Happy first birthday, Lively!

Happy first birthday, my darling Lively girl! I can’t believe it’s been an entire year since you entered this world. It still seems so surreal! I remember telling your Daddy I was pregnant with you like it was yesterday. We prayed and waited a long time for you so when I realized God had answered our prayer, I wanted to tell Daddy in a special way. We were about to head to Rosemary Beach to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary, and I gave your Daddy a present that had a positive pregnancy test in it. He was so shocked! Someday, I will show you the video. 🙂

The next 9 months were so hard and amazing at the same time. While I was pregnant with you I was very nauseous (I couldn’t even go to the grocery store), had swollen ankles, kidney stones, gestational diabetes, round ligament pain, and I had to pee about every 30 minutes. But I was sooo grateful for every bit of it because it all meant that a beautiful baby girl that was growing inside my tummy.

At exactly 40 weeks, you decided you were ready to come out and meet us. On January 23 (your due date) my water broke shortly after we went to bed. I told your Daddy “this is it” and we headed to the hospital. After 26 hours of labor, you arrived and were more beautiful and perfect than we could have ever imagined. We thanked God for answering our prayers and blessing us with YOU!

So much growth has happened in my life and heart this year because of you…

• I have a deeper understanding of the type of love our Heavenly Father has for us as His children and it’s made me want to know His heart even more.
• You’ve taught me to be more present, patient and to embrace the imperfect.
• I’ve learned that I will never run out of things to worry about for you, but I can choose to trust the One who is before all things and holds all things together.
• You’ve reminded me that with Christ I can do hard things – like nursing for an entire year! This was not easy for us and there were lots of tears and frustration in those early weeks. But thanks to a perseverance that I can only account to the Lord’s strength working through me, we made it and we have both cherished this journey together.

You are my greatest treasure, the light of my life, and the answer to every prayer I prayed while you were in my belly. You are so full of life, spirited, and energetic (really living up to your name), but you also have the sweetest disposition and the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit (1 Peter 3:4).

You are a curious observer and you like to study people and situations thoroughly before moving forward. You love “spa time” (baths), belly laughing at Daddy when he dances and sings to you, nursing with Mommy, playing “peek-a-boo,” and riding in the Ergo carrier. Your favorite foods are carrots, turkey, strawberries and oatmeal and whenever I ask you if something tastes good you nod your head yes and if you don’t want to eat something you shake your head no. You are still an amazing sleeper and have been sleeping through the night since 7 weeks. You do not like having your diaper changed or being apart from your mama (and neither do I!).

Your first word was “mama” at 7 months but you say “dada” way more often. You are so close to walking and we think you’ll take your first step any day now. When I go to take your picture you tilt your head to the side like you are posing and it makes me melt. You are over-the-moon excited when Daddy comes home from work and cannot crawl to him fast enough when he walks in the door. You love dogs and squeal whenever you see one and your Daddy is in big trouble as soon as you’re old enough to ask for one. 🙂

Lively Mae, I praise God 1,000 times every day for you. I hope you know that He created you so fearfully and wonderfully in His perfect image and that He loves you even more than I do. I pray that your heart will be His and that you will walk with Him all the days of your life.

I love you so so much, sweet girl. Happy Birthday, Lively!

Love,

Mama