My 1st Baby

She's 5. These last 5 years have been the best of all time, by a long shot, with these 3 of ours.

It feels like a few weeks ago that I'd just had my first little baby.
I remember the moment she arrived so well. I was SO relieved that horrible pain was over, and then I opened my eyes and looked at her. I'd been excited the whole pregnancy, but also pretty scared I would have no clue what to do, or that I'd be bad at it. But that was over the second I saw her. I've heard lots of people describe how you instantly love them more than anything, but I had no idea what that would be like. What I remember most is that it ACTUALLY took my breath away. Like literally. I'd heard that expression, and always thought it was just something someone made up, because I'd never had it happen. But when I saw my baby, I had this sudden, involuntary, sharp intake of breath, and my mind was pretty much blown. Ha. Really though.

At first we spent a LOT of time like this:
She made us SO happy and fulfilled. I loved every single second with her, and I loved Jess even more than I had before.

She grew,
and we started to see more and more of her amazing personality.
We could tell so quickly how smart she is, she learns SO easily and remembers everything. And she's SO funny.
She turned 1.
And 2.
And 3.
And 4.
And now 5!
She's turning into quite the little lady. She's clever and helpful and caring and sweet.
And VERY strong willed. Thankfully her will usually goes along with ours, so it's not a bad thing. Usually anyway. ;)
She feels things pretty strongly. One of the ways she's like me. But she's SO MUCH BETTER than I am.

She's artistic.
Studious.
She LOVES her family.
She's a little shy and reserved, but really sweet and has such a good heart. The few who know her well are very lucky to, in my humble opinion. :)
As always, there's so much more to her that I could never begin to describe to someone who doesn't know her.

Paige, we're so amazed by and proud of you and your beautiful soul. We don't deserve such amazing kids, but we've been blessed with you all anyway, and we are SO grateful. You make us want to be SO much better. We love you tons.