Happy Half Birthday!

Dear William,

It is hard to believe you have been here with us for half of a year. You have gone from being a helpless baby who could barely lift its head up to a fearless crawler. You needed help to do everything when you first came home - you still need help, but you are learning how to get around and entertain yourself. You have grown a lot in six months. You came into this world at 8 pounds 4 ounces and today you were almost 21 pounds. When you were born, you measured 21 inches long and now you are 28.5 inches long. We can't believe how many clothes you have outgrown. The clothes marked "6 Months" have been packed away for a long time. You are now wearing clothes marked for 12-18 Months. When you were tiny, you could only drink milk. Now you are eating cereal and lots of different kinds of vegetables. We'll see if you still like those in another few years.

Every day you practice and get stronger (and more determined to get what you want). We are so proud of all the new things you are learning. In the last week you decided you are very strong. You have just started pulling yourself up from your tummy onto things around the house. You are starting to crawl with your belly off of the ground - it is only a few steps before you get tired and go back to belly crawling, but it is amazing to see the progress you are making. We tried to take some pictures of you today and it was hard work. Most of the pictures are of you crawling out of the frame and investigating the world around you.

You are teaching us things too. One of the things we are learning is how to keep the multicolored baby food out of your nose. You are learning to eat the food, we are learning to feed it to you. As you have become stronger and faster, we are learning about keeping you safe from yourself. You think you can fly or at least bounce off of every surface. This last week, you learned that you have private parts during a VERY poopy diaper. We have learned that it is a good idea to keep the hands out of the way when there is poop involved.

You have made so many changes in our lives. You have given us new names : Mama and Dada (although you haven't used them out loud) and we are working hard to fill those shoes for you. Your giggles are infectious and make us laugh too. Your singing wakes us up in the morning - I can't remember the last time you woke up crying. We still are working on how to eat together as a family without plates flying off the table and how to get things done around the house. Every day is a new opportunity to learn together.

We both still have a lot to learn. We are hoping if we wrote something down today, we would be able to remember how precious you are today. Exactly as you are today. Here are some of the pictures we took together today. You weren't very cooperative, but you still make our hearts melt.

Happy 6 Months! We love you,

Mom and Dad