Oh my little girl. I honestly cannot believe that in just a few more days you will be six years old. It’s amazing how you have changed and how you have grown.
Six years ago, I had no idea how my life would change. Now, I cannot imagine my life without you in it, baby girl.
The day you were born, your Daddy and I were immediately wrapped around your tiny, wrinkled finger. The nurse laid you beside me in the hospital bed and you opened your little mouth and yawned before cuddling down to sleep.
Everything you did was amazing. I wanted to memorize every detail, from your long eyelashes to your teeny toenails.
I felt fairly confident when it was time to take you home. Well, other than the fact that you had an amazing temper and were determined to stress me out when it came time to nurse you. But, I handled it in stride and with a lot of consoling from your Daddy.
You slept in our bedroom in a beautiful white bassinet even though we had a nursery all set up for you. The first week, I set my alarm every couple of hours, just in case you did not wake up, I could wake up and check on you. Finally, I realized that I had to let God be in charge. Once I did that, we both slept better at night. Well, for a while anyway.A few weeks later, the doctor diagnosed you with colic. Oh what fun that was. Let me just interject, that last sentence… full on sarcasm. I’ll never forget the phone call that I made to the pediatrician’s office before you were diagnosed with colic.
Go ahead and picture this. Your Daddy was at work and I was pacing the floor in our bedroom as I held you while you screamed. I had dialed the pediatrician’s office and was waiting for someone to pick up. You continued to scream. The nurse answered, oh so politely… and you screamed. I tried to explain to the nice nurse what was going on and you continued to scream.
At that point, I began to cry and you continued to cry and scream. The amazing nurse calmly asked if I could lay you down in your bed and step away from you so I could calm down and explain to her what was going on. She quickly scheduled an appointment for us to come in and reassured me. God bless that poor woman.
Then there was the time that I laid you on our bed and you rolled off. I was horrified. You cried and once again, I cried. I managed to get myself together while my imagination took off with every possible scenario that could happen. I examined your pupils repeatedly. I took you to daycare and asked two different caregivers their opinion. Then I made it to work where I asked my co-workers opinion. And finally, at 8 a.m., when the doctor was answering phone calls, I called and asked his opinion.
He explained concussion symptoms to look for but gently reassured me that it happened more often than not and babies are very resilient.
As you have grown, we have been in awe of your kind and giving nature. For instance, one evening, my heart swelled with love as we watched you offer your umbrella to an adult instead of covering yourself in the rain.
You are protective of those you love and stand up for what you feel strongly about. We are proud that you are an honest child. Sometimes…sometimes…we cringe at your honesty.
There was the night that you and Grandmommy were playing with your babies. You looked at Grandmommy and asked, “How old are you?”
Grandmommy in a teasing voice replied, “I’m 101.”
You studied her face for a moment before you responded, “Why aren’t you dead yet?”
Your Daddy and I never have a dull moment when we are with you. You bring light to our life and joy to our hearts. There are days that you are not all sunshine and roses. We do have days where we roll our eyes at your antics and check the clock to see how close it is to bedtime. But, when bedtime rolls around, we both snuggle you close before turning off the light.
There are times that I still see that tiny baby that I held in my arms. When you are tired and rub your eyes, I still see you tiny and wrinkled doing the same thing. Before I sat down to write this, I scrolled through the last six years of pictures that I have on Facebook of you.
In a few brief minutes, I scrolled by the tiny you all the way to my almost six-year-old you. It seems like that is how fast the last six years have gone.
You are beautiful inside and out. Mommy and Daddy love you, baby. We look forward to many more years of you keeping us on our toes. Happy, early birthday, Kiera.
Rowonna McNeely is a graphic artist for Willie’s T’s Screenprint & Embroidery. She is a mother of a five-year-old girl and step mother of two adult girls. Her crazy life includes a dog, Sloane and psychotic cat, Gracie. Both females. She is married to her prince, who is outnumbered by the opposite gender.
