Trying to Square up with My Sweet Abbey...

So I am very remiss on celebrating my sweet Abbey Hannah! I need to talk about how lucky I am to be her mom.

Abbey was my miracle baby. She was the first one that the doctors said wouldn't happen. I can remember so vividly finding out that I was pregnant and what an overwhelming excitement and worry it was. When the very difficult pregnancy got even more difficult I didn't know that I could worry so much about someone I hadn't really met face to face. When we she finally arrived and I could kiss her sweet face, every monitoring session and ultrasound (we had 3 a week for 4 months) was more than worth it.

After she was about 3 weeks old she started to be colicky...really colicky and I wondered if I was the right person to be her mom. I kept thinking maybe I didn't have the patience or everything it would take to guide her through the world. I couldn't even get her to stop crying! Then one day when she was in a crying jag James Taylor was on The Today Show, and when he started singing Fire and Rain, Abbey stopped crying. I immediately called my mother in law and said we had to get that CD. It became my best friend because it totally soothed the baby I was so desperate to know.

Abbey also only wanted me. In fact she didn't want anyone else even looking at her. She would burst into tears if she realized anyone was looking at her. This made being around anyone pretty tough. So we continued in our symbiotic existence of Abbey and Mommy, Dad was mostly ok and the occasional outsider that could trick her into letting them be around her.

That should have worried me...and it did but it all worked out. Abbey is now one of the nicest kids that you could ever meet. She is kind, smart, beautiful and amazingly funny. I can't tell you how grateful I am that she is so amazing. So now I owe her the 12 things about Abbey for her very belated 12th birthday.

1) Her crazy sense of humor. She is so quick witted that it totally amazes me.
2) Her ability to be kind. Abbey has an inner moral compass that would rival Mother Theresa. Even as a little girl playing soccer she didn't want to have to take the ball from anyone and was sure to get the names of all of the girls around her. And she would come off of the field talking about her new friend. There was even a point where we had to have Emily teach her how to be more aggressive on the field. Emily's words of wisdom, "you can knock them down and not even get a time out!"
3) Her amazing brain. Abbey is smarter than I ever thought of being. She is definitely her daddy's daughter. She understands algebra better at 12 than I ever did.
4) Her beautiful smile, it lights up the building!
5) Her ability to find fun wherever she goes. She sees the fun in just about every situation.
6) Her amazing athletic prowess. Abbey is the jock of all jocks. I am never more amazed than when she is playing soccer and she and another player collide (she learned the aggressive thing now) she will bounce back up and be heading the right way before the other girl can collect her thoughts.
7) Her love of books. Abbey and I share the true love of books. We don't have many comparisons but that is definitely one of them and I am so excited that we will always have that bond over great books.
8) Her ability to make friends wherever she goes. She can get along with the devil himself and with the rest of us as her relatives she does!
9) Her sensitivity. Abbey has a body of steel and a heart of jello, she is so sensitive to everything and everyone and just wants everyone to be ok.
10) Her lack of fear. Her favorite show as a little girl was Fear Factor, she wants to be a fighter pilot or a Navy seal and she has no fear of anything.
11) Her good sense of self. She has a great understanding of who she is and everything around her. She truly likes herself and has no fear of entering into a new situation and being around new people.
12) Her willingness to accept that Greg and I are geeks and love us anyway. She is a wonderful sister that is always looking out for Emily, or rather willing to let Emily guide her while still being the Jiminy Cricket on Emily's shoulder to try and steer her the right way.

I love you my sweet girl and I am so grateful that I get to be part of your life!