Thirteen!

My sweet baby girl is 13 today.

She has walked right into "the teen years" as of this morning.
There's no turning back.

It's been coming for awhile... and while I might not always handle the changing tide the very best possible way, my little girl is growing up with our without my consent.

She was so little! Just 6lbs and 12 ounces when she was born! Our smallest baby by far!

I remember finding out I was pregnant with her... and crying to my Granny that I wish Dadums were still here because he would be so excited for another grandbaby.

I still remember taking that tiny little baby and placing her into her carseat for the ride home from the hospital!

I remember how HUGE her 19-month-old "big" brother suddenly became the day she was born!

I remember our first trip out - to Babies R Us to buy her some preemie clothes since she was being swallowed up by every "newborn" outfit we had purchased in varying shades of pink.

I remember timing her feeding and her brother's naptime so that I could fall asleep with her on the couch for an hour or so in the middle of the day!

 I remember when she became a big sister, too.

There was the time I walked into the kitchen and her big brother was sitting on her back giving her a haircut.

I remember on her 2nd birthday when she reached out to touch the flame of the candle on her cake before her Daddy and I could stop her.

I have pictures of her with yellow rubber cleaning gloves on her feet - pretending to be a duck.

There was the sad day that she fell off of the barstool at the kitchen counter and cracked her front tooth in half and we had to get it pulled. I almost had to be restrained at the dentists office.

I remember her playing with her first friends and her first day of school in Colorado Springs!

And I remember worrying when she was very sick and sitting on her chest to squirt medicine down her throat while she screamed and kicked and turned bright red and I remember crying afterwards that I had traumatized her but knowing that the benefit of this medicine would far outweigh that memory.

She had equal parts girly-girl and tom-boy... mani-pedi dates with her Aunt and her Nona, and camping in a tent in the wilderness of Colorado... and she was equally at home in either environment.

And then, the unthinkable happened.
My little girl started getting taller... and smarter... and wiser... and turned from being an adorable little baby girl into a beautiful young woman.

Oh, I wish I could bottle up the stuff that makes her who she is... I would share it with you all... she's just that amazing.

She has a great sense of humor...she's always quick with something to say that makes us laugh.

She is wonderful with little kids... even though she says how much she hates to babysit, she is in high demand!

She somehow navigates the turbulent waters of middle school without getting too much of it on her, and maintains her personality and charm without becoming a clone of the people around her.
She chooses great friends who I gladly welcome into our home because they are really wonderful girls.

I pray for the man she will marry someday... that the Lord is already preparing that boy, that he's growing up in a godly home with parents who love him as much as we love our baby girl. But that boy...he will have to prove himself worthy of her heart because she loves her Daddy and she will be looking for someone as wonderful as he is.

And ...she loves Jesus. She's after HIS heart and that makes me SO proud!

Her baptism day! Aug. 25, 2009

Sweet baby girl, I am blessed to be your Mommy!  I know these years are hard - I've been there before!
I know we don't always handle ourselves perfectly...and sometimes we fight...
but no matter where you go,
no matter what you do,
no matter what happens...
you will ALWAYS be my baby
and I love you more than you could ever possibly understand!
Happy 13th birthday, sweetheart!