Dear Rhett,

Today you are turning two years old.  I can’t believe it.  I’ve had no shortage of people tell me that having kids would make time speed up.  They weren’t kidding.  Having you in our lives and watching you grow and your personality develop has made time go too quickly.

This past week I have spent a lot of time thinking about you and the blessing that you have been in my and Daddy’s life over the past two years.  I can hardly think about it without tears coming to my eyes.  I am overwhelmed by how blessed we are to be your parents.

This year has been a year of many firsts for you –

• We saw you take your first steps in February. I had been working with you on walking while Daddy was at work, but you waited until Daddy got home to take those few steps. You wouldn’t believe how excited we were. You took three steps from Daddy to me and we acted like you had won a national championship.
• You said your first real word in June.  “Cook” – short for cookie. Your first sentence shortly followed – “cook please.” You, son, are a little man after your mom’s own heart.
• The highlight of the year for me was our first family vacation.  The three of us took a 14-hour drive to Colorado.  You slept nearly the whole way there.  For me and Daddy, it was a time for us to get out of the summer heat and out of our normal routine and just enjoy you and enjoy time together in a new place where there was nothing to required of us except to spend dedicated time as a family.  I will never forget that trip.
• And we welcomed your first sibling just a few weeks ago.  Abel was born just three weeks before your second birthday.  Right now, you’re not really sure why in the world we would mess with a good thing and bring home another baby.  Every now and then though, we’ll catch you giving a blanket, a toy, or a pacifier to your new baby brother.  It’s these moments that I get excited about the big brother that you are becoming.  Abel has so much to learn from you.  Daddy and I are praying that you would soon become best friends and that you learn to love Abel well.

This year has also challenged me to live out what I said last year – that I was a child of God and not bound by fear, and therefore I was able to steward you well as my son.  The older you have become, and the more “boy” you become, this has become increasingly more difficult.  You are all boy, that’s for sure.  You love to climb and have no fear and no concept of danger.  The trouble is that there is nothing worse for me than when you are hurt.  The times that you have fallen on the sidewalk, been hit in the head with a swinging wooden porch swing, climbed out of your highchair, climbed on your dresser and tipped it over, and all the other could-have-happened scenarios have broken my heart. I think that most of the time, I have been more upset when you get hurt than you are.  I have such great fear that something will happen to you that I can’t do anything about, or maybe worse, something will happen to you that I could have prevented.  It makes my heart ache, Rhett.  I am praying and asking people to hold me accountable to this fear.  I want so badly to be a mother that loves you really well, with an open hand and an outstretched arm – knowing that you are a gift to Daddy and me.  Being parents is by far the best gift we’ve ever been given.

Rhett, I cannot tell you how much I love you.  I can’t believe how full my heart is.  I am so proud of you.  I am anxious for your third year – I can’t wait to get to know you better.

I love you,
Momma