[Gemara D'Jessica]

It’s hard for me to believe that you’re three years old. You were just a baby. Helpless, crying when you wanted your bottle or when you were tired or when a stranger would make eye contact with you. But now, you’re a boy. 

I still remember visiting you in the NICU. Wanting to take you home the day I got discharged and not being allowed to. Crying that whole Shabbat because I couldn’t be with you. But it seems far away now. All of our new memories are pushing those bad ones further and further away. To see you smiling at your baby brother just so that he’ll smile back. To hear you telling everyone about all the things that you love - including them. To feel you wrap your arms around me when you say, “I need a hug.” Those things make that teary eyed Shabbat a vague and distant memory. 

You are such a sweet, smart, funny, caring, bright, wonderful boy. No matter how cliche this may be, it takes nothing away from it’s truthfulness - I love you more and more each day. You make every day better than the last and I cannot wait to see what you have in store for this coming year.

I’ll love you forever. I’ll like you for always. As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.