18 years tomorrow, we heard those words in the delivery room. We chose not to find out the gender of our babe and since we had two busy boys at home and we were mostly managing with their wild ways, I truly just expected another boy cub to add to the mix. And so….my first words after the declaration of adding a GIRL to the mix: “What do I do with a girl???”

Mother of the year, right here.

After the initial shock (which lasted probably .02 seconds but seems longer in my mind) of my complete wrong guess and mental gymnastics to process that we have an actual GIRL baby in the house……..it was absolute love and we were smitten!! She was as adorable as could be (if I can say so my biased self) and did a phenomenal job of keeping up with two brothers in the bossiest of little sister ways. 16 months later, she was thrilled to have a baby of her own in the form of a little sister and young enough to not even realize her sole spot of family princess just opened up to a joint venture.

This girl. She has our heart. The most empathetic, loving, kind young woman. She is serious and a strong worker. Has a heart for the marginalized and her favorite volunteer work is with special needs kids at school. She will see through any BS if you try to feed it to her and wise beyond her years.

As our kids grow and are connnnnnnnnnnnnstantly on the go, we’ve instituted Sunday night dinner so that we can visit and have real conversations in person! I snatch hugs where I can during the week, FaceTime, text and call frequently with the occasional Snap thrown in.

I love watching these babies grow up from squishy little snuggle bugs into their own person but it is a BITTERSWEET pill to swallow. Because dang!! She was just:

• Nestling that soft head into my shoulder
• Enjoying the mud in the backyard
• Trying sweet potatoes for the first time
• Taking her first steps, quickly followed by run, jump, climb and—-sliding down the slide on her own!!
• Pouring her sweet, chubby legs into tights and a tutu
• Changing her babies clothes
• Swimming in the deep end….on her own!!
• Learning how to ride a bike with her brother running along side her
• Meeting princesses and riding the Tea cups at Disney
• Making friends in middle school
• Distancing herself from friends on faster paths, but managing to stay friendly
• Hitting that sweet spot of best friends with her sister–thank you Jesus, Mary & Joseph!!
• Navigating relationships and coming out on the other side stronger from the fight

• Driving away for the first time
• Making new friends in college (#dualenrollment life)
• Hugging me in the driveway because we hadn’t physically crossed paths in 3 days!!
• Off to the ACT test

Blinking sucks. And time flies. The days are long but the years, oh so short!

All of this is true. And wonderful and heartbreaking and edifying and a blessing!!

Happy 18, baby girl!!! You are amazing and it is absolutely spell binding to watch you mold this world into your own!!!

Get it girl!!!

XO Mom