It does feel like a decade ago that I carried her in my belly and met her for the first time. But looking at pictures like this....I can still smell her sweet skin and hear her little voice.
She's a headstrong girl who challenges me daily to be intentional in growing my kids. She has taken me down a few notches and shown me just how much I don't know, and is the first of my three to prove that my capacity to love is greater than I ever knew.
And now I see glimpses of a grown-up popping through. I like what I see and I know she is Going Places!
For her birthday, we gave her a "Double Digit Room". Translated loosely, it means "Something in there will eat you and you'll never make it to 11, so something must be done Room". Ryan and I put her in front of the TV and went to town...
The pictures don't do it justice. For starters, she keeps everything. EVERYTHING. Every note, wrapper, birthday treat, pencil, sock, tag, and booger. I'm going to threaten grandparents and all well-meaning people within an inch of their lives if they give her one more trinket. One more...I mean it people, don't try me!
A binkie, a face fan, and an old church seating chart all macgyver-ed together with duck tape and hanging from the closet. This is what I mean.
This is my This Sucker is Mine! gameface.
Three hours and six garbage bags snuck out the front door later...
She loved it! The best part though is the way her "new room" has translated to a "new girl". She is acting more calm, more mature, more kind, more in control of herself. I think something about it all showed her that we believe she is truly growing up. That we know she's a girl on a mission. And that we adore and respect who she is becoming.
Well, mostly...
That is how she posed when I said I wanted a pic. Which is terrifying.
Good thing the room is clean because it looks like she'll be locked in it without access to social media for the next 10 years.