handwritten on January 2, 2024
Dearest Luna Mae Zhu,
Happy Eight Months to you! What a beautiful month this has been with upcoming holiday celebrations, holiday music in the mornings, extra coffee for mommy, your first ever Christmas tree, new solid foods and so much more. This month there have been so many changes, we simply don't know where to start. You still love your bottle, but we just started trying a sippy cup with a little water, and you are loving the "adult-like" nature of the cup. You open your mouth and want to try anything we are eating. You seem to love solid foods more and more. We have tried and really like apples, bluberries, strawberries, pears and peaches. We don't love bananas (a girl after mommy's...
handwritten on December 23, 2023
In thinking about 2023 with the greatest of gratitude, here are 23 lessons, quotes, truths we have learned collectively as a family that we hope to take with us in 2024.
1. Love cares more about who is hurting than who is watching.
2. Love is presence not presents.
3. Sometimes your plan simply wasn't the right plan. Sometimes-there is something even better waiting.
4. Gratitude creates feathers of hope.
5. Adventure requires faith and that isn't always easy.
6. The future is always exciting to think about but if you think too much, you miss out on the precious present. Value your time.
7. We are always becoming better versions of ourselves. It takes a lifetime.
8. As long as love is...
handwritten on December 15, 2023
Now that I've had a chance to catch my breath, it's already December 15th, and I am filled with gratitude for yet another beautiful year. I came across this quote from Bob Goff as I was doing a bit of reading and researching today and this perfectly sums up 2023. "We're Living Letters...Everytime we love people without an agenda, we add a page." 2023 has been different than every other year. However, in this precious season of transitions, I think this quote rings truer than ever. I am grateful that we had a beautiful, healthy baby girl in 2023 to love and watch grow. She has been the ultimate letter of selfless joy, whimsy and love. I am filled with gratitude for the 18 undergraduate...
handwritten on December 6, 2023
Dearest Luna Baby,
You are such a spirited little lady these days. You have a full range of emotions (anger, sadness, happiness, joy, whimsy, love) that change with the everyday seasons of life. You are such a complex, beautiful and wonderful little baby, and it continues to be a miracle watching you grow and light up the winter Pittsburgh sky around you.
You continue to love snuggles at any time during the day. If you could, you would quite literally be held all day, but that would break our back and our biceps, so we try to move you around to different areas of our very humble abode. Nevertheless, we secretly love the backaches and the snuggles because they are a reminder that YOU are...
handwritten on November 19, 2023
It has been quite a while since I have sat down to blog. As always, the year seems to be running past at high speed. I cannot believe it is already November 19th. It seems like just last year we were revealing the baby gender to our family and friends through gingerbread cookie whispers and now we have a beautiful, giggly babe who is approaching 7 months old. Simply unbelievable.
There have certainly been new discoveries in what has been a year that looks very different from the past eight years of life following college graduation. Motherhood has been exactly what I always expected it to be. Having a child that is your own is beautiful, rewarding, precious, delicate, messy, and a daily...
