Dear "Elizabeth Taylor,"

It’s funny Taylor wanted to call you “Elizabeth Taylor.” It was for a your great-grandmother, but you truly are a dark-haired, thickly-eyelashed little babe who resembles her. You just have blue eyes where hers were almost violet.

You are five months old today and have just acquired two new teeth. I can’t believe how time has flown and now you’re almost sitting up. Every day you amaze me with new feats of strength or personality. I wake each morning and find myself marveling at how I love you even more and how you continue to become your own person. You are our little Lil and are precious beyond words.

I am so thankful for being home during this time in your life. Your father is to thank for that. We may not have a lot of money, but he works and works and works to pay our bills so I can be the one who stays with you. I never thought I would be so fulfilled with the role of mother and yes, of housewife. (Housewife? My twenty-something self is scoffing at me in a parallel universe.) Being here for all the babbling, the teeth cutting, the singing, the trying to sit up, crawl, and the million smiles, it is really, really important to me, and I don’t lack for inspiration in my life. You really are it.

You teach me every day. You are helping me grow as a person and I thank you for that. I may be your mother, but you are the most important role I have ever undertaken. The most challenging and the most rewarding.

Thank you for choosing us. I knew you before you arrived and I can’t wait to get to know you more. And don’t worry about those mean old teeth. This too shall pass.

I love you.

Always,

Cabbage