Double Digits!

My sweet "baby" girl is 10 years old today!  She got to spend her last days of being a 9 year old and her very first morning as a 10 year old in Washington D.C!

My body struggled to bring her into this world, she is my miracle.  She was born by emergency c-section weighing just 5lbs, 9oz after a difficult and very emotional pregnancy.  I still can not believe that she came out of my body, that I gave birth to her, that God trusted me to take care of her.

Isabelle was born just 9 1/2 months after her older brother who also came out of my body ....stillborn.  She looooves it when I tell her that he high-five'd her on his way out, her way in.  I tell her that he said to her: "Good luck in there, girlie, you're gonna need it," with a wink and then gave her a kiss on her cheek before becoming my angel.  That always makes her giggle.  **I like to think he is standing next to her, giggling too**

I have known since I was 12 years old that I was going to have a baby girl named Isabelle.  I don't know how I knew, I just did.  I can't explain it.  I never had to look in a baby name book, there was never a doubt that I was going to have a baby girl!  As sure as I am that the sky is blue, is how sure I was, at 12 years old, that I was going to have an Isabelle. 

She was truly a beautiful baby, she took my breath away.  From the minute Isabelle was born, she was calm and knew exactly why she was here....she knew her purpose.

God blessed her heart with patience and a calling for animals.  All animals respond to her differently, they love her and trust her.

I don't feel old enough to have a 10 year old.  I am old enough but I don't feel old enough.  Isabelle was born 2 1/2 weeks before my 23rd birthday.... a lifetime ago.  I don't know how I did it, 23 seems too young to be given the responsibility of raising one of God's most precious creations.  

She has always caught onto things so quickly that often I feel that I am learning from her, rather than her learning from me.  Coming home to her every day is what got my butt through college, I don't know what I would do with out her. 

It has helped that Isabelle is the world's easiest child!  She slept through the night at 6 weeks old, rarely cried, potty-trained in a weekend, and loves school.  She is calm, compassionate, level-headed, and only approaches situations after she has put a lot of thought into it first.  

This kid only reacts with love, only gives love, she knows nothing but love... qualities that Eric and I guard ferociously.  Happy Birthday, Isabelle Elizabeth!  You still take my breath away and you are so loved!