Blakely,

We love your blue eyes and your heart-shaped nose. We love your three lips and the extra love you give with each kiss. We love your soft cheeks and your long, long, long hair. We love to play with your hair and make it look crazy (thanks for putting up with us).

We love your ginormous and over-the-top yawns and over exaggerated stretches. We love how you stick your booty out – every time we pick you up from the car seat. We love your perfect eye lashes and the way you slow blink. We love your tiny little toes and tiny little fingers. We love too squeeze your butt and we love to squeeze your thighs. We love your contagious smile and how it lights up the room.

We love that you love warm baths and we love that you love head massages. We wish we could give you those all the time. We love that you love listening to music and that you love to watch your mobile. We love that you love to be held.

We love how you hate your nebulizer and fight and squirm to get us to stop. We love how you passionately cry when you are hurt.  We love that the only way you would calm down was if we patted your butt. We love that you like listening to the Bible being read out-loud. We love the way you wake up with a full body stretch.

We love that you love sleeping on your belly and we love that you love wearing cute bows. We love it when you are sleepy and try to fight your sleep. We love how you sabotage us with your stinky diapers and we love how you always wake up right when we fall to sleep (hahaha). We love that you like to sleep in our bed and we love that you love to snuggle.

We love how you have lived with grace, courage and grit. We love that you smile and laugh even when you are really sick. We love that you trust us even when it is hard. We love that you always try even when the odds are against you. We love how you are always true to yourself and how you always keep it real. We love that you belong to God and that you are in his hands.

We love how you have brought the Gospel into our lives. We love that you have glorified God. We love that you have shown his power and his love through your pain and suffering. We love that you have not stopped reminding us over and over again that God is good and that God loves us.

We love that you made us into a Mommy and a Daddy. We love that we get to be your parents. We love you with all our hearts and you will always be our beloved little girl.

Blakely, we are proud of you. Blakely, you have blessed us. Blakely, you have honored us. Blakely, we love you!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy