Happy 1/2-Birthday, Eliana!

Welcome to the Team Darr Blog! With so many of our friends and family so far away, we thought this would be a nice way to share a little more of our lives with everyone. And since the most interesting person in our family-our sweet baby, Eliana-turns 6 months old today*, I guess the first topic pretty much writes itself.

Dear Eliana,

Wow! How is it possible that it has been 6 months-a whole half a year!-since you've joined us? How can you be laughing and babbling and trying to crawl? It seems like it's only been days since I (and the whole family) was fixated on my enormous belly, wondering if/when you'd ever come out. We still spend hours staring at you, watching you sleep, watching you discover every little thing (your toes, your toys, and-your favorite-your ability to blow raspberries), just like we did the night you were born. Yet, we can hardly remember what life was like without you.

So, what are you like at six months old?

You seem to be in love with the world. You love your cat...maybe a little too much-you love to pull out handfuls of Jasmine's fur (the closer to the butt, the better). You love to watch Seamus do just about anything; sometimes you will laugh and laugh at him while he just lies on the floor, gnawing on a toy. You love sticking your tongue out at everyone and everything. You love thrills, like being tossed (gently!) in the air. You love to boogie, so we help you dance to all the musical numbers on "Glee" (someday, you will understand why this makes your mother laugh so hard). You love drinking water from a big-girl glass. You love sleeping curled up next to me, or your daddy's chest. You love to be tickled. You love the sound of Alton Brown's voice...yeah, we don't know why, either.

Your favorite song is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", sung slightly off-key by your well-meaning, but somewhat rusty, mother. Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" is a close second. Your favorite toys are Sophie the Giraffe and what we call your Baby iPod. Your favorite books are Snuggle Puppy and anything that has textured pages or a delicious cardboard cover. Your favorite food is definitely breastmilk, but you won't turn down some peaches, pears, plums, avocado or butternut squash. Your favorite body part is your tongue, hands-down, although you are developing a profound appreciation for your toes, as well (And who can blame you? They're delicious).

You've taught your daddy and I so much--more than I can reasonably begin to explore here. You've taught your daddy how to change a diaper in the dark. How to bounce on a fitness ball for hours on end without tiring. How to love shopping for pink, sparkly clothes. You have taught me how to operate on two hours of sleep. How to decode a hungry cry from a bored cry from a tired cry. How to find joy in a four-note plastic piano. You have taught me that my body is an amazing, life-sustaining creation. Best of all, you have taught us how to love more deeply than we thought possible, and to appreciate every single moment, because it all goes by so quickly.

There's a whole lot more, but I don't know how to write it all down efficiently. Hopefully, someday soon we will get a video camera so we can show you just how amazing you were when you were tiny.

As you get older, I'm sure you'll be bored to tears hearing about how late you were, how we waited and worried for you. But the way I see it now is this: if you had been born on your "due date", you would be almost 7 months old today, so I guess in hindsight, I'm glad you waited. I don't think I could handle it if you were one minute older than you already are...at least, not until tomorrow.


*"Today" being the day that I started writing this. Oh, motherhood, how you stretch even the simplest of tasks into a 3-day ordeal.