Thursday, July 12, 2012

A Letter to Fiona: One Month




Dear Fiona,

You are one month old today! It doesn’t quite seem possible that you’ve already been with us for that long, but at the same time, we can’t imagine what life was like without you in it. Before you were born, people would often ask us whether we wanted a baby boy or baby girl. My answer was always, “I don’t care if we have a son or a daughter, as long as he or she has their daddy’s disposition.” From all accounts told to me, I was an awful, colic-y infant…often sleeping only 1 or 2 hours at a time. I was terrified of the potential paybacks! Luckily, my wish has come true, and you have been an unbelievable newborn. I’m not sure if your calm, happy personality is here to stay, but if I could guarantee that all our future children were like this, I’d have 10 more.

Perhaps your personality isn’t just a wish fulfilled, but an answer to prayer. Our first week together was a bit hectic, with two ambulance rides and your mama ending up in the hospital for a scary four-day stay. Being ill and being apart from you was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Thankfully, lots of family members were able to step in to watch over and take care of you. As long as you are fed and loved, you are extremely content.

Speaking of food, it is your number one passion. The only time you cry is when you are hungry. And you definitely let us know when that time is by providing perhaps one or two whimpers before going to full-blown, DEFCON 1 screams. The second you see that bottle though, your eyes light up, your game face is on, and all is well with the world. You even eat with extreme gusto. One of your grandmothers, who raised four kids of her own, says she has never seen anything like it. Due to this, we often refer to you as Francesca when it is feeding time. As in, Francesca, your Italian alter ego.

Once, while trying to entertain you while your bottle warmed up, I found out that you had a particular love for country music…specifically, Kenny Chesney. Literally, you will be bawling your little eyes out, but the second you hear Kenny’s voice you just stop and look around. It was cute and funny at first…I mean, we have all of these wonderful toys, baby books and rattles for you, and the only thing that calms you down is country music. Now, the joke is on us. I can often be found at 3 AM two-stepping across the nursery floor trying to get you to fall asleep. When you are really fussy, your Papa and I are left scrambling for our iPhones and computers trying to get the country music station on as quickly as possible. At this rate, due to the amount of times we say, “Kenny’s coming baby!” or “Don’t worry, Kenny will be on the radio soon!” there is a good chance that your first word will be Kenny instead of Mama or Papa. Besides Kenny Chesney, you also like Tim McGraw, Darius Rucker and the Zac Brown Band. One day we will all laugh about how mommy had to change the lyrics of certain songs to “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sporty” and “Red Plastic Bottle, “ or talk about the time we were left singing “I’ve Got Friends in Low Places,” while trying to calm you down enough to have your newborn pictures taken.

As for other interesting facts:

-       - Your first month of life was met with two long heat waves…the second of which was the fourth longest this area has ever seen.

-       -  You celebrated your first holiday on July 4th! We hope you come to love that day as much as your Momma and Papa do. After all, what can be better than fireworks, family and hot dogs!

-       - You are probably a little over 8 pounds now. You still fit into your newborn clothes that don’t have feet (as you are a bit too long for those now). We’ll definitely have to move you over to your 0-3 outfits in a week or two.

-       - Your Papa speaks to you exclusively in Spanish. I’m picking up a word or two here and there, so hopefully  I'll be able to join in on conversations with you two at some point!

-       - Besides Francesca, we can be found calling your Strawberry Shortcake (after your strawberry blonde hair), or Fiona-phant, which came about because of the elephant hat your Uncle Joey bought you.

We love you so much Fiona, and we can’t wait to see what month two has in store for us!

Love you to the Moon & Back,

Your Mama & Papa 

1 comment:

Ally said...

OMG...why were you in the hospital??? I am glad you are okay. Fiona is a cutie!