Do you know how much I love you?
I know I ask you that question every single day. And every time you say yes, you do know, and I’d also love it if you’d leave me alone to play, mom. You say you know, even though you can’t possibly have any idea.
From the first time I felt you move, and then hiccup, inside me I couldn’t understand how it was possible to love something I had never seen so much. When I held you in my arms the first time and felt the weight of your beautiful head on my chest, I understood. I counted your teeny tiny fingers and your teeny tiny toes, and all the love I’d felt for that movement inside me made absolute sense.
That first day and for every following day, I have been filled with awe.
I am in awe every time I watch you sleep, your perfectly bowed lips always slightly parted so I can peek at your two front teeth. Your eyes usually halfway open even though you’re in the dead of sleep, a strange sleeping trait you inherited from me. Sorry about that by the way.
I am in awe of the way you look at the world – each new experience is an adventure, and every new person you meet is a friend.
Please, please don’t ever lose that sense of excitement, or that trust that everyone and anyone is good inside. Life will try to take them both away from you, probably more than once, but try to hold on. Your adventurous spirit, and the kindness and friendship you show everyone you meet are some of the things that make you the you that I love so much.
Those, and so much else.
I love the way your eyes sparkle when you’re about to tell a joke. I love the guilty wide-eyed shocked look you get when I catch you doing something naughty just as much. Even more than those looks, I love the way your face lights up when you see me, even if I’ve only been gone twenty minutes.
I love the way your hair looks after you sleep, the curls all pushed to one side. I love the shape of your eyes, and the sound of your laugh. I love your voice being the first thing I hear each morning, and the last thing I hear every night. I love listening to you give voices to your toys, and the way your imagination can take you anywhere. I love the feeling of your arms wrapped tight around my neck in a hug, or the weight of your sleeping, beautiful head on my shoulder.
Most of all, I love the way you love me, the way you always make me feel like I’m enough just how I am.
You won’t know just how much I love you until the day you feel your own child move inside you, or the day you hold them in your arms. But that won’t stop me from telling you every single day how much I love you, and why.
Thank you for being my soul mate, the reason I was put on this earth. Thank you for being my baby girl, and for letting me kiss you until I’m content (usually). You remind me every day what it means to be truly happy and to feel truly loved. Thank you for being kind, loving, and goofy. Above all else, thank you for being beautifully, perfectly Skye.
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