Number Three!

Dear Sebastian,

Tooth number THREE is out! After several days of swollen, bruised gums and an unhappy baby, the front top right tooth has broken through. Yay!!! I think the other front top tooth will follow soon. 

I wish that you didn't have to go through all this pain in order to get your beautiful little teeth out, but I promise you that it will be worth it. If not, I'll find that evil tooth fairy and beat her up for you.
 

Until next time, be good, be happy, and know that I love you.

Love,

Mommy

Hi, Dada! Hi, Dada!

Dear Sebastian,

I worry about you a lot. How you are taking this whole deployment, but mostly how you are going to take Daddy coming home. We have an established routine, you, me, and Parker, and I am worried how it is going to unsettle you to have someone else thrown into this.

I am doing everything I can to make sure you know your Daddy. You, like your brother before you, have a Daddy book full of pictures of the two of you. You also have the amazing benefit of Skype, here you get to see Daddy on the computer about once a week. Usually you watch, maybe smile a bit, but today you gave your daddy such a thrill. Me too, but nothing compared to what you must have done to your Daddy's heart when you stuck both hands in the air, began waving enthusiastically, and yelled at the top of your lungs "Hi, Dada! Hi, Dada! Hi, Dada!" It was amazing and beautiful, and it lets me know that maybe I am more worried than you are. There are some things that can not be challenged by distance, no matter how great. I think perhaps the bond of father and son is one of those.

I can't wait to see you in his arms again, yelling "Hi, Dada! Hi, Dada!" and able to kiss his face instead of a computer screen.

Until next time, be good, be happy, and know that I love you.

Love,

Mommy

Brave

Dear Parker,

Today you had a special day out with just Mommy and Aunt Harmony while Hootie took Sebastian to the mall. We took you to see the new movie, Brave. Even though it is a "princess movie" is is about Scotland and bears and battles...I hoped you would like it. 

We had such a great time. You were such a big boy, sitting there in your theater chair, trying to stay close to the edge because if you scooted too far back the chair tried to flip closed on you. You had your very own drink and shared popcorn with Mommy and Auntie. Such a big boy was sitting next to me. I have to do these kinds of things more often. It is hard, living so far away from family, because there is no one here usually to watch your little brother while we take you to do big boy stuff. I promise we will make the effort more though, even if you just have a special day out with Mommy or Daddy while the other stays home with Sebastian. He will have his special days too. I want you both to know how very special you are to us, both as a pair and on your own.

I had so much fun with you today. You only got a little scared once, and cuddled up next to me so I could whisper reassurances in your ear. I loved the movie, but I loved watching your face as you took it in more. 

After we left, you insisted that you too needed a bow and arrows just like Merida. Always one to give in to reasonable requests, you now have a little purple and blue set of bow and arrows. We spent some time in the back yard together where I taught you how to shoot it. I am pleased and proud to say that you are a natural. Perhaps archery is in your future. 

Until next time, be good, be happy, and know that I love you.

Love,

Mommy

On The Move!

Dear Sebastian,

You are ten months old today. Ten months and you finally started crawling. You have been able to do it for some time now, I am sure of it. You have been scooting around on your butt just using your legs to push yourself for awhile now. Today though, you decided to join the ranks of the crawling.

So you got on your hands and knees and went for it! The entire time you were giving me this look like you shouldn't have to be lowering yourself this much. Don't I know it is my place to carry you. But you did it and we all cheered for you. Parker, Mommy, Hootie, and Harmony. We are so proud of you! You seemed to like the cheering part.

Don't worry son. You will learn to like it. Before you know it, you will be all over the place, never remembering that there was a time you didn't want to crawl and relied on Mommy to take you from point A to point B.

I am so proud of you, big boy!

Until next time, be good, be happy, and know that I love you.

Love,

Mommy

How A Three Year Old Copes

Dear Parker,

It has been a rough month or so for you. I am sorry about that. I would do anything if I could bring your Daddy back right now, but I can't. He's on yet another deployment, his third since you were born, and his second in just a year, and that isn't fair to you. And I am so sorry.

You really have been a little trooper for the most part. You've cried. Asked me when Daddy could come home and told me how very much you miss him, but there have been funny moments too. Like when you asked me if we could just eat up all the kisses in your Daddy Kiss jar right now so that Daddy could come home. It broke my heart a little having to tell you that it didn't work like that, but it made me smile that you had thought of it. 

Then there was the time in the car, just four days after Daddy left, when the song God Gave Me You came on the radio. In your perfect, matter-of-fact voice you said to me "Mommy, God gave you me. I love God! He makes me happy. He made me strong. He made you strong too, Mama." I cried then, and thanked God for such an amazing son. 

Then there was the day you proposed to me. On May 11th you came up to me completely out of the blue and said "Mama, we're getting married!" I asked you what about Daddy, and you very obligingly told me "Daddy can be there." You have told me several times since that we will be getting married, though you have now informed me that I can be married to Daddy too. 

You miss him so very much. So does Sebastian, and so do I, but you are doing wonderfully! It really will be over before you know it, and Daddy will be home. As you say every night, your jar of kisses is going "downer and downer", and every kiss brings Daddy one day closer to being home with us again.

Later on today we are going to the airport to pick up your Hootie and Aunt Harmony. They will be visiting us for five weeks, so hopefully that will help the days go by quickly. I am worried that you will take it hard when they go, but we will get through this. No deployment will get the better of us. As you used to say to me last Summer "It's just you and me, Mommy! You and me!" and now Sebastian. There is nothing we can't get through together as a family. 

Until next time, be good, be happy, and know that I love you.

Love,

Mommy