Happy 21st Birthday To My Baby

This is Ken and I when I was 3 months pregnant with our daughter. It's hard to believe that was 22 years ago.

21 years ago tomorrow I was on my way to the hospital because the little alien inside me was trying to work her way out. This isn't about a horror movie or another of those crazy posts I've made about monsters, no this post is about my greatest achievement to date. My little girl. 

Most babies are cute, just look at Ken when he was a baby. Yep that's my hubby.

And take a look at me. Dang, but I was adorable. 

And then the alien who took up residence in my belly for 9 months and 2 weeks. (She was 2 weeks late..this kid started making me wait even before she was born)

And then after 2 days of labor and an emergency C-section my little angel was born on June 22nd. 

Poor kid had 2 seizures right after she was born and went through some tests to make sure she was alright. The tests were harder on Ken and I than they were on her. She slept right through the EEG and hardly cried at all the 9 days we spent in the hospital. 

I think she kinda looks like both of our baby pictures put together. 

Sure there were many sleepless nights, many trips to the doctors office when her fever would get really high. (First time parents are always neurotic about sick babies) But Elizabeth was a wonderful baby. She started sleeping through the night when she was 3 months old, wasn't a fussy eater and always laughed at the silly faces Ken made. Just look at her staring at Ken in the picture below. I wonder if she was trying to figure out why he was always making funny faces at her? It didn't matter to her how silly her daddy was, she always giggled at him. She still does on occasion. 

I remember her playing with dolls, writing on the walls with crayons, making her teachers crazy because she had so much energy and wanted to talk to her friends all the time. I remember the skinned knee's, the broken arms, (yes she broke both arms at different times) the playing in dirt and the imaginary friends. 

I sometimes wonder where my shy little girl went. The little girl who cried when she started first grade because the days were longer and she didn't want to be away from me that long. The little girl who believed in Santa, the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny and ran around the apartment so full of excitement when she received a present from one of them. 

And then I look into her eyes, I see her smile or hear her laugh and know she's still in there. I see flashes of that little girl every once in a while in my adult daughter. She's no longer a baby and tomorrow she becomes an adult. 

Tomorrow my little girl is an adult. 

Happy 21st Birthday, Elizabeth.