My Baby Girl

One year ago today, my baby girl nudged me in my sleep as if to say, “Mom, wake up. It’s time.” A few moments later, I noticed the contractions. I lie awake for an hour trying to determine if I really was in labor, if I should bother waking John, and before I could decide, I fell back to sleep. We went to the doctor’s office later that morning and confirmed my suspicion – we were going to get to meet our little Neely that day.

She was much more eager to meet us than our Aidan was, popping out to say “hello” at 2:16p.m. My Neely Caroline was the most fragile little creature I had ever seen, weighing in at only 5 pounds, 9 ounces. And boy, was she pretty.



Neely still is beautiful, and she’s turning out to be such a sweet little troublemaker. She is walking some now, and has gotten to be an extremely fast crawler, so she can get into pretty much anything she pleases, which is often my food cabinet (no pantry in this house), the toilet, and the collection of DVDs and electronic paraphernalia housed in the unit under our television. But she has the sweetest disposition that it’s hard to stay angry with her for long.


I cannot believe my little girl is one year old today. The time has flown by. I know that before I have the chance to blink, it will be time for kindergarten, her driver’s license, graduation, and I will scarcely be able to believe that young woman is the same five-pound baby we welcomed into the world with open arms on September 16, 2008.

I love you, Neely bug. Happy birthday!