dear pratt.

dear pratt,

your daddy kept you friday night so i could go to a wedding. the entire wedding, i thought about you and your daddy. he said you were good. i think he likes having you by himself. a little guy time for the two of you.

as you get older, you'll realize that not many dads will do this. so i want you to remember, that even from a young age, your daddy did. your daddy rocks.

my daddy and i left the reception a little early to head home. it's a long story that i'll explain someday...but we got lost. and in the hour and a half we were driving, we didn't pass a single car. and then we saw a deer with one horn...that watched us as we passed by. like, he turned his head and watched us drive by. i'm not making that up. i'm pretty sure we were in the twilight zone. it was strange. but typical. i say this because you'll understand one day because you have the pratt side of the family in you. the genetics...they're screwy. and for that...i'm sorry. but there is good too. you'll be kind. you'll be genuine. you'll feel with every bit of your heart. and sometimes, you'll wish you didn't. but never regret this. because your happy moments will be so, so, so happy.

my dad wrote you your first letter from him. he brought it on friday night. i told him that that is what you wanted for christmas. he is the best letter writer. you'll see someday.

today we went to target. a lady stopped me in the baby aisle to ask me how old you were. she told me that you were a very pretty baby. i thanked her. when she talked to you, you just smiled so big. your whole face smiles. your eyes, your nose. all of it.

you love stores. you love the bright lights. today you talked to me the entire time we were in target. you love for me to talk back. you hate to be ignored. i've noticed that if i'm watching tv while giving you a bottle...often, you'll stop taking the bottle until i make eye contact with you. it's funny.

you wore your corduroy overalls today. they are so cute. and your little stripped shirt from dennie.

you look just like your dad. jan white told me the other day, "hannah, you carried a little version of clint for 9 long months". she is right. but i don't mind. i think your dad is pretty handsome.

here you are in your oshgosh overalls. you'll grow up to be country. you'll ride horses. you'll probably shoot guns...even though i hate guns. you'll hunt. but please always eat whatever you kill. i'm okay with you being country...just promise you'll never use the word "ain't". i hate that word.

as evidenced by these pictures, you've found your hands. you love to put in your middle two fingers. or your entire fist. which is what you did the other morning. clint thinks you're going to choke yourself. i don't have a solution for that if it happens. i mean, what in the world? he typically thinks the worst. i've rubbed off on him. he used to not be that way.

you love for your dad to sing to you. he has a wonderful voice. he sings to you and you sort of mock back. it's pretty cute. i sing to you too, but it's not pretty. but you don't seem to mind really. i sing john mayer. let's see...city love, slow dancing in a burning room, comfortable. i sing somewhere over the rainbow. i sing willie and don williams.

we love you so much. and we love every single day with you.

shake rattle and roll.

pratt pretty much directs his invisible choir every single day. at all times of the day. he swings his arms around more than a monkey. seriously, he really does. they are constantly moving. i rarely get a picture of him being still because he's moving and squirming all the time.

this is good, i know. so nancy asked me the other day if he had any rattles. i didn't remember getting any rattles. i mean, he got a silver one with this initials on it...but i don't really want him banging that one on the floor or anything.

so i looked through his closet. and there on the shelf in a blue basket were about fifteen colorful rattles/chews/etc. thank you to my small group girls! i remember that you guys were the ones to give us all these! i didn't fully appreciate them until yesterday! so when pratt has excellent fine motor skills, i'll be sure and tell him it's all because of you girls! :)

so here he is playing with his infantino rattle. this thing is gigantic. and colorful. and i thought it might be easiest for him to see and grasp.

this has to be my favorite. i love his little expression here. this is the smile i see when i think of him smiling. i love love love it.

he's almost got it...



oh, so close...



success! wooohooo!

let the cursive begin!

just kidding...i hate cursive. :)

high.low.

a long, long time ago...in a land far, far away...there was a game called high/low.

you pick your high for the day...and your low.

i don't play the game anymore...but if i were going to...

my high for today would be this...

a lifesaver.

this is how we got everything done today.

seriously...everything from laundry to cooking to the floors.

he was fine as long as we were up and moving.

be careful what you ask for...

no one told me about the not sleeping part of having a baby. i mean, i heard horror stories about the delivery...but nothing about how hard some days would be when you get no sleep. i should have known this. you'd think in my many years (and many fields) of schooling...i would have remembered this. but it probably has something to do with the fact that part of not sleeping is not remembering anything...being overly emotional...etc.

well, i've prayed for a full nights sleep. because it's tough getting up 3 or 4 times a night. i, in no way am saying that i want pratt to be hungry through the night...no. i'm not saying that. if he's hungry, i want him to wake and eat to his heart's content.

anyway, i didn't want to say anything because i'm a true believer in jinxing things...but he actually slept through the night sunday night. he went to sleep at 830 and woke at 545. i actually had to get him out of his bed then. i heard him moving around and went in to check on him. he was just laying there. checking things out. and he just smiled up at me.

it was the best thing i've seen in a really, really long time. it ranks up there with clint's face when he saw me for the first time on our wedding day. it was that good. it's this little smile that spreads all over his face. and his eyes close. it's wonderful. heavenly, really.

anyway, i figured it was a fluke...but still, i didn't want to tell anyone because i was hoping that maybe...just maybe it wasn't...

well, last night he went to bed at 830. woke at 1230 am. woke at 330 am. woke at 5 am.

so...yeah...it was a fluke.

but...it's funny because at 1230 when i got up to get him, i was sort of excited. sort of excited that he was awake. i knew he wasn't hungry. and so i swaddled him up and lay him in the crook of my arm. his little head fits perfectly near my neck. and so i rolled him on his side and held him there, pulling my head up so that he had lots of room to breathe and wouldn't get hot breath. you know...where you are breathing in what you just breathed out. that's the worst.

anyway, i never got any sleep. because i'm too paranoid about him being there...but i loved it. i know that he'll only be this small for a short period of time. i know there will be a time when he won't want to lay that close to me.

so for now, i'll cherish those moments. and take my chances on him getting used to sleeping in my arms. oh well...worse things have happened...

just now, i put him down in his bed for a nap. i know that as he gets older, he'll be better at soothing himself to sleep. so i layed him down. he wasn't all the way asleep yet. and so i was worried he would cry. but he didn't. he looked at me...with the pacifier in his mouth. and then just dozed off.

i couldn't help but stand over his crib for a few minutes. looking at this little boy. this little boy that has completely changed my life. this little boy that is half me, half clint. i'm still amazed that anyone can look at any baby and not believe in a higher power, not believe in God. and His work.

for many weeks now, i've prayed for him to be at an age where he'd sleep for extended periods of time.

and now...now, i'm praying that time will slow down. that he will stay little for just, just a little bit longer...

andy and pratt.

clint and i have been blessed with two very special friends.

andy and clara.

clint and andy grew up together and they both attended ouachita. from what i understand, andy was the reason clint went into dentistry...or maybe majored in biology/chemistry.

i met andy for the first time my sophomore year. i was terrified of him. he was the assistant for my physics class. and he was extremely intimidating. he never said anything...he really didn't. i knew he was smart...and i was too nervous to talk around him.

anyway...i know now that i had nothing to worry about with andy. he'll pretty much call you out on anything...but at the same time, he has one of the warmest hearts. he would die if he knew i said that.

and then there is clara. from the moment i saw her, i understood. she was just beautiful. and is honestly, one of the most genuine, wonderful, loving people i have ever met.

they are pregnant with a baby boy, anderson...who is due in january.

pratt doesn't know it yet, but he and anderson will be best friends forever. they will for sure write letters to each other and at the end...put something like, "lylab". i guess that's what boys do...

anyway, here is a picture of andy and pratt.

and...clara, if you're reading this...tell andy that i am completely and totally impressed that he wrote thank you notes. he is the best. seriously...he really is.

pratt's first letter.

dear angie,

first...and most importantly, how is annie? tell her i said hi. and that i thought her first school picture was very pretty. i liked her long curly hair.

mom took me for a walk this morning. and because it was so cold, she dressed me in fleece. she said that you gave me this outfit. i would say that i loved it...but my dad would tell me that i'm not supposed to "love" clothes...and he'd probably say that boys don't wear "outfits". anyway, between me and you...i dug the warm hoodie.

here is a picture of me being propped up against some pillows in mom and dad's bed. i was thrilled to have more pictures of myself taken...can't you tell?

here is what kept happening to me while we were walking. but it was cool...i mean breathing in exhaled carbon dioxide doesn't cause any problems...right? wait a minute...

and finally, here is my mother making me take yet another picture. but i've got this all figured out...i'll just close my eyes in protest.

again, thank you for the outfit. mom says that she really loves fleece too. but something about how she can't fit in any of her old clothes....i dunno. she said it was dad's fault. i think it might have something to do with how many oreos she's been eating lately.

love, pratt.

p.s. kiss my butt. free money. (mom said i could say "butt"...but just this once :)