Happy, Happy Day!

Seven short years ago this past weekend, we were anticipating the birth of a special little girl. We spent the weekend celebrating with family and friends at various parties to celebrate Christmas. When we completed my husband's family Christmas, my mother-in-law commented "now you can have the baby". Another family friend commented "no way is the baby coming any time soon because you look to good". When we returned home on that Sunday evening, I frantically washed all of our new clothing gifts, folded and put them away. I also folded the tissue paper and gift bags to put away. I had a noticable ache in my back, but attributed it to wearing heels all weekend for the festivities. After some encouragement from the hubby, I decided to rest on the sofa. A few hours of rest helped prepare me for the next few hours. The pain was getting more and more severe- could it be? Hubby and I started thinking these could be contraction and began to time these aches. These were definitely the pains of labor. We called the appropriate family members and headed off to the hospital. I remember being in severe pain as we approached the hospital. Once I got to the L and D floor the nurses began to check me. For some reason they had a great deal of trouble deciding if this was indeed the time for delivery. After an hour or so they decided to keep me and give me and epidural. As soon as the epidural started to work we knew it would not be long. Believe it or not she is still not patient. Before any family could arrive she made her debut.

Her not so little personality lights up every room of our house. She can bat her eyelashes and get her big brother and Daddy to do most anything. Glitter and sparkles are now a part of every outfit she wears. This fall I got to spend many hours alone with my little girl as we traveled the long road to Nutcracker rehearsals. I admire her relentless dedication and committment to the task at hand. It is endearing to see many of the characteristics of my favorite people in her.

Usually, we celebrate her birthday early in the month to seperate it from all of the holiday madness, but our schedule did not allow it this year. Since we could not schedule her usual birthday celebration we promised a week of small celebrations with different groups of friends and family. The celebrations started with a trip to her favorite buffet restuarant on Tuesday. On Wednesday, my mother-in-law took her on a shopping trip to the mall. Yesterday, her friends came over for mani/pedis plus chocolate fondue. Last night we had friends and family over for pizza and a tour of local Christmas lights. Tonight we finish off the week with chocolate chip pancakes with more friends.