Happy 8th Birthday, Katie!!

Today is Katie's monumental 8th birthday and we are really very excited. Unbeknownst to her I am surprising her by taking lunch to her today at school. It just seems incredible, how can I have an 8 year old? You know that song by Talking Heads "How did I get Here"? That is me today. But enough about me, on to a few fun facts about that cute birthday girl.

• Katie was one of the year 2000 babies. She was a complete surprise as I was in the middle of my last year at graduate school and we had only been married for five months when we found out that she was going to come into our lives. We wouldn't change it for anything in the world. Plus I have some great graduation pictures with a very pregnant belly.

• I have thought for awhile that a birth of a child can be an insight to their personality. Katie finally came into the world after 36 hours of labor and an emergency c-section. They forced me into labor with pitocin and got to 9 1/2 centimeters and then it all stopped. She was going to have to be forced out. Now this is all because her head was just to big for me, but read into it what you may, I think it reflects a portion of her personality.

• Katie loves to read. Her favorite part of her homework, which is more of a treat, is reading. She loved the Junie B. Jones books last year and has read everyone, many twice. She is becoming a fan of Roald Dahl and the Nancy Drew books.


• Katie is very selfless. She shares just about anything. When she was in Kindergarten she got 2 m&m's from her teacher. She put them in her pocket and waited until she could share it with Christian to eat them. (Pocket Fuzz? Yes, but still sweet!) This is just one small example.


• She is a mamma's girl. Ever since she was born she never wanted to be separated from me. Katie would be dead asleep in my arms, I would put her down as slowly as I could and as soon as I let go she would wake up. As she grew up, she could leave the room I was in with no problem, but if I left the room she was in she would cry. She, thankfully, grew out of that, but she still loves to be close to me.


• Katie is learning to play the piano and is really enjoying it. She has taken a little break this summer, but she is looking forward to getting going again.


• Katie and Christian are best friends. They love to play with each other. When we went to Nashville this month they were in a kids night camp and were separated the first night. They were very distressed to be apart and were crying because they had wanted to be together. I hope that they will always stay that way.

• Katie is a shy girl sometimes. Not at home, of course, where she can "talk the hind leg off a mule". She has a very tender, gentle heart that makes her a little shy at times. She loves to have her friends come over (which I need to be better about), but she is a publicly quiet girl. Katie has actually started to be a lot more confident and outgoing when she sees people in public that she was not expecting to see. It has been fun to see that develop in the last couple of months.


• Katie has a purse fetish. She loves purses and bags. She loves shoes too.


• She is the sweetest girl. Everyone who meets her is impressed by her goodness, warmth and enthusiasm.

Happy 8th Birthday, Katie! We love you babe!