Dear Hooper,

I saw you in your papa’s arms last night and couldn’t help but comment on just how big you have gotten. People say it time and time again, but really, where does the time go? It seemed crazy to me when I first found out you were going to be a big brother. You were still such a baby. But just in a few months, you’ve changed. You’ve grown. And I don’t know where my baby went.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing sweeter than watching you change and develop. I know now why parents can only engage in conversation about their children. I also still know why this is annoying, and thus I hold back in sharing every little detail of your development. You are all that is on my mind, all I want to talk about. You are the reason for the smile on my face, the reason I plan ahead, the reason my life has so much purpose and meaning. 

But you are not my baby anymore. You are a boy. A beautiful boy. My boy.

Happy Valentines Day mi amor,

Mama

P.S. Below is a picture of your Papa and I just before we got married. We were in Panama gazing at the beauty that surrounded us and busy planning what was then our future and is now our present.