Happy Birthday Sarah!

It's kind of hard to believe it is June 1st. Even harder to believe our baby girl is 1! She's changed so much. I told her birth story here. We had a rough beginning, as many do. I didn't even meet her on her birthday. But you know what? I think we turned out OK. I worried myself silly in those early days that we wouldn't bond. I felt so disconnected to her. That little baby stuck in the box in the NICU. She didn't quite feel like mine since I couldn't hold her or feed her.

However, we seem to have turned out alright on that front. She's a loving little girl. She adores her Daddy, her brother and her Mommy. Oh, and lest we forget, the dog! She is crazy insane about her Grandparents and has truly established a bond there and in such a short time. She's an easy girl to love with so much personality.

She can be a bit rotten. (It's her birthday, I'm trying to be nice) A bit challenging. She is SO unlike her brother was. He was always so eager to please, careful, cautious, and content. Sarah is a little ball of fire. She seems to be missing a fear gene. She runs headlong into trouble. She lets herself fall from high places assuming we'll catch her. She throws herself down the slide head first and laughs the whole way down. She's truly a Daddy's girl. Her Bubby is probably her favorite person on the planet. She loves to eat. She talks and babbles non-stop. She's not quite walking but is getting closer. She'd rather be outside than anywhere else. Just when I'd given up hope, she started sleeping through the night. She's up this morning and the first thing she did was eat a cereal bar, drink some juice and hit her kitchen center to play with her pots and pans. I'm watching her stir a pot right now. I think that might be something she gets from me. I wanted to make her pancakes for her birthday, her favorite food on the planet, but she didn't want to wait for breakfast. She was hanging on the high-chair yelling, "HEY!"

We had a birthday party for her on Saturday in West Virginia. It was everything a first birthday should be. Cake, presents, cake, more presents, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, too many pink clothes to count, lots of toys, over-the-top gifts like battery powered 4-wheelers (which she LOVED). She had lots of love, attention and excitement.

This day, this Memorial weekend, is so different from last year. Last year at this time I was full of fear. Scared out of my mind for my sweet little girl. This year I'm thinking she's giving me a headache banging on her metal IKEA pots with a spoon and wondering why I thought it was a good idea to buy her those instead of the quiet plastic ones. I am thankful every single day that we have those moments. It could all have gone so much worse.

It's hard to believe that our "Summer" will start with her birthday every year. What a way to celebrate. She's made us complete. She brought something to our family we didn't know was missing.

So, Happy Birthday Sarah! I will always be here to catch you when you fall from those high places. We love you!