If I could stop time...

Natalie,

My goodness, you are getting so big. I can't believe you are already 10 months old. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital. It amazes me to see how much you have grown. You are walking now...well, I say walking, but really you know how, you are just lazy and would prefer to crawl because it gets you where you are going so much faster. You took your first steps with Ms. Charity, and although it kills me to have missed your first steps, it makes up for it to watch you take more and more steps as the days go by. You are up to 6 steps at a time....that's a lot... You also wave bye-bye now and finally realized that your hands can make a clapping noise too. You are starting to mock daddy and I a lot more with the sounds we make. I love it. You give soooo many kisses too, which I think is my favorite thing. They are big, open-mouthed, slobbery kisses, but man I love them. You are just so happy...ALL the time...and you make us happy. I can't thank God enough for giving you such an amazing daddy. He loves you more than I can even put down on paper. When he is having a bad day at work, he comes home and the first thing he does is pick you up and love on you and tell you how much he loves you and that seeing your smile just makes everything better. And it really does....you are a sweet little reminder of how petty some problems are and how un-important some things are. You are such a blessing to us. I still can't believe that we have you and how much you have changed our minds and our lives since we had you. I hope that when you can read this you know how much daddy and I truly love you.
I started planning your first birthday party, and I am already stressing out. There is only one venue available the day of your party, so we are going to have to make a decision this week. I want to have everything done soon because I will be studying for finals the week of your party. After that it is all about YOU. I sometimes feel that I am not giving you the attention I should because of school work and studying, and daddy is so great at helping when I have stuff to do, but I keep reminding myself that once I am done with school we are going to be able to give you a much better life and be able to provide so much more. You are already a little spoiled, and it is probably just going to get worse, but oh well....we love you and can't help it. There has been some talk of maybe giving you a little brother or sister...only God can say if and when that is going to happen. We will see....
I love you my little monkey. You and daddy are my world. Two more months and you will be one....if I could only stop time for just a little while...

Love you,
Mommy