Belated Birthday Post

Our first baby was due to arrive on February 19.  I was counting down the days.  I had gotten all of the baby gear months earlier; the crib and cradle had both been set up since Christmas.  The changing table drawers will filled with gender neutral clothing all washed in Dreft, folded neatly, and arranged by size.  I often doodled our chosen names on whatever scrap of paper was nearby.  We had no desire to know the baby's gender ahead of time, but anxiously awaited meeting the newest member of our family.  I was teaching at a nearby public school at the time, and the baby was due to arrive during our week-long February vacation.  I worked until the previous Friday and went home to await the signs of labor.  They never came.  The week went by, and there still was no baby.  I was finally induced 11 days after my due date.

We went into the hospital on a Monday  morning, and they started me on a pitocin drip at about 7 and told me I'd probably meet my baby later that evening.

Fast forward through everything that you don't want to know about....................

After a bit of a scare due to a drop in her heart rate, our baby girl was born at about noon.  She weighed about 7 and a half pounds (the exact details are written in a baby book somewhere) and had a full head of hair.  We were in love.  She was a very mellow baby, by far the easiest newborn of the three.  She did everything a little earlier than she was "supposed" to, and loved books and animals from an early age.

She still loves books and animals and can be adorable, but isn't always an easy child.  She is definitely strong-willed and extremely stubborn and we work to try to steer that "will" in the right direction.

At eight, she loves animals in this order:  horses, cats, bunnies, dogs.  Her favorite book series are: Thoroughbred, Saddle Club, Pony Pals, Animal Ark, Ramona, and Boxcar Children.  She also loves sports, especially basketball and soccer. 

Her birthday gifts were all well-loved and included:  an Amazon card for use on her Kindle, a horse play-set, books, a colorful stuffed horse, a bag made from recycled juice boxes, riding boots, a new softball glove, two pairs of horse pjs, her first riding breeches, and monetary gifts.

My attempt at making a horse cake.  

Ryley loved it!