One Year Ago Today

Dear Avery,

Happy Birthday little girl! Every parent says this and it's such a cliche, but amazing, absolutely amazing that you are already a year old. Seriously, someone slap me already.

I remember the day that the stick turned blue, but let me back up a bit. In December 2006 your father was still rotating off-shore when we made the decision to go for number two. According to my calculations, he would not be home for one of my fertile days until March. Perfect, thinks I, I can quit taking the pill now and then we will start trying in March. When your father came home early from a hitch in January that plan went straight out the window. The stick turned blue on February 7, 2007. I remember that day because we had a charity event to go to and I wanted to know if I would be able to throw back some vino. Thank you for saving me from one more needless hangover. It was a strange night, we should have been enjoying the lights, the music and the food, but all we could think about was WHAT HAVE WE DONE!! Another baby, that's 21 months of bodily commitment; 9 months of pregnancy and 12 months of breastfeeding. I just can't believe that 21 months has come to an end.

Not the breastfeeding though, you are still going very strong. I've tried to tell you no, but when you look at me with those "Puss in Boots" type eyes my heart just melts and I might as well whip it out because I'm going to be having a let down anyways. Not to mention that fact that you only have two teeth that are barely starting to break through, so your food choices are still sort of limited.

I remember this day last year. It started out with us going in to be induced and getting parked in triage for the morning. When we moved into a room at noon I was dialted to a 5 so the doctor went ahead and broke my water. I had one crazy contraction right after that, then they backed off and slowly started building back up. Three hours later things weren't moving so fast so I got the epidural and they started pusing pitocin. At 5:29 you were here, all half blue and with the cord around your neck. I remember you coming out and I remember reaching out and taking the cord off your neck before the doctor could. They cleaned you up and gave you to me and before I could even let anyone else hold you, you wanted to nurse and nurse you did.

This morning I made a birthday breakfast and we all sang Happy Birthday to you. Your big party isn't for a couple more weeks when Grandma Terri and Papa Steve get here. After breakfast we went to an open play day at the local university and you got to walk and crawl all over the place. Now, you are napping away.



You are without a doubt the most pleasant child in the world. You rarely cry, you are always smiling, always happy, you have never showed any seperation anxiety and you love anyone that wants to hold you. I can count the number of nights I have struggled to get you to sleep on one hand. If you don't want to sleep at 8, we just sit up and play until you do. It's all good.

Thank you for coming into our lives and filling it with so much joy. Having you around makes your big sister so proud. She shows you off to everyone that will pay her any attention. After getting you to sleep last night I just held you so tight and had a good cry. I can't believe you are so big, I can't believe that you continue to grow so much bigger and I can't believe that you and I will ever be anything but the closest of pals and the best of friends. You are my little angel and I look forward to the many more years to come.

Love, Mama