Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Birthday girl

30 years ago today, I was in a hospital bed waiting to deliver my second child. Back then, we didn't have ultrasounds so we didn't know if it was another boy or if it was a girl.  At 12:44 AM on April 27, 1981, I found out that my bundle of joy was a full bundle of female energy! I should have known though - based on how much time she took to be born that she wouldn't be in a hurry to really do anything she didn't exactly want to do.

But, from the minute she was born I knew that my life would never be the same. She was always busy, always on the go, and always curious about everything. And, she was on the move as soon as she figured out she could do it.

She...
  • crawled out of a playpen when she was 5 months old
  • pulled herself to standing (also at 5 months) and pulled  telephone off onto her face - requiring a trip to the ER. They had to be shown that she actually could stand and pull herself up.
  • walked at 6 months and had to have the smallest walking shoes that the children's shoe store sold. Again, I had to prove that she actually did walk. (That was really fun. I can still see the smirk fall right off that salesman's face. It was priceless.)
  • would walk over to her cousin (who was two weeks younger - and not crawling) and take his pacifier. After she was bored with it, she would drop it down on the floor but always out of his reach.
  • slept from midnight until 6:00 AM, took two 1-hour naps a day, and expected to be ENTERTAINED the rest of the time.
She caught the attention of bystanders in the mall with her "Elizabeth Taylor" eyes. She stole everyone's heart. She had attitude. I don't have a young picture of "miss attitude" but take this one and adjust for age... just think younger.


Or, you can see some attitude in these pictures, as well:


Especially the bottom left.

She was a pretty cute kid, though...


(I know - one is duplicated but it's from a couple of scans.)

This is one of my favorite pictures - she's picking on her cousin once again.


She's grown up into a lovely young woman, one that I'm so proud to call my daughter AND my friend. I wish her many, many happy birthdays to come as she celebrates a new life with her husband, son, and baby-to-be.

God bless you, Amy - and Happy Birthday. I'm not planning on being up at 12:44 AM on this April 27th!

8 comments:

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

I hope you daughter has a great birthday, sounds like you are a proud mum...........As a proud mum it is easy for me to spot another one........

She is also a heartbreaker..........

Southhamsdarling said...

Happy Birthday Amy! Lovely post dedicated to your daughter, Teresa. Unbelievable that she could walk at 6 months!!! I love it how she used to drop the dummy, but out of reach!!! LOL! I agree wholeheartedly with Jo-Anne, as a proud mum myself, it is so easy to spot another one!!

Lyndylou said...

Happy Birthday to Amy, they grow up too quick don't they! She must have been a lot of fun when she was growing up :)

Anonymous said...

Many happy returns to your girl!

Whimsical Willow & Co. said...

She was (and still is) quite the character. You left off a few things:

- Like how early she was potty trained.

- Or the time I took her to my child development class for "show and tell" and she was doing things way beyond her age (she might have been 5-6 months old) and the teacher kept saying "now, class, this is NOT an example of normal child development"

- She called me "Aunt Piss" or "Mommy Piss" because she couldn't say Kris. The summer after she turned 2 she discovered my name was actually Kristina (and I didn't really like it) so she would call me "Pisstina" and then just giggle. She would drag it out too - "piiissssstiiiiinnnnnaaaaa"

Happy Birthday Amy, with love from your "other (also proud) mother"

Not sure, ask Isaiah. said...

Yep that's me I rock - LOL

Love you!!!

SkippyMom said...

Happy Birthday darling girl. I hope it is wonderful.

Your Momma sure loves you.

Donna B. said...

Happy Birthday Amy! Elizabeth Taylor Eyes??? Oh my...lucky girl!