A note to Samantha

Samantha--

As I sit down to write you this note, you are fast asleep in the swing. I could just sit and watch you sleep for hours, but the housework, laundry, job is calling so alas I cannot.

This past year has flown by and it makes me fear that the next 17 years will as well. I jokingly told your dad once that we were not going to have another child until you were 18, so I did not miss a single thing of your life. :)

This past year has left me to marvel at so many things. I am enamored by the way you slowly figure things out and how each day you get better and better at tasks that I take for granted. You break them down into little steps and just seem to improve and move on to the next one in this beautiful, knowing way. I marvel at your improvement in movement, vocabulary and social skills. And it leaves me to thank God for blessing me and your father with such a beautiful daughter.

All the first moments leave these beautiful memories in my mind and these beautiful imprints on my heart. Who would have known that my heart could just seemingly never stop growing with more and more love for you each day?

You have improved my life so much every day since I found out about you in my belly! You have made me a better person and for that I thank you. I thank you for giving me your trust and unending love. I thank you for your beautiful smile, your wonderful laugh and your big full hugs. I thank you for helping me to realize the most important things in life are not things, but each other. I thank you for helping me be a better me.

And I promise you that your father and I will always be your biggest fans, cheering you on through life's great moments: sad and happy.

I promise that I will be there to hold your hand on that first day of school and the last day of school.

I promise that I will help you become the best person that you can possibly be.

I promise that I will let you be a kid as long as I possibly can, but know that you will not always be my baby.

I promise that I will try to protect you from all that I can, but I know that sometimes experiencing the pain is the only way to grow.

I want the world for you Samantha Louise and you have it all at your fingertips.

Please know and remember that life is not about how many breaths you take but the moments that take your breath away. You have given me and your father so many of those moments already and we know we will get to share so many more with you.

Thank you Samantha Louise for coming into our lives. We love you, all that you are and all that you will be.

"Mama" and "Daddy"