Happy Birthday to my McKenna!

In December of 2000, after only 9 short months of marriage, Brandon and I vaguely started talking about having kids. We were full of idealistic scenarios of giggling babies, teaching wise lessons, and fluffy little clouds and butterflies. I was hating birth control and the crazy lady that it turned me into. So as soon as we even hinted at the idea of being "ready" (like anyone is ever really ready to have kids) I chucked my half empty birth control pack in the garbage, relying completely on everyone telling me it takes several months to get pregnant. So imagine my surprise when a couple of weeks later I started feeling off and asked one of the ladies I worked for to pick me up a pregnancy test (since I was too big a chicken to actually purchase one myself). And...huh...it was positive. I thought, "Wow! I'm one of those lucky people who will always get pregnant really easy!" Pshaw! But we'll save those other pregnancy stories for another day. Really long and boring pregnancy and delivery stories later...McKenna officially came into our lives at 2:22 pm.

When they placed her on my stomach, I vividly remember reaching out and timidly poking her with my finger and thinking, "Holy crap! There was really a baby in there?? What on earth am I supposed to do with that?" Of course, once they got her cleaned up and put in my arms, I instantly felt a whole new kind of love I never knew existed.
I had grand ideas of putting up pictures of the newborn McKenna, but unfortunately my scanner has other ideas. Maybe next year.

McKenna was an angel of a first baby. She slept through the night after just a couple of weeks, she almost never cried unless she was hungry, she only ate every 8 - yes, that's EIGHT - hours, and she had such a mellow and happy personality. She was my easiest baby to date. Too bad I was too postpartum CRAZY to appreciate a good thing when I had it.

Fast forward about 6-7 years...McKenna is so much fun (as long as her melodramatics aren't aimed at me). She has entered the age of boys, friends, and wanting to wear makeup (not gonna happen). I can hardly believe how much she's grown up. I'm already seeing signs that she doesn't think I'm nearly as cool as I used to be. She's even started rolling her eyes! I'm not sure how to deal with my girl already acting like a teenager. It simultaneously makes me feel like sobbing and laughing hysterically.

Since all McKenna's birthday festivities are planned for this weekend, I had to come up with something fun for her actual birthday. It just so happens that my friend Amanda's little girl, Savannah, has the exact same birthday as McKenna. So she came up with the super fun idea of bringing lunch into our girls for their birthdays. Amanda picked me up today, and with our other kids left with sitters, we headed out to Sconecutter and brought a yummy, surprise lunch into our girls.The look on her face and the huge running hug I got are going down as one of the most memorable moments of my life. McKenna and Savannah were the envy of every other 1st grader as we pulled out their lunches and sat right at their lunch tables with them. Don't you know...it's still cool to eat lunch with your mom when you're in 1st grade. We have to live it up while we can. I'm sure if I try to pull this stunt in another 5 years, McKenna will go storming out of the cafeteria crying mortified tears. But for now, she still likes to acknowledge me and I'll take it.

So Happy Birthday to my ever growing Boo! I am so grateful for her presence in each day of my life - even the days she spends being incredibly annoying.