8 months and 1 day

(Bunny at almost 8 months)
Bunny is 8 months and 1 day old today.
That probably doesn't seem monumental to you, but it is to me because of one reason: Leah.
Who's Leah?  Well, if you haven't heard of Jess over at Adjusting to the World, then go over there and check her out!

Leah is her daughter. Her adorable daughter! And Jess is one of my best friends in the whole world so, even though I've never met Leah due to the fact that we live so far apart, Leah is one of my favorite babies in the whole world.

Jess was 8 months pregnant (well, closer to 9) when I found out I was pregnant.  I'd been following her pregnancy letter for letter and word for word, so she was the first one I emailed and one of the first I called when pregnancy came knocking on my door.  Pregnancy was hard for me, so being pregnant with Jess for even a few weeks was comforting.

Then, when she gave birth, I would check her blog daily, thirsty for pictures of Leah so I could grasp the end to the means I was suffering.  Leah was my goal.  Seeing her beautiful face every day on Jess's blog, was sometimes the only way I could have hope in the midst of awful, horrible, let-me-lay-down-and-die morning sickness. 

(Leah at around 8 months)

When Bunny was born, Leah was 8 months and 1 day old.  She seemed SO big compared to Bunny.  Her milestones were SO HUGE and Bunny was still just learning to open her eyes and notice us.

Again, Leah was sort of my goal.  Jess's mothering my muse, my inspiration.  It's not like I haven't had other mothering inspirations or baby experience.  Being the oldest of seven kids means that I was not at all scared of being a mommy.  But when it actually happened and my hormones dropped and I had no sleep, and I faced what was probably post-partum depression as I found reasons to cry and/or worry every single day for the first few months of her life, again, seeing pictures of how Leah had grown helped me to realize that I could do it and that the difficult newborn stage would one day end.

Well, now it's over and I'm sad to have said goodbye to it, but so glad for where my wonderful little daughter is.  Her milestones are huge now.  Almost crawling, pulling herself up to standing, babbling to herself non-stop, purposefully shoving her hands down my shirt because she knows where the milk is now, cracking up when we talk to her...those are just the things I can think of right now.

And anyway, she's where Leah was when she was born and to me that is a milestone.  Maybe part of the reason this day is so momentous is that I have never gotten to meet Leah and so pinpointing a day when both Leah and Bunny are in the same stage, feels like getting to know her in a way I have yet to do.