She's 5.

For five beautiful, love soaked, hug filled, exhausting, laugh until my belly hurts years... I have been the mom of Lucille Grace.

The sweetest, most affectionate person I have ever known.
The cherubic face, framed by soft spirals. And liquid brown eyes that have always shown a beautiful soul. The pinkest little rosebud lips, always ready to smile, and those thick black eyelashes...
The little NUT who would do anything, anything, to get a laugh out of me. And the belly laugh that comes so easily, and gets us ALL giggling.
The little sister who will lie and suffer to keep her big brother out of trouble.
The big sister that can make Sammy laugh better than anyone else on earth.
The one who's bed Emmitt sleeps next to every night.
The little angel who stole her Daddy's heart so completely...

What a precious gift my girl is. She is truly a special, amazing, giving little person. I love her so much that it literally makes my chest hurt.

And five years old... what a milestone. Every trace of that little baby has gone. She's a big girl now. Long legged, free thinking, amazingly capable of expressing her thoughts. I'm not sure when she got so big, so grown-up. I must have missed it. I still think of her hanging on my legs, snuggling down in her sling, or dancing in her high chair.

I hope that we can always be friends, I hope that she will always trust me. I hope that when she is blessed with a baby of her own, she will know that I did the best I knew how to do for her, and she will understand how I would lay down and die for her happiness. But I get ahead of myself.
As a child I was very close to my mother. Even as a teenager. As an adult, she doesn't even know me. I want better than that for my girl!

We are starting her first season of soccer, and she is shining! I always suspected she would be an athlete, and the potential is there!
I am already thinking about kindergarten. Just a few months left to wait. I know she is ready to go, she NEEDS that stimulation. And I need the rest, haha, but then my heart seizes up in my chest when I think about dropping her off every day!

I'll come back and add pictures soon.

Happy Birthday, my angel. I love you!