Our Sweet Pea

Scott gave Gracie the nickname "Sweet Pea" when she was first born. Over the years she has been called different pet names, but Sweet Pea has always stuck. She's going to turn five in 57 days!

I remember when she was born. Her labor was five hours long, first contraction to "It's a girl!" That was exhausting! During one of my contractions I grabbed the side of the bed and then yelled for them to stop folding the bed up on me. My dear husband ever so gently told me I needed to let go of the button - I was doing it. That's one brave man! Now I see how funny I must have been, but at the time I just wanted a nap and to have the baby later! But then there was Gracie...precious and beautiful.

I had so much fun with my new little sweet pea and her goofy big brother. Here they are for Gracie's first Halloween. I decided they'd both be dogs...and aren't they adorable?

I was amazed as her little personality started to shine. In some ways she was so different from Jace. And so different from her father and I. We frequently wonder where she gets her girlyness from!

I think maybe I was a little girl once, but at some point I decided I was a tomboy and went with that. Being a mother to Gracie has helped me see myself in a different light again. It's allowed me to realize my role as a girl and a woman...that's there's more than just mom in me. She's incredible in all that she teaches me!

Like in this picture, for example. Here Gracie is clearly demonstrating how I waddled when pregnant with her little brother. It's hard to tell, but she had her belly pushed forward and moaned and groaned her way through the grocery store! What's that they say about imitation and flattery?

The older she gets, the more I really do see of myself in her. Yesterday she was telling me about the two sets of twins she's going to have when she's older. All four children will be girls and the names she has picked out are Flower, Love, Heart, and Annie (that's my name!). I had some interesting names picked out for my future kids too...Gracie was the only one that I actually used and Scott and I picked that one together. For years, Gracie was our dream child...hmmmm.

OK, she is a dream. Occasionally she stresses me out, but mostly she makes me smile.

During the past few months she's been coming into her own even more. She loves helping out whenever she can, at school and home. She expresses her sense of style in her clothes and does

her own hair, except here...she let me do it for Crazy Hair Day! But I love this picture because you can see her joy! She's bubbly and brilliant. To illustrate my point, I'll share with you a wonderful observation she made this morning:

"It's really hard to be a mama. You have to get everybody up...and that takes a long time. You have to get your kids drinks and snacks and run around after them. It's hard work. I mean, mama's have to yell at their kids all the time! When I'm a mom I'm going to yell at my girls and make them breakfast too. It's gonna be hard work but I'll take a nap."

I think she's ready, don't you? Ready for something! That's for sure...I'm just not sure any of us are ready for her, our little Sweet Pea.