So this is what it looks like…

..What, you may ask? And you may, for I’ll let you, else why would I have any other reason to go on with this post? (Other then cuz I wanna, of course.) Well, this! This is what twelve looks like.

12.

HAHAHAH! Ok, so really, today? THIS is what TWELVE looks like:

Yes, today, my baby girl, my sweet thing, my darlin Mairiah Kaye turns 12 years old.

(Yes, she was named for the song “and they called the wind Mariah” and yes, there’s an extra letter in her name, and yes there’s a story behind it. Kevin insisted his first girl would be Mariah, and I could name all the rest. I wanted Mairi Kate. So we compromised with adding the I, and switching Kate (too harsh for his baby girl) to Kaye. And we called her Mairi for short. Tada.

Hey, I didn’t say it was a GOOD story. Just a story!)

Technically not until 6:30 or so, but still. 12 years ago today, I was going through SEVERAL hours of EXCRUCIATING back labor, because my darling baby girl decided she was gonna just stay RIGHT where she was, because she was TOTALLY happy with that and wasn’t about to come out anytime soon. Yeah. Heh. That went over well. NOT. She was a week overdue, I was pregnant in the HOTTEST SUMMER EVER in a year my son – then 2 – discovered his joy of baseball and we spent every bloody night at the oilers collegiate team ball field, and I was HUGE and UNCOMFORTABLE and she was SO STUBBORN…

When I decided I’d had ENOUGH – being a week late and BIG as a HOUSE – they induced me, and I tried to go natural again, and again it did not work. We discovered why, of course – my little baby girl was born at 9 pounds 10 ounces, practically a TODDLER! Oh but it was love at first sight, and to this day my little girly girl never fails to make me smile and laugh.

My Miss Thang is beautiful, talented, funny, sweet, and special in oh so many ways I couldn’t ever fully describe her. Instead, I’ll just say this:
Happy birthday, baby girl, I love you.

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Part one of the party down – dinner, cake and gifts at McD’s. 3 extra’s staying the night, movies being watched, snacks being scarfed, all in prep for tomorrow’s swimming to close out the festivities. Whew am _I_ tired. But hey – awesome cake Auntie Ladybug! Below – before and after being grabbed by teens, pre-teens, and children of all ages, as well as a link to the flikr set if ya wanna peek at more.

Flicker Set