Balance

Hi baby girl.

I'm away for a few days, learning how to be better at my job during the day.  But my favorite job is being your Mama and having nights and weekends with you and your Daddy.  On Saturdays we always stay in our pajamas and make bacon and eggs and strong coffee (which someday you will love, but for now are too little to taste...although you want to).  We sit in the dining room and take the morning easy and watch you play.  It's glorious.  I am missing you both and our weekend routine like crazy.

There are lots of girl doctors here that don't have daughters yet.  Sometimes it's hard for women to decide how to make it all work together, to have a job and still be a Mama.  The important thing is that you always do the thing that makes your heart sing, and never decide to do something or NOT to do something because you're afraid.  Things always work out one way or another.  You can be an artist, or a musician, or a doctor, or a maker-of-beautiful-pastries, or maybe all of the above at different times in your life.  Sometimes you'll ache for balance and won't be able to find it - life can be that way, demanding more of you in one direction one week, then in another direction the next.  Try to look at it all over the long haul.  In the end, you can do anything and everything, just not all at the same time.

So this week, I'm being a good doctor and missing my family.  Next weekend, no work and lots of time to watch you learn new words and laugh at falling leaves and relax.

Birthday Girl

Suddenly, you are all grown up.

I get the feeling that I'm going to have this moment repetitively over the years to come.  Some days you wake up and I think, "when did you get so big?  Where did my baby go?"  I will always treasure the days when you were tiny and you let me hold you for hours and hours.  But I love to watch you grow and change into this little autonomous decision maker, this little bundle of energy and thought and joy.  Here you are, a whole year old already, and I can hardly believe that you're moving from bottles to cups and from being fed to feeding yourself.  

You had two first birthday parties.  The first one was two weeks ago, when all of our family came to celebrate your dedication in church.  We set up tables in our driveway outside the little duplex where we're living at the moment, and almost thirty people wanted to hold you and give you gifts and dance around with you in the sun.  We had a great time, and I think you did, too.  You shared half of your birthday cupcake with Lucy.

This weekend, we celebrated again with our neighbors and friends.  We planned to paint and carve pumpkins in the yard, but it rained and turned cold, and instead we crammed two dozen adults and a handful of your friends (Tanner, Eden, Ethan, and Naomi) huddled inside and painted pumpkins on our living room floor.  It was absolute craziness, and we loved every second of celebrating YOU.  Your life is a pretty fantastic thing, little one.  You smile so easily, you love to be surprised, you have a trust that no matter what crazy circle you're spinning around in, you'll be caught before you hit the ground too hard.  I love it.  I love you.  You make our lives a hundred times more beautiful.

Happy birthday to my one-year-old Allegra.