A Special Day...

Today is my youngest childs birthday. Ann Marie is turning 9 years old... and sweeter than ever. Over the weekend she got her hair bobbed off and it is absolutely adorable. We're heading out after school to get her ears pierced and go on a little shopping spree to top off the birthday fun :)

As a mother, it's a special day for me too - an anniversary of the day my last child was born. It's hard to believe it's been nine years already. Unbelievable.

When she was born I was working full time as a Unix Sys Admin. I took 2 weeks off - the week before she was born, and the week after (I had scheduled delivery LOL). That's funny to me now, but at the time it was just necessary.

She was beautiful. Almost 8lbs and a head full of dark hair. Five months later I quit my job to start my first business and we moved to the city.

There were those first few crazy start-up months where I was answering phones while changing diapers, and trying to manage banking and invoicing with a fussy baby girl on my hip. During that year her hair turned blonde and she started walking...

Then there was preschool and her first real friend. We went through the divorce, she got a kitten on her 4th birthday, her big brother got sick and we left the city for a cabin on the lake about an hour away. She started kindergarten at home, a couple of years later entered public school.

She lived for the Dairy Queen treat back then. If they made honor roll, I took them out for ice cream. Ironically they would usually choose old fashioned dilly bars (the cheapest thing on the menu) and loved it till the last lick. Those were my favorite days too...

She's a cross between prissy and tomboyish. She'd be the girl at the pool with the fancy little suit that cracked her head open doing back flips off the side. Or running through mud in a skirt. Catching frogs and then putting them in her little pink purse for safe keeping.

Tiger (her kitten turned tom cat) ran off, we made it through the tornado, and then moved back into town to stay with Grandmother. She used to sit in the floor at Grandmother's feet and watch television, and the two of them became very close. They would both sneak a yogurt before dinner, could eat a whole box of vanilla wafers together in one sitting... and both of them thought their job was to keep an eye on the other ;)

For her 8th birthday we had a big party at the pavillion. Balloons and cake and plenty of friends... and lots of wind. Napkins and balloons were flying everywhere and every present she unwrapped would make for more paper to catch. LOL, that party wore me out - but she had the time of her life.

And now she's 9. Halfway to "grown up". Here's hoping she stays sweet... but always keeps that spunk about her, too ;)

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!