It is amazing how fast time goes after children enter your life! My baby, that was a baby for just the blink of an eye is going to be 8 tomorrow. EIGHT YEARS OLD! I promise it was 10 minutes ago that she had colic and I was rocking and patting every night from midnight to 5 a.m. After that colic was under control, I just rocked her because there is nothing better than rocking a baby to sleep every night. I sang "You Are My Sunshine" so many times to that precious girl that I had to start making up new verses. It was during those quiet rocking times each night that I learned that I could make any song into a lullaby...my baby learned the WAR EAGLE fight song before she could even walk or talk...she could hum it though. My baby...the second child, just like me. The one you think you could never love as much as the first born. And then you see that sweet little face and hold that precious tiny baby and your heart just splits right in two so you have enough love for both of them. My Annie loves Barbies and baby dolls and playing school and playing outside and making messes (and not cleaning them up). And she is so creative. She has an imagination as big as Heaven! She has taught me what it was like to live with me when I was a kid. She's sneaky and daring. I always tell Daddy that she's the one we are going to have to keep an eye on. She's the two year old that got into everything. She colored her entire body with Sharpie, including her lips, because, of course she needed Sharpie lipstick to go with her Sharpie outfit. She's the one who climbed the magnolia tree by the driveway all the way to the top and persuaded her BFF to do it too. She's the one that took off her shoes while trick or treating last night and went the rest of the way in her socks because her feet were hot. She's a free spirit and what better way to be when you are a kid (and an adult). I don't want to ever harness her spirit. I want her to be free and make art and create beautiful things. I want her to love and be loved in return because she has so much to give.
I tell ya, I didn't think it was in God's plan for Daddy and me to have babies, then the Beebs was born. I said, "Daddy, that's it, we got really lucky when God gave us this baby!" So, we were just going to stick with having one...then God decided that the Beebs needed a sister and then our family would be complete, so he gave us our Annie. Anna Ruth, a beautiful meaningful name for a beautiful, free spritied, Mama's girl.
Now, if we can make it through her birthday party without her crying, it will be a first!
Happy 8th birthday to my baby, my Annie!!!
