Dear Sera, I woke up for you at four this morning, I put you in bed with me and you layed there laughing and talking to me until I fell asleep. I woke up to find you turned 180 degrees konked out. I also woke up to a sore throat and sniffles. You totally gave it to me. So this morning on the way to daycare I put on mayday parade, which you love, and you talked to me from the backseat. I will never forget these mornings with you. I love you chunky monkey.

Prettiest Girl in the World

Dear Sera,

you are the most beautiful baby in the whole wide world. So, when you are older and boys pick on you for your red hair, and girls try to point out what they think are flaws, just remember that you were the most beautiful baby in the whole wide world, which will make you the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world. They are just jealous, but love them as if they were as beautiful as you.

-mom

Aunt Molly

Dear Sera,

This is your Aunt Molly, you love her hair more than you love her. She keeps you from being just another baby. She gets you cool things like Elephant hats, Tattoo sleeves, and customized Zelaphents (a zebra printed elephant), and other cool baby swag.

She also keeps me from being just another mom. That is why she is my best friend. She loves us both very much, and we love her too. <3

Dear Sera,

it needs to be known to you that we came togeather because we first loved each other, and that we will always work togeather because we both love you.

Happy Girl

Dear Sera,

at this moment I am 20 years old, 20 years and a half to be exact. You are 3 months old, not quite 4 months. You are a very happy baby. You smile ALL the time, you have learned that those wiggly things on your hands, called fingers, are yours and that you can chew on them any time you feel like it. You love staring at your feet. and you LOVE watching movies. I was scared that you would not recieve this gene from your father and myself (huge movie buffs), but you prove that love of film is genetic. You have learned that yogurt tastes better than formula milk, and that mashed potatoes are the beezneez, and your best friend is a little purple stuffed puppy dog, that we call “Puppy”, and she sings about your likes (Mashed Potatoes, Penguins, and the color Pink) and spells your full name SERAPHIM, and calls you by your name, Sera. Puppy was a Christmas present from Gigi and Pappy, for your very first Christmas.

Most of the people I went to school with, most of the people, in general, that are my age are, lets just say, not doing what I am doing.

I want to be your example, never be who someone says you should be. Be who you are. Its as simple as that.

I am a Clerk at our Local Tax Collector’s Office, I write a Movie Review Column for a local newspaper, I love acting, and writing, and above everything I am your Mommy.

Every second that I spend with you I realize more and more that you are your own little person. You surprise me, and thrill me, and I am completely in love with you.

There are some things going on right now that stress me out, but it is this smile that reassures me that as long as that smile is there, then everything else is white noise.

It needs to be said that there are many (many being an understatement) people who love you. We have a huge family, but we also have many friends that are just like family to you.

I want you to always remember that you were a very extremely happy baby.

Santa Baby

Dear Sera,

the day before your first Thanksgiving your daddy, Aunt Tori and myself took you to meet Santa Clause for the first time. All you could do was stare at him, you were upset that we took your bottle to take some pictures, but you loved to look at the brigth red suit and fluffy white beard. I made a bow and onesie just for this occasion.

Silly Sera

Dear Sera,

your Gigi and Aunt Tori LOVE to take pictures of and with you. Even as a baby you are very patient and usually let them take as many as they want. I am starting to think that they are only paving the way for a lot of “Mommy, take a picture of me with this!” statements. I will click away then, since you let them click away now.

Day One

Dear Sera,

your full name is Seraphim Dianne Beck.

I still remember the first time I was flipping through my Bible and I came across the word Seraphim, I fell in love. I knew that I would name my first daughter that name because it was beautiful powerful and it meant so much to me. Some people thought it was alittle out there, but it was always meant to be your name. I’m sure once you reach kindergarten you will hate me for it, but it is your name and no one else’s.

Dianne is my middle name and your Gigi’s middle name and I passed it down to you, and I will never ask you, but I’m willing to bet you will do the same thing too, one day.

Seraphim

Sera For Short

Dear Sera,

I am starting this blog for you, partially for your family (because it is abundant in people who love and care about you) so that they can keep up with you as you develop and grow and so that they can feel like they are not missing anything even if they are all the way in New York or Tennessee or Kentucky or wherever they may be.

But mostly I am creating this for you, so that as you grow and develop into the beautiful woman I know you will someday become, you will know that you were loved above all else, and that even during stress and struggles you have loved your life.

I got this idea from a beautiful blog that your Aunt Molly shared with me called “Dear Scarlet” I can relate with the mother of that blog because, like me, she became pregnant at age 19 and had her daughter at age 20.

I am currently 20, I never managed college and never did well in school, (you will go to college and you will do good in school because you have your Aunt Tori, and your father) but I have a wonderful job as a Clerk for our County Tax Collector. I work with people who love and care about me, and thus love and care about you.

Your daddy and I met through a local church, he was the youth leader and I joined the college aged group. That was only how we met, we became friends through mutual friends, I fell in love with your daddy because he was older, smart, very knowledgable about the gospel, and because he wore converse and flannels and listened to hard rock music. We started dating in November of 2009, that Christmas he came with my family to Georgia to stay with Aunt Bridgette, and on Christmas Eve as everyone was diving into presents he gave me a little box with two Taco Bell sauce packets that said “Will You Marry Me?” and put a ring on my finger.

That following March, on the 13th we got married in the same church that we met at with many of our friends and family. 

Yes, you have always been surrounded by crazy kooky people that love you very much. :]

In late January or 2011 we found out that we were pregnant. Uncle Cody was the first person we let know about you. The your Uncle Josh and Aunt Mary came over to visit and we couldnt help but to let them know. Then the next morning at Bible Study we told Aunt Molly, Uncle Darren and Uncle Andy. We let Gigi (my mother) and Grana (your daddy’s mom) know about you with a Valentines Day card. Pretty much everyone else found out about you by Facebook and phone calls.

It needs to be known to you that because of your Gigi, and the Super Hero status that I hold her to, that I have always wanted to be a mommy. It wasnt until I knew that I had you in my belly, that I knew that I didnt just want to be A mommy, I have always wanted to be YOUR mommy. I have loved you since before I knew you, and no matter what I get or lose in this life, you will always be my favorite thing.

Now you know you have a huge family, and while you were being carried in my tummy our family lost two very wonderful people that I know would have loved you very very much.

Pawpaw Cotton, who was Mama Cotton’s husband. and Nanny, who is Papa’s mommy.

Once we found out that you were in my belly the whole family started trying to guess if you were a boy or a girl, your daddy thought that he wanted a boy, and majority of his family thought you were going to be a boy, but Nanny (like me) wanted a girl. Nanny past away just a week before we found out what you were, and at her funeral Mawmaw Wright bought Carnation flowers for all of the grandkids to lay with Nanny. The boys had white and the girls had pink.

Now, Mawmaw Wright counted out all of the flowers and who they would go to and she had the perfect amount for all of the kids. However, when she handed them out she found that she had one carnation left. We all thought she had missed someone, but we checked with all of the kids and all of them had one carnation with the correct color. It wasnt until your Uncle Buddy made the connection that we all realized what had happened. The last carnation was pink, and it was meant to lay with Nanny for you. We all think it was Nannys way of letting us know that she wanted you to be a girl, and that it was so.

A week later when we went to the doctors office to pull you up on the tv screen she let us know that you were in-fact a girl.

Whenever it came close to time for you to come out of my belly we made an appointment to get you out, so the night before your Uncle Darren stayed over at our house and he sat on the couch and watched girly movies with me while your daddy got the house ready for you. That night we got ready for bed, because we had to get up very early to go to the doctors to get you out of my belly, but I started to feel funny. That night I went into labor, so your daddy and I, followed by Uncle Darren and Gigi and Pappy(my mom and dad) went to the doctors early because you were telling mommy that you were ready to come out.

So I was in labor for 16 hours, the doctors gave mommy some medicine, and at almost 4 o’clock that day, we were sitting in our special room at the doctors talking to Aunt Molly, Uncle Darren, Uncle Mason and some other family members when the doctor came in to check on me, she said you were ready to meet us.

So at exactly 4 o’clock on September 28, 2011 you came into this world.

You were 6 pounds 2 ounces, you had very dark (almost brown) red hair, and the prettiest bluest eyes I have ever seen.

Everyone was very impressed because you were already looking around and holding your head very steady for a new born baby.

You were very quiet, very content, and unbelievably beautiful.

and this is all for you.

-love Mommy