Birthday Girl

Kendle turned 7 on Sunday. My parents came up and went to church with us and then came over for dinner and cupcakes afterwards. We let her open her presents and she has been pretty occupied playing with them since then. I'm letting her have a little friend party tomorrow afternoon and will post some pictures of that later.



I can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that she is growing up so fast and changing every day. I can see the changes in the clothes that don't fit anymore and the shoes that are too small, but she's also growing in many other ways as well. She is always learning and making her mind strong. She asks questions to find out about the world and the way things work. She's started to take on a few more responsibilities and do more things for herself. She's also becoming more independent and stubborn. We have many disagreements and sometimes our personalities clash, but I want her to know that's ok. We'll figure out a way to make things better and be good friends.



I think back to the year she was born and what a hard year that was for me. She was a baby that hardly ever slept and I was so exhausted (exhausted would be a huge understatement, I was a walking zombie) and spent much of the time alone while Riley was working varying shifts at his job. Sometimes it just felt like too much for one person to handle and I didn't think I could possibly survive taking care of this demanding, energetic, little person. I think the one thing that saved me was how happy she was almost all of the time. She would laugh and smile and play with me all day. She wasn't a baby that wanted to just lay around - she wanted to do things! We became best buddies and did everything together. She would watch me in the garden or doing yard work, I'd push her in the stroller and we would take walks every day around the neighborhood, she'd bring me piles of books to read with her, we'd take drives to go visit grandma and grandpa and go to Tucker and Tamra's games, and we'd fall asleep on the couch together waiting for Riley to get home. In hind sight I see that I was especially lucky for us to have that special time together - just the two of us.



Now she's getting ready to start second grade and I wonder sometimes where that little buddy went that wanted to do everything with me, but I'm so happy for what a good girl she is and all of the qualities she possesses. She makes Riley and I proud to be her parents and we couldn't imagine our life without her.