Happy Birthday to Marina!

[I'm publishing this 30 minutes before August 27th, Marina's actual birthday, because I'm impatient.]

Today my little girl is one.  It is shocking and exciting.

I was just thinking back over her short life and seeing pictures and memories flash around like scenes in a movie.  I found out I was pregnant on New Years Eve and had to make a sneaky switch to sparkling cider when no one was looking so we could keep our secret.  Then of course I had the pukes through the first three months of pregnancy.  Since Marina crossed her legs so tightly, we had to wait extra time to find out her sex.  When the ultrasound tech told me it was a girl, I was so shocked (as if I didn't know the 50/50 odds) and then began muttering to myself about weddings and bikinis and arguments.  Months later I went into labor while I was alone at work.  My water broke in the same exact way it had with Eli and on the same exact day of my pregnancy - 37 weeks and 6 days (she and Eli were both born on the 27th, just three months apart.  Mark's and my birthday fall on the 14th, also three months apart,  you do the math...).  I had to pace around work, torn between labor and my work obligations.

Though labor was not terrible, Marina came out and made her presence known immediately.  For the first 4 months of her life, we called her Screaming Mimi and for very good reason.  Somewhere around 6 months she decided to calm down and totally change her personality.  She became mellow and rough and tumble.  Yet she still resisted a good night's sleep.  She was our roommate literally until last month.  Finally, I got sick of our bedroom being held hostage by a light-sleeping-night-screamer and I moved her crib into Eli's room.  Since that day, both of my children have become miraculous sleepers.  I'm not even going to question the reason why, I'll just accept it gratefully.

Marina is the funniest little girl.  She loves dolls and kitties.  She has an impressive vocabulary and is decidedly undersized.  Her brother cannot seem to stop tackling her but she takes it all in stride (literally now that she is tentatively walking).

I'm always surprised at just how much I love my kids.  It's not that I ever thought I wouldn't love them, I just never thought I would have any to begin with.  And here I am, bragging about them and putting their pictures up everywhere I go.  If you see me walking around in the mall wearing a #1 Mom shirt with my spandex pants, you have my permission to "whoop my bootie" as Eli would say.  P.S. Just because I openly profess love for my kids doesn't really mean I like anyone else's very much, so you might not want to ask me to babysit.

Below you will find an onslaught of Marina pictures from the past year.