Molly's 1st Birthday!

Molly has turned 1! It's so hard to believe that she is a year old already. I know you've all heard the cliche that "they grow up so fast". It is a cliche for a reason...it's true! I'm not sure where the year has gone! I think I just blinked and she was 1! It's also a little sad. She's not a baby anymore, she's turning into a toddler. Her personality is full force and she is not as reliant on Jimmy or I. I don't remember Ryan's 1st year of life going this fast--possibly because I was staying home with him full time--but still, I can hardly believe it's already been a year since I gave birth to her--all 2 pushes :) (a little TMI?!) We are incredibly thankful for her and she has added so much to our family. Who knew that I would be so in love with a little girl. I certainly didn't think I would enjoy having her, until I had her. I still wasn't too keen on the idea even after she was born...she was after all a girl. What do I do with that?! I have never been one to want girls. Even as a child I had boy baby dolls and would name them unheard of names like Cecil. (a baseball player I believe!) I would somehow relate more to boys. I babysat for boys. We'd go outside and dig up worms and pretend to be cops and robbers. I would play GI Joes and Guts with my brother. We'd play with Lego's (I made houses usually..ironic since I want to sell them now!) We did play food and played restaurant. Sure, I had Barbie dolls, I would create houses for them (again ironic?!) I would build houses for them and have them sit in there. I never played dress up, never wanted to be a princess..the only thing that made me a girl was that I liked musicals, ballet and glitter (lots and lots of it!)...yet I still climbed trees, scraped my knees, burned ants and begged to play football with my brother and his friends. So having a girl was a shock to me and a disappointment..a foreign concept. I always imagined that I only had boys and would then be happy w/ daughters-in-law instead.

God knew best for me. He had different plans--isn't that always the case? He gave me Molly. A gift I never thought I'd appreciate. I am beyond blessed to have her. The thought of not having her--that's foreign to me now. Her personality is what makes it for me. She's happy, loving, funny, loud (where did she get that from?!), daring (this girl loves to be thrown up high, spun around and dropped like the Power Tower!), she's feisty, she is rough, yet gentle..she is...me. Maybe that's why I get along with her so much, why I love her so much and why I relate to her. God designed her for me, to fit into our family so perfectly, to give me the love that I thought I would never have for a little girl. It's amazing how God knows what we want when we think we know what we want! He surprises me everyday. Thank you God for not listening to my years (and years) of praying to only have boys. Thank you for Molly.