My dearest Hallie,
I'm absolutely floored that I'm already writing your First Birthday Letter. Time is a thief and has run at full speed through your first year! I can tell such a difference in how I think about the first year now in relation to how it felt when Claire was a baby. The result? It's gone in an actual instant.
You have come out with some of the funniest tricks this month! You make some hilarious faces and noises (on purpose- you know what makes us all laugh), and you are interacting with us so well. One of my favorite things you do: whenever I sing "BINGO," I usually make a clicking sound for the omitted letters (my hands are usually too full to clap). If you hear me start singing "BINGO," you immediately begin clicking your tongue.
One little development recently that is both funny and frustrating is that you can sit up in your bed now. First of all, you sit up in what seems like the most energy-zapping way possible: you do the splits and roll yourself up, much like a gymnast in a floor routine. It's kind of impressive but also seems super difficult. Secondly, you can sit yourself up WHILE MOSTLY ASLEEP and are then unable to lay back down to continue sleeping. This is very upsetting to you. The funny thing is that you aren't even our first baby to do this. Must be genetic?
Also genetic: not crawling, walking, pulling up, or producing teeth yet. We're not worried. We'd probably be concerned if this WASN'T the case.
We love to listen to you join in with any singing you hear or watch you dance to any music that's playing. You give us kisses, wave hi, clap for yourself and others, can *almost* sign "please," and will laugh on command (if you're feeling like it). You love to laugh and giggle at your sisters, and, for better or for worse, you are learning to make yourself heard above the ever-present din. We are definitely not worried about you carving out your place.
Last week, I was talking with a friend from church who also had a baby during the pandemic. We were talking about your upcoming birthday, and she told me about an Instagram post she had recently seen by another mom of a Pandemic Baby. I later watched that post and cried through the whole thing. She talked about how growing a baby and then bringing that baby into the world during this time in history was so much harder in a number of ways: isolation, loneliness, being consigned to our homes, worry over all that's happening, lack of our usual villages. But her main point was to remind us of how our Pandemic Babies brought such light to our world during such a dark time. How you remind us of God's grace. How you brought hope and healing to our hearts. I can't see the screen as I'm typing this because tears of gratitude keep coming to the surface. You have been exactly that to me: such a light. My Pandemic Pregnancy was hard and lonely, and it would have been like that, pandemic or not. But my Pandemic Baby was perfectly timed and orchestrated. You have thrilled and delighted me every day of your life, casting a glow on each box of the calendar. And for that...despite all the hardships 2020 brought, it can never be one of my worst years. It will always be one of my best.
We never imagined you. We were taken so off-guard by the news of you. We spent most of 2020 in stunned realization of you. And we absolutely cannot believe that we were entrusted with the gift of you.
We named you Hallie because "we will praise the Lord." And we praise Him for you every day.
Happy birthday, Hallie!
You are one of the greatest joys of our entire lives.
We could not possibly love you more.
Mommy and Daddy
