HaPPy BiRtHdAy to our Mady Mae....

That sweet precious girl up there, she is 17 today.
Seventeen....*sighss*

This is one of my all time favorite pictures we had taken of her. It depicts everything she was for years. She loved that Jessie doll. It went with her everywhere. There was no place that doll of hers didn't visit, she even took her to Kindergarten Open House and there are pictures taken with her holding her up to her face to make sure she was in full center too. That doll and her were inseparable. She even often talked of someone named 'Jessie' that would come talk to her in her room or wake her up while she was sleeping. We often wondered about that little "story", whether it was just how much she loved her Jessie doll and wanted her to be a person or whether it was my Grandma who passed away when I was 7, her name was Jessie Mae.

Of course with her loving Jessie we watched Toy Story and Toy Story 2 constantly...sometimes 3x a day. In the movie Toy Story 2 the little girl loved her Jessie doll oh so very much and she inevitably grew up and moved onto other things...boys, makeup and music, forgot about her Jessie, then one day found her underneath her bed and put her in her 'donations' box to give her away. That scene and the song they play is in Jessie's words and it always broke my heart and it still does! I knew at some point it would happen with our Mady, and it has...

If you don't know the scene or the song here it is....and just in case you are wondering, yes, I'm bawling.

Click here ---->  Jessie's Song-When Somebody Loved Me

Isn't that song just sooo sad??? :'(

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our one and only baby girl, Mady Mae.

This girl of ours is one of the greatest, sweetest, funniest, emotional, outgoing beings we could ever have been given the privilege to raise. She makes us proud each and everyday. We trust her with making decisions for herself and for the sake of others, wholeheartedly. She is our one child that it seems like no matter where we are going or what we are doing she wants to be right there in the thick of it, I like to think it's because she wants to spend as much time as possible with us, but I'm sure it's because she is a social butterfly and likes to meet new people and always be on the go doing something or seeing something.

Ever since she was little she has always said she wanted her dad to build her very own apartment on top of our garage, so she could "live with us forever". To this day she wants him to finish the loft in the garage so she can live there. That is how close she still chooses to want to be with us.

She came into the world in a flurry of drama. She wasn't breathing, they had to resuscitate her right next to me all the while not telling me what was going on, they then whisked her away for an hour and 45 mins. She was "technically a preemie". Boy howdy, that was hard on her dad. He was awfully sad and broke down when the okay was finally given. I didn't know about that for years later because he didn't do it in my presence for fear that I would become more upset. =( He loves his girl...with a full quarter of his heart ;)

Hug your babies tight. Relish when you can hold them in your arms and feel all the guishiness of their little bodies. Remember those first words and the way they started coming into themselves. Lock away in that 'too much information already' mom brain of yours every little thing you can. It goes so very quickly, more quickly then it may seem. Lord knows I was one of those, the days are just trickling by, these kids seem to still be "little", and then all of a sudden before you know it, BAM, they are close to adults. The age you actually 100% remember being.

I love all our kids...they are my greatest accomplishments. And to our girl, whose day is extra special today I say...

We love you, remember that. As long as you remember that you need to remember nothing else.
We are here for you, for all time...no matter what!
You make us proud in EVERYTHING you do.
You are beautiful inside and out. Truly.
Be proud of who you are, of where you came from and of everything you do. No questioning that....ever.
We know that God truly loved us the day he gifted us with you....

XOXOXO~
  Mom