To My One Year Old

My dearest M,

Where does the time go? You are now one.year.old!!

I remember everything exactly a year ago last night and today.

The hours. The minutes. Just wanting to meet you!

In meeting you, you have brought new meaning to my life.

You have made me see brightness on a few dark days.

You have made me laugh when I didn't even want to smile.

You have made me feel beautiful and worthwhile on days I doubted myself.

You have given me a reason to live.

I am forever grateful for you. For the pure love you give. For the endless curiosity you show. For you being such pure joy and happiness. For you being such an easy-going baby. For you showing me that it's okay to live with my heart outside of my body.

I am forever grateful for you.

I thank G-d for you everyday, in fact. I try to say my prayer of gratitude each morning before my feet even hit the ground.

I'm the luckiest Mommy in the world. I'm lucky because I am yours, you are mine, because your father works hard to provide for us so that I may stay home with you. I am so so lucky.

Im lucky because I'm with you and I get to watch you grow. You have grown exponentially over the past month, alone.

I can't believe that a year has gone by already. From my squishy little beautiful newborn to a small mobile beautiful person.

You are growing and thriving and happy and healthy. (knock-on-wood) Hopefully Daddy and I are doing something right.

M, you are just so easy to love. So easy to be around. So easy to please.

I can not wait to see your personality develop more and see the person you become.

If this past year is any indication, you are someone that so many people will love, admire, and look up to. You are a charming one as well, dear!

M, I don't know what I did to deserve you. Maybe I did something right in a past life to have such a fantastic person be my daughter. I don't know.

What I do know is that I love you. More than you'll ever know.

You gave me a part of myself that I didn't know I was missing.

I can't wait to see what the coming years hold for us.

Happy first Birthday to my baby girl, M.

Love always and forever,
Mommy