Apology Letter

Dear #3,
I'm writing you this letter today, just to simply say that I'm so very sorry.  I'm sorry that I was too busy playing peek a boo with you to stop and grab my camera and take a picture.  I'm sorry that I was cooking and holding you on my hip instead of writing down every milestone in your baby book.  I'm sorry that a lot of times I had to walk by you instead of stopping to cuddle with you because I was running behind to go pick up one of your sisters.  I'm sorry that I didn't read you the 3 stories at night that I read to #1 as a baby everynight, but I did sit by your crib at night when you were too scared to stay in your room alone until you fell asleep.  I keep thinking that there is no way I will forget the way that you smile your cheesy smile or all your adorable words, but let's be honest here, I will.  I will forget a lot of these moments of you being little.  Because they will be lost in a million memories of you growing up:  going to kindergarten, learning to read, learning multiplication, getting your feelings hurt, playing your first sport, going to high school, learning to drive, going to prom and graduating high school.  I will forget how excited you get to grab your jacket to go get "Ya-Ya and No-wa" from school.  I will forget your cute little way of saying "dank you," for everything.  I will probably forget how your little face lights up when you hear your "Da-da" coming home from work.
And while I spent countless hours reading books to #1, and singing to #2 in the bathtub, I hurry through bath time and bedtime with you, because I have a million other things to do.  While I would love to sit in the recliner and cuddle with you all day, I need to clean your clothes, wash the dishes, clean the floors, and make dinner for you and your sisters.  I hope you forgive me for being too busy living in the moment to stop and take pictures and video.  I hope you forgive me for taking care of the little essentials that make your world go around instead of making some hand print craft off of Pinterest.  I hope that you forgive me that I never put one printed out picture in your baby book, but did let you sit in your highchair and color with your big sisters so you felt like one of them.
There are a few things that I will always remember, #3:  I will always remember the bear hugs that you give my leg when I first get home, even if its from the grocery store.  I will remember how all my fears of not being able to love another child as much as I loved #1 and #2 when finding out I was pregnant with you, all faded away when I first held you.  And I will remember how much my heart swells when I see all my girls together, and my life complete because of all of you.  

--Mommy