Dear Bently,

You went out of the state for you very first time this past week. We did go to Virginia together when you were in my tummy but I don't think that counts! ;) We went to California and we had a blast! Can I even tell you what an awesome baby you are! You are a mover Bently. I mean you are constantly moving. Which is probably why you are so skinny! I was terrified for the drive down. How could you handle sitting for 10+ hours when you are such a wiggle worm. You did awesome though! You handled it like a pro. You had a few meltdowns but they were few and far between and only lasted a couple minutes. You were perfectly content to just sit there and stare out the window or nap. You must get that from me because I fall asleep in the car WAY easily! :)
We went to the beach on this trip! You weren't the biggest fan! You liked it at first but it was too cold for my sweet little boy! You spent most of the time wrapped up in a towel looking miserable while Mommy had a blast! Sorry I was a little selfish! I just loved playing in the waves! I hope the next time we go you are a little older and maybe able to appreciate it more! :) You sure were cute in your swimsuit though!
We also go to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Stetson on this trip. I can't even tell you how important they are to me. I lost my Daddy when I was just a couple months older than you are now Bently and Grandma and Grandpa are his parents. I feel just by being by them I am closer to my Dad. I have no memories of my own so I borrow other's memories to hold and keep with me. Anytime someone mentions him I make sure to pay special attention so that I gather another little piece of my Dad. I love Grandpa and Grandma because they knew him the longest! And they talk about him quite a bit! I also love to watch them. I figure they raised him so he probably shared traits with his parents. I try and imagine what kind of Grandpa he would be. If he is anything like Great Grandpa Steston then you would've loved him. I wish we both had the opportunity to make memories with him in this lifetime Bently. But we're both going to have that to look forward to in the next! :)
You got to spend some real quality time with them. I wish you would remember it! I love Grandma and Grandpa Stetson more then words can describe. They hold a special place in my heart! You had a special spot for Grandpa Stetson. I don't know what it is about Grandpa's but you love them! My little wiggle worm would crawl into Grandpa's lap and read the newspaper with him. I was shocked to come out of the bathroom and find you there with him. Happy as a clam pointing at the newspaper and pointing back at Grandpa. You must have been telling him something important for sure! Grandpa also had this cute habit of talking to you like you are an adult! It was hilarious! For example, there we are walking around in Costco shopping. Grandpa is a little undsteady when he walks so he was pushing the cart you were sitting in. He picks up some pepper and begins to tell you in great detail about how you have to make sure not to get it into your eyes because that would hurt really bad. I don't know how you would ever get ahold of the pepper but your sweet Grandpa wanted to make sure you knew it could hurt you!
Gradma sure did love you too! She was always worrying about you and making sure you had everything. She could make you laugh Bently! You thought she was pretty dang funny! She loved it just as much as you did! Every morning when she saw you she would exclaim, "Oh there's my boy!" And would always be looking for you when she came back from running errands.
You are so blessed with such wonderful grandparents! :) I wanted to make sure to record these sweet memories for you. I want you to always feel like they're apart of you and you have them near! They love you so much Bently! They gave you a million hugs when we left! I hated saying goodbye! It was so hard! I wish they lived closer! We'll have to make more trips out to see them whenever we can! I love you my sweet sweet boy!
Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

I was reading online and I realized one day you might find it interesting to know the words you can say now. You are currently 15 months and I am surprised each and every time you say something new! I swear it's a new word every day!! :) You're first words was Dada! These are all the words you can say right now! July 21, 2012

1-Mama
2-Dada
3-Cracker
4-All gone
5-Amen
6-Dog (mostly when we ask you to say dog you just bark! It's adorable!)
7-Duck
8-Papa (Started consistently saying this one today!)
9-Car (You say this one all day every day! It get's a little annoying sometimes!)
10-Plane (Mostly sounds like pa. It's adorable! whenever you hear one you point at the sky and say plane! :) You also said it today when you saw some balloons floating in the sky! We'll have to teach you balloon next!)
11-Home

Eleven words! That's pretty impressive! I am probably missing a couple so I'll add when I find more! I love you so much Bently! And I am constantly impressed with your speaking abilities! :)
Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

I feel like I don't write enough of these posts for you! I'm going to try and be better! Weirdly enough I wanted to write this post about your Dog. You see, you finally have become attached to a stuffed animal. It's this little dog that plays music. You sleep with it everynight. I call it dog dog because you can never seem to say the word dog just once. When we ask you to say it you always say it two or three times. I love going in the middle of the night to check at you and find you cuddeling with your dog. Seriously is too cute! And when we go to get you in the morning you are standing in your crib holding it to your chest. It's adorable!!! :)
Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

Yesterday was the 4th of July. It's still weird to me that we are celebrating 2nd holidays with you and not 1st anymore! I was really worried because I got off July 4th morning at 7am and had to be back to work at midnight that night. July 4th is my favorite holiday and I wanted it to be awesome! Well, it turned out great! :)
We went to the parade bright and early! We sat with Aunt Shawna and her family and Uncle Cole and his. I was super worried about the parade starting because they always start with the sirens going. You still aren't a fan of loud noises! Well just as I suspected the sirens started and you got the most intense worried look on your baby face! I felt so bad! You even cried out a few times and snuggled up close to Daddy! It was adorable! Luckily that part ended soon! I don't know if you were too impressed with the parade. Mostly you like eating the candy and having people hold you and give you attention! Your first 4th of July you were only 3 months old. Let met tell you the difference a year makes! ;) When you were a teeny tiny 3 month old in the blistering July 4th heat, just laying there helpless, they threw ice cream samples into the crowd and one hit you on the stomach. Of course it startled you more than anything and then you cried, quite a bit. This year we decided to try and get you into the candy collecting! Daddy took you to grab a piece and as you tentatively were trying whether you wanted to pick it up or not, another candy was thrown and smacked you in the head! Again there were tears involved. So the candy collecting aspect of the parade will have to wait until next year! Mom and Dad sure had fun collecting there own private stash though! :)
After the parade it was nap time. Dad and I had 0 sleep in our systems. Luckily we all got a little sleep. At last minute the Hyers decided to come and have a little BBQ with us. We had hot dogs, watermelon, cookies, and chips. It was simple but yummy! We learned that you don't like watermelon! We kept trying to feed you pieces and you kept spitting them out! Maybe you'll grow to like it! More than eating though all you wanted to do was walk around the back yard. We have these cement steps and you crawled up them easily. Then you decided that you were a big boy and you tried to walk down the stairs. Of course you had to decide to experiment on the most dangerous steps possible. I hate those moment when I know you are going to get hurt but there is no way I can move fast enough to prevent it. You of course face planted it and in return got a bloody cut on your forehead! Poor guy! I rushed over and gave you a big hug!
After we headed out to a firework show! I love fireworks and couldn't wait for you to experience them again! Aunt Shawna arrived before us and saved us a seat. We spent some time trying to find her. The crowd was huge! We finally arrived, took some family pictures, then I whipped out some sparklers I had from the year before. It turns out year old sparklers don't work very well! It took a hundred years to light and then ended up burning out before it was even half way down. You loved looking at the sparkler. It was hard to convince you not to touch it!
Then the firework show began. The first one went off, and you stared in awe as it shot towards the sky. Then it exploded and the bang went off. It echoed behind us and your head whipped back towards were the noise sounded like it was coming from so fast. And then for the next 5 or so minutes you were scared, crying, and sad. I was sad because I really wanted you to love it! I don't know what I was expecting since you are terrified of loud noises! After a while though you calmed down and seemed to enjoy it! I think you got bored because you started trying to get up and walk around. Dad got out his phone and you happily played on that for the majority of the fire work show. Ah well, maybe next year you'll enjoy them more! :) But there was this moment. As we were laying on the blanket, watching the fireworks together, a moment were everything felt right in the world. Maybe it was the magic of the fireworks making me feel so happy, but in that moment I looked at my two handsome men and just felt sheer and utter happiness. I can't put into words the beauty of the moment, I was just so grateful to have our little family, our house, everything that I hold near and dear! I hugged you guys a little closer, wishing for this moment to last forever!
I love you Bently and love every single holiday I get to spend with you! I loved my 4th of July with you and can't wait for more in the future! Love you little man!
Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

I am writing this letter not quite sure what I want to say to you. All that enters my mind is how completely happy I am. You make me so happy. You are so sweet. I love your smiles and your giggles. I love singing to you right before I put you to bed. I hate days where I have to leave for work without putting you to bed. I stand there and you lay your head on my shoulder and I sing to you. I can always tell when you are really tired because you'll raise your head and look at me and smile. I just know you are so anxious to get into that bed! I love holding you there because I know someday you are going to be a big boy, you're not going to want me to hold you, or rock you, or sing to you before bed. I can't even tell you how much I dread that day coming. I am trying to hold onto every single second because they are going by too fast! :( Here is a small list of things I never want to forget!

-Every morning when I get you out of your crib you have the biggest smile on your face! Then you hand me each of your stuffed animals in your crib one by one.
-You have started sleeping with a stuffed animal under your arm! It is too cute!
-You have started to giggle at everything! It always makes my day!
-When you walk you hold your hands together or you'll have one hand underneath your chin. It's adorable!!
-You love dogs and will give any dog you meet a hug but not humans!
-You cry when I leave you now. I love it because it means you love me and miss me when I'm gone. But it breaks my heart because I hate to leave you!
-You LOVE bananas. You get so excited when you see one coming your way! :)
-You clap your hands ALL the time and I love it!
-You hate getting dressed/getting your diaper change. As soon as it's off you are on a mad dash out of there! As annoying as it can get I love watching your baby butt crawl across the floor as fast as it can!

I know there are so many more but those are the ones that immediately come to mind. I love you so much my son. I home some day you can read these letters and feel of my love and now how deep it runs! I love you handsome man!
Love,
Mommy

Dear Bently,

You did something amazing today. Let me start at the beginning. I have been wishing you to walk basically since you could crawl! I was so excited to see you taking those little baby steps. Everyone told me to be patient, that I shouldn't rush you, I would regret wishing you to walk. But you are my first baby. I was so excited to see you grow and learn. I was convinced you would be walking by your first birthday. That came and went. National average is 12 months 2 weeks...that came and went. So I had basically given up hope. Your Dad and I had a running joke that you couldn't drive until you could walk. Yes we thought it might take you that long. It's not that you didn't have the ability. You could stand unassisted and even walk pretty much by yourself. You just refused to do it. You were steady as a rock, but the second we let go of your hands, down to the ground you would drop. You were too chicken. Yesterday, June 10, 2012, I was holding your hands as I walked you into the family room. I stopped in the middle of the room and let go. To my surprise you just stood there. Unassisted. I said, "Walk Bently." Your Dad could see your face, he said you looked over at him and smirked. Then you, steady as rock, like you had done it for years, took 6-7 full steps across the room. Your Dad and I just watched in absolute silence and shock. I immediately began to cry. My baby looked so grown up walking himself across the room. I had been terrified that I would miss your first steps. Working 40+ hours a week and sleeping during the day makes me miss a lot of quality time. I was so ecstatic that I got to see your first steps. You reached the chair in the corner of the room, turned around and grinned. We probably freaked you out with our out of control reactions. I was crying and clapping and shouting. Your Dad was beaming with pride. It was something I will never forget. You went from zero interest in walking, to walking your little baby butt across the room. I don't think I have ever been so proud of anything in my whole life. I whisked you right up and gave you about a million kisses. One of the very best moments of my life!!! Thank you for letting me be a part of it! Now we just got to convince you to do it all the time! You have shown no interest since that moment. But I'm not so anxious anymore. I am just so very grateful I got to witness it. Thank you for that Bently. It meant more to me then I'll ever be able to describe to you! I love you my little man. I love you so so so much!
Love,
Mommy

Dear Bently,

Son you are the cutest thing I have ever seen. I feel like you just keep getting cuter and cuter. I am so worried that I am going to forget all the adorable things you do so here it goes.
-You love looking out the window! More often then not I find you standing at the family room window just looking. Everything outside just amazes you!
-On that note, you love being outside. You always are trying to get outside and enjoy the world. I feel bad that we don't take you outside more. You love playing on the grass and looking at all the cars driving by. You point at every single car. I say, "Oh ya a car" and you grin like you are the smartest baby in the world. Which of course you are! :)
-You can now play pass with your ball. We can sit a couple feet away from you and you roll the ball to us and we roll it straight back to you. You smile the whole time. You love it!
-You clap for yourself all the time! You love it when people pay attention to you, and clapping does that. You know if you clap that everyone will clap with you and watch what you are doing. It's hilarious. You'll do something, look around to make sure we're watching then clap. Then you do something else and the cycle repeats itself. I don't mind. I love watching you smile!
-You and your Dad are very best friends. You lite up when he enters a room. You giggle at him all the time! You guys just love each other and I love watching you together!
-You have recently learned to "growl". I can't even describe the noise you make but you make it all the time! It's kind of hilarious and kind of annoying! I will have to see if I can get it on film so you'll understand what I mean!
-You and I have a tradition. I put you to bed every night I can. Which is basically every night. We rock, we read your train book, we brush your teeth, but my favorite part is right before I lay you down. You know it's coming so we enter your room I turn off the lights and put on your night lite. Then you willingly lay your little head on my shoulder and I slowly sway back and forth as I sing to you a song. It's a little quiet moment in time where I can just enjoy being with you. Away from the hussel and bussel of the world. A moment where I can pretend you are my little baby again snuggling with me like you used to! You smile the whole time I sing then I kiss you remind you a hundred times that I love you and lay you down. It's the best moment! Honestly I look forward to it every night!

Bently I hope through these letters your realize how much I honestly and truly love you. How honored I feel to be your Mom. How much I truly appreciate you, that you're healthy, that you were sent to me. I take my responsibility very seriously! I can't wait for more years together! I love you like only a Mom can!
Love,
Mom