Happy Birthday Samantha

Five years ago today, at 11:25am our lives were changed forever with the birth of our first child, a beautiful baby girl. Samantha Lynn came into this world after a very long and difficult labor, weighing 8lbs 2oz & 20.5 in long and just as stunning as possible. She was a happy baby, an inquistive toddler and an amazing little girl. How 5 years has gone by already, I'll never know. Five is such a big milestone. There have been others for us of course - her 1st birthday because, as every parent knows, you're so darn happy you didn't break her! Her 2nd because there was a brief, but very scary time during that year we weren't sure she'd make it to see her birthday. But 5? That's huge. That's one whole hand. This is the year that she'll go off to kindergarten. The year she'll spend a good portion of her day away from me. This is hard for me, as I'm sure you all can imagine.

But I see the beautiful girl before me who amazes me each day and I can't help but be happy that we're at this point. She's smart as a whip (too smart a lot of the time), compassionate and sweet and overall loving. She's also stubborn and tempremental (hmm, wonder where she gets that from?). She is graceful and athletic (something she definitely didn't get from me!) She is helpful and the best big sister anybody could hope for. She makes me proud to be her mother.

So it is today, my sweet darling daughter, that I wish you a very Happy Birthday. May your year be filled with everything you wish for. And always now how much I love you.