My Sweet Girl

I think this is the first time I've put a picture of only one of my children in the header.  That has been a deliberate choice because neither are my favorite.  Maybe it is more accurate to say that they are both my favorite because I love them equally and appreciate them for their very different but wonderful personalities.

That picture of The Madam is from a few days ago.  You'd never know that we had just engaged in a knockdown, drag-out, screaming fight over the vest.  (Me for, her against.)  For once, I won the fashion battle but she has never been one to concede graciously so I was surprised when she was amenable to some pictures.  I took quite a few good ones and as I sorted through them, I was struck by how mature she not only looks but also IS.  In a little over three short years, Natalie has changed so much.  No longer the maniacal infant who insisted on being held and only by me for all of her waking hours, no longer the clingy toddler whose heartbroken screams followed me if I left the house or even just the room, she is now a confident, secure, independent preschooler who, while still preferring me to anyone else on the planet, has found joy in spending time with others as well as on her own.  It was a rough road getting here but worth every tear, every moment of angst, every threat to sell her to gypsies, lol.

As the new year begins, I'm determined to celebrate all of my blessings and Natalie is in a three-way tie for first.  My pride for this bright, beautiful, funny, determined, ambitious, fashion-driven, musical, happy girl knows no bounds.  I have learned so much from her, patience and the heart's unlimited ability to expand topping the list, and I am grateful, so very grateful, that she is mine.