Baby, it's your Birthday

My Dearest Clementine,

You were born on May 24th, 2010 after an hour and a half of labor and delivery and flew out before my OB even entered the room.  You weighed an ounce shy of 9 lbs and were my largest baby by far.  As a newborn you were my most cranky baby, but grew out of your crankiness by about 14 weeks and became an easy going and happy little girl.  You remind me in so many ways of Henry when he was little: you don't like to snuggle, you love to sit up straight, you sleep all the time, you say a lot of sounds, you look most like Henry to me, won't ever stop wiggling, and are completely independent.  You were so sleepy as a baby that some days you would sleep for 22 hours per day and the two hours you were awake consisted of nursing or screaming to go back to sleep.  When you were just 6 weeks old you took your first flight out to Utah and then a month later we went to California.  Little did you know, but your mom, dad and aunt Lucy conjured up a 5 week long travel schedule when you were just four months old and you ended up traveling to Puerto Rico, Lake Tahoe, Boston, CT, and Block Island with various road trips to DC, NYC and amish country and two more flights to Utah to top off your travel season.  I thought Henry and Bea were world travelers, but you exceeded their first year's travel schedule before you were 6 months old. I think the grand total comes out to about 25 flights if you count layovers.

Your favorite things are your fuzzy purple blanket that auntie Trixie made for you, fluffy dogs that you can nuzzle your face into, stealing your sister's blankie, swinging, being chased as you crawl up stairs, doing patty-cake and being tossed up in the air.  Your favorite foods are strawberries, grapes, and anything that has a lot of flavor like Chinese food and roasted vegetables.  You love babies and are quick to find other rogue babies crawling around the chapel during church to join up with and then start pushing the organ pedals during Stake Conference.  You also love your siblings even though they're both so obsessed with you that you always end up either being tackled or getting everything you touch ripped away from you.  You have started to learn to fend for yourself and protect your treasures.  You almost constantly have a smile on your face and have two teeth just emerging on top and three teeth on the bottom (don't know where the fourth bottom one is).  You also love taking baths and put up with a lot more abuse in the tub just so you can stay in the bath longer with your brother and sister. Unless you're hungry or tired, you will let anyone hold you, especially if they have a beard or glasses or something else you can grab.  You are a super grabby baby and can snatch anything off the supermarket shelves or glasses off your face in a millisecond if I'm not careful.  You also like putting sunglasses on your face and think it's really funny.  Every day you wear your hair up in one pony tail right in the front of your forehead so your new hair can be included with your very long baby hair to make one nice little tail and then I usually put a rather large bow on top that melts everyone's heart.  Your hair is a nice golden blond but I'm sure it will turn lighter this summer just like the rest of the kids.

Terrified of her Birthday Cake

Things you don't like include spiky grass, the flame from your Birthday smash cake(which made you scream bloody murder) and getting your fingers messy with frosting.  You were afraid of both baby smash cakes I made you!  You also can't stand Bea's really hard hugs and being sat on and any other torture dished out by Bea. Generally though, you like most everything. 

Second Birthday in Utah.  Thanks Jessie for the adorable outfit!

The person who adores you the most is probably your brother, Henry, who says he wants to marry you someday. I told him to wait a couple years and see how he feels then. lol.  He's always very gentle and kind and always tries to include you in everything he's doing.  He defends you from Bea(BK) and is always thoughtful and helps you when you cry.  Every time you speak baby talk, Henry decides that you actually say something real like, "mommy, she said car!" or "she said Amelia! Clemmie is a genius baby!" He is very proud of you and so is Bea now that you have started walking, even though you prefer to crawl still.  You started walking about a week ago but are pretty timid about it.  I can't wait until you're walking for real so I can put you in all the cute dresses I have for this summer.  Whenever I do put you in a dress, you do the funny crawl with your bum up in the air since it's hard to crawl on your knees in a dress.

Just starting to walk

You haven't slowed down your growth from when you were born and are now in the 99th percentile in height, 75th percentile in weight, and 75th in head size(Bea and Henry were under 40th at this stage) so you are still my largest baby.  I had to buy a double stroller just because you were too heavy to hold.  I usually like to carry my babies until they can walk, but you're the "Giantess" and mommy's arms are tired.

Can you hear me now?

You are about to welcome another baby girl into the family sometime in mid October, which I'm so excited about.  I know you will be a loving big sister(right?) and will love having so many sisters surrounding you.  I just pray that you will all get along and love and treasure each other all your life and in the eternities.

A rare photo with Daddy

The things I love most about you is your willingness to smile and reluctance to cry.  I think if Bea didn't bug you all day long, you would never, ever cry.  You are so excited when I get you up from your naps and in the morning.  Even if I leave you in your crib for an hour after you wake up, you just roll around, cooing and playing until I come to get you and then you greet me with a huge smile and giggles.  I love your giant chubby body, especially your legs and I love to tickle you to hear your sweet little laugh.  I love your short golden hair in the back and how it looks like a stylish little short haircut. I always love seeing the world through your eyes as you discover new things and find delights in the simple things in life.  You have been such a blessing in my life and I am so blessed to have you as my daughter.  I enjoy every moment being your mother and I hope you will always know how much love I have in my heart for you.  You are my sweet, darlin' Clementine.  Happy Birthday my little girl.

Love,
Mommy