Happy Birthday, Olivia!

My precious girl, my BFF, is 8 years old today.

I love you so very much and hope today is a very happy and special day for you!

As much as I love all your brothers and enjoy having sons, I was really looking forward to having a little girl to love. Someone to dress up in pretty little dresses, cute little pigtails, toenails to paint... When I found out you were a girl, I was so happy and couldn't wait to have a daughter to share those things with! I started buying pink, pink, pink the day I heard you were coming- You had more clothes and hair doo-dads before you were born than you would ever be able to wear, but I was too excited to care. After years of buying little boy things, shopping for you was so much fun! I think that's why you enjoy shopping so much- you were in training to be a Power Shopper since before you were born.

Since it's your birthday, I'll tell you one of your favorite stories; the story of the day you were born... As soon as you were born, you were screaming like a crazy woman. You were handed to your Daddy, who held you up to my face so I could see you. I kissed your little face and said, "Hello, my beautiful baby girl! I'm your Mama. You're alright. Mama's right here." As soon as you heard me, you stopped crying. You became calm and quiet in an instant and listened to me talking to you. You knew your Mama's voice. You have had my heart since that moment and you have never let it go.

You had a ton of dark hair and the fattest, cutest little cheeks. You were beautiful then, and you are beautiful now, inside and out! Daddy and the nurses took you out of the room to get you cleaned up while the doctor worked on putting Mama's tummy back together. Soon, the nurse came back in and shouted, "ELEVEN TEN!!!" Everyone in the room started oohing and ahhhing and laughing. I said, "What's eleven ten?" I was clueless! It never occured to me that my first daughter, my precious, dainty, tiny little peanut could possibly weigh ELEVEN pounds and TEN ounces... But you DID! You were bigger than any of your 4 brothers before you. You beat my previous biggest baby by a whopping two whole pounds! Way to show those boys how it's done, Liv! You smoked 'em!

This is the day we took you home from the hospital. I was so proud to be going home with my gorgeous daughter. Daddy was, too. It looks as if Dad is twisting you into an uncomfortable position, but I promise you didn't mind. You were conked out.

In this picture you look a lot like my baby pictures. Look how dark your hair was!

Those beautiful blue eyes!

The Birthday Girl