Dear Josiah,

You were born August, 30^th 2012. You recently turned four years old, and my, you are a talker! You were the very first to steal my heart, and I will always love you to the moon and back.

Josiah, you are my amazing, adorable nephew. Who could ask for anything better? You are a beautiful blue-eyed, blonde-haired (it will probably turn brown in a few years!) baby boy -- although you are no longer a little itty bitty baby.

I taught you how to clap, and I was there when you took your first steps. It brought me joy and sadness to see you grow up so fast!

You are currently in pre-school and next year you will move on to kindergarten, tonight we even practiced writing the alphabet. You showed me how you drew a P and a H. You were really proud of yourself! We sat and drew elephants, cars, ice cream, and boats for awhile. You know how to count to 10, you know the whole alphabet, and you recognize letters when you are out and about, as well as numbers too!

You were with me through my first pregnancy, and near the end of my second one. You always loved feeling the babies kick, you would rub and kiss my belly, and ask everyone else if the had a baby in their belly. We taught you how to say both of our kid’s names and you picked them up so quickly. And once you saw them you immediately fell in love! You wanted to hold them, feed them, and comfort them when they cried. If we were in a different room and you heard one of them cry from their crib, you would run to us and say “TT! The baby is crying!”

Then, we were not allowed to see you. You were hours away from us, and it shattered my heart into a million tiny pieces. We went from seeing you every week, to not at all. Now we get to see you every other week. And that is so much better than not seeing you at all.

Josiah, you were such a blessing in disguise. When you were born our family was going through a lot, you were our light within the darkness. You were the joy we found in all the madness that was going on.

You loved your yellow blanket that your Dad had made you, and you were attached dearly to an orange stuffed animal kitten name Mr. Kits. You also loved this cute little monkey that you never named. You used to “brush” your hair with a paint brush. You used to cry when you were out of Cheetos puffs. And when you had a boo-boo it was always “TT, has to kiss it to make it all better”. If I did not know any better, I would say I am your favorite person! You come to me when you’re sad, happy, and angry as well. You get sad when you think I am mad at you, even when I am not. You always want to sleep with TT, or cuddle with TT.

Dear Josiah, I love you so much, and I will always be here for you. No matter what.