Dear Holden,
Happy birthday! It’s hard to
imagine that three years have passed since we first met. It’s been an amazing
three years – full of ups and downs but every minute has been worth it. We’ve
watched you grow and mature into the sweetest little boy I’ve ever known. We’ve
seen you learn to walk and talk; we’ve watched you fall in love with your
sisters, and make friends, and witnessed you figuring out how to tell a joke or
do something cute to make everyone around you laugh. We’ve held you as you’ve
cried, sighed in frustration as you’ve thrown temper tantrums, and tended to
you when you were sick. We’ve taken you to countless appointments at the ear
nose and throat specialist, and the pediatric asthma clinic, and been there as
you recovered from your first (and hopefully only!) surgery.
Every day you change and grow a bit more –
come up with new words, tell new jokes, make new observations (grow out of your
shoes or your pants or your socks…). And every day we feel blessed that you
have completed our family. I said it in your birth story, and it’s something I
think about often: You are everything that we never knew we always wanted. We
never envisioned being a family of five, and couldn’t really picture what it
would be like to have a little boy running around. But when you burst onto the
scene, you captured everyone’s hearts. Your smile, your dimples, your curly
hair, you impish little voice. You are sweet and funny and cuddly and loving
and mellow and mischievous, all rolled in to one adorable package.
You still LOVE cars (and trucks and trains
and fire trucks and garbage trucks and police cars and motorcycles) and
anything Lego. You love Star Wars action figures (thanks Daddy) and think that
anything Paw Patrol is like striking gold. You love dinosaurs and dragons and
playing with bikes. You love snuggling and ‘reading’ us bedtime stories and
playing with the cat. You absolutely adore your big sisters, and even tell
Mercedes regularly that she is your best friend. You like telling us all about
your days at daycare (which friends you played with, what games you played) and
anything Spiderman.
In short, you are a very typical, but
wonderful little boy, and one that we could never imagine our lives without.
Thank you for bringing so much joy to our family Holden John. We are all better
people for it.
Love,
Mama
