For Dutch

What strange emotions accompany the end of pregnancy!  It’s no secret I am sooo very anxious to have this baby and hold her in my arms.  And yes, I have been struggling with the waiting, thinking maybe-this-is-it, then no it’s not.  A rollercoaster.  But a friend who recently was nine days overdue before giving birth to her second child (and her first one was 2 weeks early!) has become such an example to me.  Another friend related that how she stayed sane was just by keeping the perspective that these were the last few days of cherishing the sweet relationship with the precious two children she already has (one is adopted).  She really did maintain joy through the long 9 days of being overdue.  So that’s what I’m doing, and in the midst of this, the emotions are going crazy!  My sweet boy, who I adore beyond words…how thankful I am for him, and how I never want to rush through these last few days of Dutch-and-Mommy time. 

What I love about you, Dutch:

1. How everything is over-the-top exciting, how you exclaim “Whoa!” over even the smallest things–making life truly a grand adventure.  No detail is too mundane to celebrate.

2. That you love love love to read.  And how intensely you listen to the stories, chiming in excitedly over the details you know, pointing out the things you can pronounce, interjecting excited noises all throughout, even though we’ve read the same book a hundred times.

3.  How you look at me and smile everytime you hear a siren outside because you know I’ll get excited with you.

4. The smell of your breath.  Last night holding you at the concert, I couldn’t get close enough to your mouth, holding your cheek against mine, inhaling your sweet breath, hoping I’d never forget. Never forget.

5. Your amazing cowlick you get from your daddy.

6. How you love to sleep under your bed.  Hilarious.

7. How you so patiently go to church events, day after day, with us, spending hours in the nursery at times.  What a stellar PK you are. 🙂

8. How proud I am that I get to be the one you call Mama.

9. How you can play all by yourself at the park, loading and dumping your dump truck full of barkdust, for hours on end, with freezing hands and bright red nose.

10. Watching you play the drums.  You’re a little percussionist at heart!

11. Your favorite words and phrases:  Papa Cruck, Dada-go-work-church, chitch (fish) Marlin (from Nemo), Chuna (which means tuna AND cheese at different times), go-go (yogurt), Nana, Dumpa-Dan (Dump truck Dan from his favorite book).  And your new word for Heidi:  “hah, hah, hah”.

12. How you bow your head and pray, then sneak bites of food. 🙂

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Time to go wake you up from your nap. No doubt you’ll be found underneath your bed.  I love you son.  For however long we have, just you and I, you’re my little hero.  Let’s play…