7 ?!

Yesterday my baby turned 7 years old! I can hardly believe how quickly the time has gone by. We have enjoyed every day seeing her learn and grow, and she is an amazing kid! I really love hanging out with her and talking. She is smart and clever, funny and silly, sweet and sincere, and we could not have asked for anything more. I wish I could post a picture from when she was a baby, but alas, those were the days of film and all the negatives are packed in a box (somewhere). So I will add a few of the pictures I do have going back as far as I can, and my 7 most favorite memories of my girl.

1. Kaylie was a planned c-section since she had comfortably (for her-not me) settled in breech before delivery. She was butt down with arms and head up under my ribs in a nice "V" and so we just had to show up at the hospital when the doctor scheduled us and deliver then (So I had zero labor pains!). After a nice dinner out, our last as just the 2 of us, we struggled to put the crib together (nothing like waiting till the last minute - I know . . .us . . . procrastinating . . . shocking!), woke up early the next day, and headed to the hospital. We had decided to wait and find out if we were having a girl or a boy until the delivery, but all our friends had pretty much convinced us that it was going to be a boy - though in our hearts we really wanted a girl. In surgery, the doctor's first words as she pulled her out were, "I see a butt . . . it's a girl butt!" and that was how we found out we had our precious daughter. That moment was perfect, and I lay there in wonder of that miracle. On a side note - Jeremy then had to go to the waiting room where we had 12,000 of our closest friends and family, eagerly waiting to hear, when he announced, "We had . . .a . . .baby." And while 12,000 might be a slight exaggeration, we did get many comments from the nursing staff about the entourage in the waiting room.

Kaylie Morgan - age 2

2. Kaylie laughed for the first time on my first mother's day. It was an amazing sound and just melted my heart, but of course she stopped before we could get a really good video of it.

(Check out the flamingos, she just knew she make a great one!)

3. While Kaylie was growing up, we got tired of having to run to her side for every little owie, and so we taught her to "self-medicate." She would kiss her hand and then touch it to the part of the body that was hurt. This was really funny to watch as she played on the playground and would get a little "owie"; she would "self-medicate" and then get back to playing without skipping a beat. This worked great until, after a mini tantrum and a swat to her tushie, she looked at me (maybe defiantly - maybe not) kissed her hand, and put it to her bum with a little hip action. I had the hardest time not losing it - it was so funny!

4. 3 months after she turned 3, Kaylie decided, as we talked about the wordless bracelet, that if all people were born with black hearts, she would have a black heart too but that she wanted a white heart so she could see God. And if the only way to get a white heart is to ask Jesus to clean it, then that is what she needed to do! She refused to wait until Jeremy came home from work, and afterward she spent the afternoon calling everyone we knew because she wanted to make sure they all had white hearts too. I could hardly keep back the tears! You realize in those moments what an awesome gift we are given with a baby and immense responsibility to point them to eternal salvation. (and yes, she was barely 3, and really understood - and we do have this on tape - back in the States).

5. Taking Kaylie to Disneyland for her 5th Birthday was a ton of fun. Even though she had spent the day before in the ER, taken by ambulance because of a seizure, was heavily medicated with Benadryl because of an allergic reaction to Ibuprophen which she had been given to lower her fever which had caused the seizure, and we had to take her temperature every 2 hours to make sure she didn't get another fever, we had a great time celebrating. We had left Keiric with Jeremy's parents (because at 11 months - he would just slow us down - and we wanted to spend some special time with her), and she had a fantastic time running around the park for 2 days. She was my roller coaster buddy and said that the Matterhorn was her favorite, and she loved her lunch with all the Disney princesses. We had even booked a hotel to stay at, though Jeremy's parents live fairly close, to really give us the feel of a get-away. Kaylie loves to stay at hotels! Also, on her actual birthday, the front desk at Disney gave her a special birthday button, and all day long everyone that passed us said "Happy Birthday" even announcing it sometimes with the instructions before each ride. She pretended to be very embarrassed but still talks about how cool that was.

6. When Keiric was born, we were a little concerned because she was already 4, and we wondered how it would all transition. She had been the center of our little universe, and now a little brother was going to mix it all up. However, even from the first day, she was a fantastic sister. She loved to take care of him and help mommy. Now he drives her crazy sometimes, you can almost see the wheels turn in his head as he ponders just what he could do to bug her next, but it's kinda his job as the little brother, and there is a very special bond between them. Right now they are each others best friends. The other day Keiric woke up after Kaylie had already left for school, and when he realized she was gone, his whole face fell, and big alligator tears welled up in his eyes - she is that good of a sister!

7. Coming to Holland and being forced to go to school in a new language was a huge challenge for our girl - I can't even imagine how hard it must have been! There were a lot of tears, from her and me, those first few days, and I kept second-guessing whether this was the right thing for her. Well, after just a few weeks we saw that she was doing great, excited to go to school and see her friends. When we walked through a park one day, all the kids ran over to us shouting "Kaylie, hoi Kaylie!" She was a type of mini celebrity. Her teacher says that everyone in the class just loves her. We are so proud of how brave she was to do this, and we are so glad to see that she has so many friends. In the grocery store one day, without Kaylie, a little girl ran up to me and said "Hoi Kaylie's moeder (mother)" and I am so proud to hear that - I get to be Kaylie's mother!

Happy Birthday sweet girl - we are SO proud of you, and we love you SO much!

Sidenote - We only eat out for birthdays, and yesterday Kaylie got to choose where we would go. We ended up at McDonalds :) So maybe she's not as grown-up as I was fearing!