Letter to my daughter: Happy 18 months Emma!

My dearest Emma:

I can't even begin to fathom that you are officially a "toddler" now! Your soul is so beautiful it radiates. I can't believe I get to be your momma. I feel incredibly blessed.

As you grow, so does your personality. Although you can be very shy at first, you always seem to warm up to new people at the perfect time. Some of your favorite words right now are "go", "yeah", "than chu", "mas", "yum" and my least favorite "no" ;) On occasion you still speak in your own language, which I think is you mimicking us speak English. It's soo cute! You LOVE to sing! I'll have to record ya one of these days so you can hear yourself one day. And you love to carry a camera, necklace & purse around everywhere. Your favorite dolls right now are the cabbage-patch & the Angelina Ballerina. Somehow you always find a way to make Papa & I laugh hysterically at dinner time, baby girl, we love you soo much! You will always be my "baby girl."

And now that you'll be a big sister in just a few short months, I have no doubts that you will be an amazing big sister. My heart swells up just thinking about it.

And apparently, I'm funny! ;)

I love you more than words....

Your mama <3

Emma's weekly portraits: Weeks 64 - 65

 I still can't believe it... even when I say it out loud. My baby is fifteen months! And its been the best time of my life!  I thank God for allowing me to be mommy to a little person with a kind heart & full of soo much love.

Emma's weekly portrait: Week 60

I can't believe it, my baby is officially 14 months today! I feel soo blessed to be her mommy. Stumbled upon this quote & it pretty much sums up the way I feel for her

Love:

To feel with one's whole self the existence of another being. 

- Simone Weil

She's doesn't look like a baby so much does she? :( But always silly!

 For this child I prayed... ♥ [ 1 Samuel 1:27 ]

Emma's Weekly Portrait: Week 58

A photo a week doesn't sound like it's too hard to accomplish right? You have seven whole days to snap a picture either with your fancy point & shoot camera or phone. And we all have phones right?! :)

I've been doing a photo a week since Emma was born & I'm soo happy I've managed to keep up! Because now I'm able to look back and see exactly how much she's grown. I encourage you to take up the challenge, I already know you will not regret it!

Every Friday I"ll be posting her photo to share with all of you... Hope you enjoy it as much as I do ;)

So I've been on the Instagram craze like everyone else lately & I've also started #365daysofemmalove which is pretty much a photo a day. SO much more convenient than taking a photo a week only because its on your phone, you upload & done. Of course the quality isn't as great, well because it's a phone image instead of a digital SLR camera . Anyway, your welcome to follow me on IG my user name is: Belove23

Ohh my little lady is full of silly faces! Love her to pieces! 

While snapping some portraits of Emma her two little buddies wanted in on the fun... I titled this one
"All we need is LOVE" 

 These two little friends will look back on this picture one day.... <3

And just for fun... This is Emma exactly one year ago! 

I told you it was fun looking back at these... so worth it!

5 years & counting.. Happy Anniversary my love!

Ever since I began blogging about years ago, I've made it a point to blog a little thank you to my wonderful husband (you can find those here, here & here).... this year we are celebrating 5 years of marriage & it's more special than any other because we have our daughter Emma.

- - - - - - - 

Dear Edwin,

Marrying you has been the best decision I've ever had to make & if I had to do it all over I most certainly would! One of the precious gifts of our relationship is the comfort of knowing I can always be myself with you, and you will accept me for being just that. With you, I never have to laugh when I feel like crying, or be quiet when I need to talk, or stay calm when I feel like getting upset, or sound positive when I need to complain... But by far the greatest comfort is the knowledge that when I need a friend... I never have to be alone. I know that when I need to talk, you will really, really listen. You always find ways to show me I'm important to you. Your support adds so much to my life. You share in my joy as if it were you own. You feel my pain... and you cry with me. When I want to change a paret of myself, you gently encourage me in my growth without demanding, pressuring or criticizing me if I fall short of my ideals. 

Thank you for understanding me, accepting me, and loving me as I am. You've played such a special role in my life, but you will always ho.d an even more special place in my heart. I love you babe!

I love you because you gave me Emma. She's the product of our love, and the one whom we strive to be the best for. And I know I say this often, but I really am blessed that you work very hard to allow me to stay home with her... THANK YOU!

Times like these make beautiful memories... Times like these are why I love you. You mean more to me more than anyone ever will. I look forward to the future as a family.

Here's to the rest of our lives!

Loved you yesterday

Love you still

Always have

Always will

Photos courtesy of Stacee Lianna

Letter to my daughter: Nine months later

Dear Emma,

Where do I start? You growing soo fast! I can't believe nine months have already gone by & it seems like just yesterday I laid eyes on you as they put you in my arms. Let me tell you, that was the happiest day of my life. Immediately you filled my heart with love & I couldn't stop starring at you!

And here we are, nine months later & I'm still smitten. Your now crawling & cruising from the coffee table to the couch and back again. Others say you will be walking very soon. Although you had your first taste of solids at five months, now your really eating food every couple of hours. So far you've liked everything I have offered - thank you for not being a picky eater like me :) You love chicken soup & sweet potatoes! And water which makes me very happy. Another thing you LOVE to do is wave at pretty much the whole world. Everywhere we go, you wave. You give me wet kisses that I wish I could bottle up. You also get very excited when I say "Papi is home"which let me tell you, makes him forget how tired he his. Your favorite song at the moment is "On top of spaghetti" & "Two little birds". You have your own dialect that you only share with certain people here's a snippet below:

You always wake up with a smile on your face & I love it... today in particular you were standing on your crib making a sound as you pointed towards the tutu that I made you when you were just three months. So I decided to put it on you and snap a couple pictures. To celebrate all the joy you have brought to "Papi" & I these past nine months, I gifted you with your first camera. I have a feeling photography might grow on you ;)

All about silly faces! 

Had to get Troy [aka Em's bodyguard] into a picture too :)

bye, bye!

Baby girl, daddy& I love you very much. Your our BIG blessing from above! We thank God every chance we get for the gift of being your parents.

Love you more than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow - Mum

P.S. 

the ah-mazing camera was  purchased on Etsy :)