep you company while you got your shots, and then the receptionists all gathered around to see you when we were checking out.  Everyone commented on your strikingly blue eyes, and how you look like a "commercial baby".  Of course, we know that you are the best looking baby in all the world, but we love it when other people notice too :-)

Happy Half Birthday!

Happy half birthday Levi!  You are 6 months old today.  We spent your half birthday apple picking, and you seemed to thoroughly enjoy yourself.  Mostly you were just interested in picking leaves off of the trees, but you definitely had fun!  At 6 months old you are not crawling yet, but you can hold onto a table and stand for long periods of time.  You LOVE your dog Joka.  You could just stare at him all day and be totally content.  He often times distracts you when you are eating, and he loves to stand under your chair and catch any dropped food.  I have a feeling he loves you just as much as you love him now.  You are still very happy and relaxed all the time.  The only thing you are not super flexible about is your bed time.  You like to be in bed between 7 and 7:30, and if we miss that window it is bad news for everyone around you.  I have no problem with the fact that you like your sleep, and totally understand you wanting to be in your own bed at your bedtime.  If this is the one thing that you are gonna be picky about, I really have nothing to complain about.  

You continue to amaze me every day.  You change so much from one day to the next, and you are able to learn things so quickly.  You love people, and it is easy to see which particular people you hold especially dear.  It is fun to see you forming a bond with people that we love.  I love seeing your face light up at the sight of family, and our close friends.  I am trying to slow down and enjoy every day because each new day brings new changes for you.  I am cuddling with you as much as I can before you start to walk, and singing to you while you still enjoy my singing voice.  I cannot wait to see what the next month holds for you, Levi!

Solid Foods...

So, no offense, but feeding you solids is kind of like a form of torture.  This is the first time that I have really seen your stubborn side come out.  I knew you would have some stubbornness in you since you came from two long lines of very stubborn people, but this is the first real proof that we have had.  You only want to nurse, and anyone who tries to get you to do otherwise is gonna pay.  You will take a couple of bites of whatever we are feeding you, smile, and act like you want more, tricking us into believing that "this time will be better", but then, sure enough, you turn your head, close up your mouth, and cry.  The crying is the worst part.  You sit there and hold our your dirty little hands asking to be picked up and nursed.  That is all you really want. You also make such a mess, I can't imagine how we will ever be anywhere other than home at meal time.  The reason you are now on a fast track to solid foods is that we saw the doctor on Friday and she says that your weight gain is still a little too low.  We would have been starting this process in about a week anyways, so we just got a bit of a head start.  I know it will get easier as you get more used to these different foods.  You have already tried cereal, sweet potatoes, bananas, applesauce, and green beans.  You seem to like them all except for the cereal.  Can't say I blame you for that, it looks pretty nasty.  You just have to realize that there is a whole world of delicious food out there that is not milk.

5 Months

You turned 5 months old yesterday.  Time is literally flying by.  You are able to do so many new things, and it is obvious that you really want to be able to move on your own.  When you lay on the floor you try and try to push yourself up on to your knees.  You have done it a few times, and it has only lasted a second.  I know you will be crawling soon, so I guess I better start babyproofing.  You also can sit on your own for a few seconds, but you much prefer it when someone helps you to stand.  When you are in your jumper and I clap or play music you stomp your feet and look like you are trying to dance around.  You have become much more vocal this month and will talk and talk.  My favorite story about this is when we were heading over to Papa's house to have dinner with him and you talked to your blanket animal the entire way.  It is about a 40 minute drive.  I was laughing so hard in the front seat.  I love seeing you begin to interact with the world around you.  You are so curious and never want to miss anything.  You really seem to love dogs, and flies.  The dogs I understand, but the flies are kinda weird :-)  When you see a dog your whole face lights up, and if you get the opportunity to touch them you can barely contain your excitement.  Flies always entertain you when they fly in front of your face, I guess to you it seems like a fun toy.
You are still sleeping great, though eating has become harder for you since you never want to miss anything that may be going on around you.  I always have to take you to a separate room if we are around people so that you can focus on eating enough.
Here are some pictures of you:

Back on Track!

We saw Dr. Maxouris today and you are back on track with your weight gain.  You have gained almost a pound (you are up to 13 pounds 9 oz) and grown 1 1/4 inches in the past two weeks!  We are able to stick with nursing for now, although the dr. did say that feeding you fruit in the late  morning may  help you nap more.  We will try it out for a few days and see if it helps.  I bought you some organic apples today and plan to make you some applesauce tomorrow.  I hope you like it!

Camping!

This past weekend we went camping at Devil's Lake in Wisconsin.  We had a lot of fun, and as usual you adjusted to the new environment quite easily.  Though it was hot and humid you maintained your generally happy attitude, slept well, and went along on all excursions pretty happily.  You did get a little cranky now and then, but that is understandable when the temperature is in the 90's and you are being carried right up against your mom.  We went hiking, mini golfing, and survived a short-lived  but strong thunderstorm in our tent Saturday night.  You mostly got really sick of being in the car and were very unhappy by the time we got home on Sunday.  Here are some pictures from our adventures in Devil's Lake.

Hanging out in the tent

Spiky hair due to Mom pouring water on your head to keep you cool

Enjoying your own personal tent in the morning

Four Months Old!

It is hard to believe that you are already four months old.  That is a third of a year.  Time is going by so fast.  I regularly remind myself to slow down and enjoy each day with you.  Your routine and activities are constantly changing so no day is ever quite the same as the one before. It is amazing how much you have changed in the past month.  Not only do you look bigger and older but you are also getting a lot stronger, and physically capable.  You can now roll onto your side from your back.  You don't get all the way over, but you love to lay sideways when you are playing on the floor.  You can sit with some help, and your favorite thing is for us to hold you so that you are standing.  Your legs are so strong and seem to never get tired, you just need to work on your balance a bit.  We have started putting you in the Jumper that hangs from the door frame and you just smile so big any time you are in it.  You are usually not content to sit still very long which makes me nervous that once you get moving you will never stop.  I am really not in a hurry to have you crawling, but I know that day is coming soon.
Your dad and I joke that you are way more social than either one of us.  You must have gotten that from your Nana and Papa.  You love people, and will smile at anyone in close proximity to you.  You will also carry on conversations with other people, yourself, or Samson when he is barking.  Going along with your social nature, naps have become a huge struggle with you.  You never want to  miss out on anything, and you especially do not want to be in a dark room all by yourself.  You will scream and scream, and when I come into your room you will just smile and giggle at me.  You apparently think this is a fun game, but I would disagree.  I am hoping this is just a phase that will pass quickly and that you won't turn into a kid who never naps.
At your four month doctor appointment we learned that you have not been gaining enough weight.  You had only gained four ounces since we were there a month ago.  The doctor thinks this is a result of me having the stomach flu and losing a bit of my milk supply.  I am working hard to build that back up and help you gain some weight.  It is a lot of work but it is worth it to me to keep you off of solid food for now. We go back in a couple weeks for a re-check to make sure things are getting back to normal.  Luckily Dr. Maxouris is not trying to convince me to supplement with formula, and has given me a lot of tips to get you back on track with just nursing.  You have been sleeping all night again the past couple of nights so to me that is a good sign that you are getting enough food during the day.  All other things looked good at your appointment, and you got out of your shots for now since we have to go back for the weight check anyways.

Levi's Birth Story!

I want to get this typed up while it is fresh in my mind, and while Tim and Levi are peacefully napping next to me :-)  Don't continue reading if you do not care to read about the specifics of the birth process.  I loved reading other peoples' birth stories while I was pregnant and felt that it helped me to know what to expect, so I want to have this out here for other friends who may be interested.  Don't say I didn't warn you...
In the very early morning hours of Thursday March 10, 2011 I went into labor.  I knew it wasn't a false alarm this time because I woke up to my water breaking at about 1 am.  Having your water break as the first sign of labor is very rare but my doctor had predicted that this would probably be the firsts step of my labor because Levi had been sitting really low for several weeks and I had not been having painful or productive contractions at all.  After my water broke I immediately started having contractions.  I knew that I should get to the hospital soon because having a ruptured water bag increases your risk of infection, but I wanted to wait a little while and maximize our resting time before we headed in.  We only live 10 minutes from the hospital so there wasn't a huge rush.  I was having  what I thought were mildly painful contractions that were about 5 minutes apart so I decided that we still had some time to kill.  I let Tim sleep a couple more hours, but I of course could not get back to sleep.  I moved around and used a heating pad on my stomach to ease the tension.  Finally, when the contractions had been about 3 minutes apart for an hour I knew we had to get on the road.  I woke Tim up and we got our stuff together, gave the dogs some food and a walk, and then got on our way.  We arrived at the hospital around 4:30am.  I am glad that we waited to go in because as soon as we got there they told me I would probably need pitocin.  I had been planning a med-free birth all along and this was not news that I wanted to hear.  They checked me and saw that I had only progressed about a cm since my dr appointment 2 days earlier and were not impressed with that considering that my water had broken almost 4 hours earlier.  The doctors were pretty pushy about the pitocin, but they did say that I had the right to refuse any treatment (after making it clear that they thought that if I did not get pitocin my baby and I would most certainly die of infection)  We held them off for a while and continued to see how labor would progress on it's own.  I was pretty convinced that if I had pitocin I would end up with an epidural.  I even told Tim that I thought I would need one if we decided to go the route of induction.  Luckily Tim and the head resident had a lot of faith in me and the resident told me that I could wait and get the epidural if I felt I needed it later and that I may be able to tolerate the pitocin just fine since I would likely only need a very small amount.  After laboring for a while on my own I was checked again, and found that hardly any progress was being made.  They left us alone to decide how we wanted to proceed and I was pretty discouraged at this point.  I am honestly not sure what time this was, but I think it was somewhere around 9 am.  We decided that the best thing to do at this point would be to get the pitocin and see how it goes.  The resident was very encouraging and promised that they would only give me a very small amount to start with.  Tim stayed very calm the whole time and told me he would support any decisions I made, and reminded me that the goal was to get Levi out safely, and we were gonna make sure that was what happened.  He told me that if I wanted an epidural it would be ok, but that he thought I should try to see how my contractions went once the pitocin was in my system.  I thought this sounded fair, so we went ahead and started the medicine.  Once the pitocin was in my system I had to have a fetal monitor on me for the rest of the labor.  This basically forced me to be laying down in bed which was creating a lot more pressure in my back with each contraction.  They told me that I could stand up next to the bed if I needed to but this was easier said than done. After about 15 minutes on pitocin my contractions became a lot stronger.  I had spent the past several hours walking around and sitting on a birthing ball, but at this point I could not even stand up out of bed.  I kept trying because I felt like that would help Levi to move down further and help me to dilate, but I just ended up sitting on the edge of the bed because I could not stand through contractions.  I laid back down and used a heating pad to relieve some of the pain.  We told the resident that my contractions had increased in intensity and were coming very close together and so she decided to check me again.  I was now at 5 1/2 cm which was 1 1/2 centimeters change from before the pitocin.  She estimated that it would be about 2 more hours until he was born, but also said that it could be less since he was already so low.   Within the next half hour the contractions became increasingly more painful and I began to feel a lot of pressure, like I needed to push.  I was getting more discouraged because the resident had estimated a 2 hour time-frame and I was already in so much pain.  Once Tim heard that I was feeling like I needed to push he called the resident.  She said that she would not be surprised if I was ready to push and when she checked me, I was fully dilated.  She told me that it would take a few minutes for the doctor to get ready to catch the baby, but that if I felt like I needed to push that I should do so with or without them.  All of the sudden there were about 5 more people in the room, and we were ready to go! And so began the most painful part of this whole process.  I only pushed for 45 minutes, which is short for a first time mom,  but it felt like forever.  With every contraction I felt like he had to be out already.  The doctor, who Tim and I were really angry with throughout the whole labor (because of his intervention pushing and seeming mockery of my desire for an epidural free birth), ended up being amazingly encouraging.  He kept the mood light, made some surprisingly appropriate and funny jokes, and helped me to feel like I was doing a great job.  All of the nurses were great as well.  Tim held up like a champ.  I was worried about his reaction to all the blood and gore, but he didn't seem phased.  I'm sure he was but he hid it very well!  After what I felt was an eternity of burning and pressure everyone told me that the head was visible.  With a few more contractions our beautiful Levi was born!  The rest is kind of a blur, but I know that he was given to me immediately for skin to skin, nursing, and cuddling.  He ate like a champ right away, and didn't stop eating for about 2 hours.  Apparently being born was hard work for him too!  I had to have what seemed like an insane amount of stitches, and I remember just wanting to get out of bed because my back hurt really badly.  After a few hours we were moved to a postpartum room and so began our life as a family of three!

3 Months Old!

You turned 3 months old last week.  In the past month a lot of things have happened.  The most exciting for me is that you have started sleeping through the night. It started out with a 9 hour stretch one night, and then continued each night after that.  You still fight going to sleep, but once you fall asleep you are usually out until morning which makes the time that we spend getting you to go to sleep seem more worthwhile.  The real test came this past weekend when we went to MI and you continued your long sleep stretches in a few different beds (pack n play, peapod tent).  You did really well, even though one night we had you completely off your normal routine, and you did not fall asleep until midnight!  You slept until 11am the next day!
You experienced swimming for the first time this month.  You didn't seem  to have an opinion one way or the other on that, but we had fun swishing you around the pool. You experienced your first EL ride. Again, not much of a reaction from you other than annoyance toward the loud noises.  We have started Elimination Communication in hopes that I can have you out of diapers well before the average age of 3 years old.  You enjoy laying around with only a prefold on, and get really excited now when I use the sign for "potty".  You are also learning the signs for "mommy" and "daddy".  You are starting to respond to "mommy" with a smile, so I think you are starting to get it.
You are still a very happy baby.  People comment constantly on how "good" you are, and how relaxed you seem.  You really do not fuss unless you are hungry or need a new diaper.  I am glad to see that your temperament has stayed the same even as you have become more aware of your surroundings and are more easily distracted.

Weekend with the Miedemas

This past weekend the Miedemas were in town for your dedication.  We had a lot of fun hanging out, going to the zoo, and eating Chicago-style hot dogs!  Here are some pictures!

Dedication at New Life

On Sunday we had you dedicated at New Life.  Pastor Kevin did a great job explaining our commitment to raising you, as well as the church's commitment to help us, and you as you grow up and learn about life.  We are committed to raising you in a Godly home, and model His love to you every day.  It is our prayer that you will grow up to know Him, and choose to follow Him.  We trust our family and friends to hold us accountable to that and to help us be a good example to you as they have been to us so many times.
It was a great day!  We were surrounded by lots of family and friends.  We had the Miedemas in from MI for the whole weekend which is always great fun!  I think we may need to get a bigger house before your first birthday because you have so many people who love you and love to celebrate with you already!  We had people over for lunch after church and the house was jam packed!  We have been so grateful for the community that we have in Irving Park, and all the friends and family that we have around us.  Sunday was another great example of that blessing.  As you grow up I know you will be so happy to have all these people around who love you and your parents, and who will be involved in your life for so many years to come.  I still feel lucky to have that relationship with friends of my parents who have known me since I was born.