Hold Your Head Up High

Max,

We slept in late this morning, and when I woke up you were snuggled in the swing underneath your blue fuzzy blanket. I love how you arch your back and stretch when I pick you up after a long sleep (you had slept for a whole 5 hours at one point last night...from 2:30 am to 7:30 am....a total first!). You curl your legs up like a little bean...it's a move that only a baby could make! You're so warm and snuggly, and when you start to focus on the world for the first time each morning, I whisper to you that "Mommy's here" and we sing our good morning song.

When I change you from your jammies to your daytime outfit I always lift you up and hold you for a minute while I put the new clothes on the changing pad. Naked except for your diaper, you always look so big...and yet so small....all at the same time. I hold you against me, your chest pressed up against my shoulder, and my hand cupping the back of your head. I kiss your soft cheek, and we look out the window together to see what's happening in our neighborhood each day.

Today, with my hand on your warm back, you held your head up high and looked out into the world beyond our window. You're like a little bird when you do that, bobbing your head around. Or a little gopher, poking your head out of your gopher hole to see what is going on around you. You are so incredibly alert and aware, and you look at me, and then out the window at the world, as if to say "What's going on?". Your head sits straight up in the air now, and more and more you are holding it up on your own for longer periods of time. You are so strong, and so determined to not miss a single second of what is going on around you. I am so proud of your curiousity and how you take every last detail in.

I love all of our little moments together Max,

Mommy