Dear Braedon,
Happy 4th birthday! I can still remember that morning you were born so well. Hours and hours of labor with hours of pushing, but it was all so worth it in the end because I got to meet you. After nine months of dreaming about what you might look like, I couldn’t stop staring at your little nose, those lips you inherited from your daddy, and those bright blue eyes. To me, you were perfect! If I only knew at that very moment I held you in my arms for the first time all the laughter and joy you would bring to my life. Let me tell you little man, you are one funny dude! You are always making me laugh and you never cease to amaze me. You are so smart, loving, and sweet, which more than makes up for the stubbornness you had to have inherited from your daddy
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These past four years have been the best and I couldn’t have asked for a better side kick to have gone through our move and time spent in Ithaca, NY while daddy went to grad school. Some of my favorite memories from there were our long morning walks in the stroller through the neighborhood, watching you go crazy in your exersaucer, experiencing some of your first milestones with you like rolling over, sitting up, and cooing and laughing. Taking you to story time followed by our coffee date at Starbucks, racing cars in your bedroom and taking you apple picking. I cherished those one on one moments with you and those memories will forever be with me. I wish you could remember them too!
From there we traveled to San Jose where we became park buddies. We had so much fun that summer going to the YMCA every morning followed by play dates at all the different parks we got to explore. Your all time favorite thing to do was swing on the swings. Happy Hollow was another one of our favorite places to go and we would spend most of the time petting the goats and watching those crazy monkeys! That is until you were big enough to ride the roller coaster!
Not too long after, you became a big brother and I worried how you would handle the transition. Considering what a big change it was, I say you handled it like a champ! Although you have your moments, you are a sweet big brother and Adi is very lucky to have you in her life.
Now here you are. You have almost a full year of preschool under your belt. You can write your name as well as the alphabet, you can count to 100 and color in the lines. You crack me up with your stories and play by plays of every little thing going on in your life. You have a love for all things trains and cars. You love your big brood of stuffed animals and are still the best at cuddling. You love reading and crafts, yet you love being active. You will run your little heart out on the soccer field and would ride your bike forever. You love making snow angels and jumping in big mud puddles! You have a great laugh. And that little voice of yours… when you aren’t mimicking your sister’s baby talk, I could listen to you tell me stories all day long. I wish I could keep you at this age forever!
I love you little buddy!!!
Love,
Mom
