10 years ago...

10 years ago this very moment, I held Jessica in my arms for the first time.
It had been a long wait, but she was worth it!
5 years after we got married, 3 years after stopping bcp, 8 days after her due date, 2 days after they tried to induce labor, 10 hours after arriving at the hospital--there she was, all tiny and perfect and pink. (And a little blue, but that went away.)
She is my sensitive, intuitive child. Before she could talk, (was there really a time when she didn't talk?!!) we would be out on our deck and she would look up in this one tall tree and smile and wave and babble something...I used to wonder if she saw an angel. Corny, I know. But what if? She was not even 2 when we got the news of the Wedgwood shooting, and when she saw me crying she climbed up in my lap and cuddled with me. For years after my Dad died, there was one praise chorus that always made me tear up, but I never said anything about it. One Sunday after we sang that song she looked up at me and said, "That song always makes me think of Grandad." Last year a friend of hers in Conway lost his dad, and when she saw him last weekend she said, "Mommy, ever since Mr. Osbourne died, Mrs. Marnie and Fraser and Pearl don't look as brightly colored as they used to." I wonder if that's her way of seeing their grief?
Although she's never been as mischievous as Mikayla, I do have some favorite stories. Like when she was 3, and Mike said, "I need to pick up soandso for church," and she said, "But she's too heavy!" Or when he asked if she wanted to go on a date to McDonald's with him and she said, "Oh my goodness yes!" And when we were on our way to Baskin Robbins when she was 4, and she said, "After I eat ice cream can I play outside? And run around in circles, and lay on the grass and watch the sunset, and sleep on the grass?" And when she was potty training, and she tinkled and I said, "Yay, did I hear you go potty?" and she said, "No, just gas." HA!
She also has added to our family vocabulary. In my family, if someone pronounces something cute when they're little, it sticks and we all start using it. Her contributions are: excuse me = miki, ponytail holders = ponynails, hamburger = hammigigger, side by side = two by two by, Barbie = Arbie, eyelashes = ashlyes, octopus = octopudis, and peppermints = peppernuts.

She's grown up a lot, and I can't believe she's already 10 years old. But I'm glad we've still got a while until she's all grown up. This isn't exactly a baby picture (it's on her 8th birthday), but it's the oldest "digital" picture I have of her. Happy Birthday, Jessica!