Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for my daughter Rachel. Happy Sweet "16th" birthday! Where has the time gone? I am thankful that she got her birthday wish - a day off of school for her birthday. We had a snow day yesterday and one today for bitter cold as well. So, she had 2 friends spend the night and today we will go out to eat for lunch, while the sun is still shining and it is just a little warmer, instead of for supper.

I will never forget the day she was born. It was a teacher's inservice day at school and I was to begin my weekly trips to the doctor that day. When the alarm went off, I was going to hit the snooze and sleep a little longer because I didn't have the kids, but I had to go to the bathroom (surprise, surprise). So, I headed off to the bathroom, but when I finished, the water just kept coming out of me. Well, being the first time I was pregnant, I wasn't sure but I thought that my water had just broke. Seeing that my husband wasn't home from work yet, I got in the shower. As I was getting out, he came home. Boy was he surprised to find out that after working all night he now had to take me to the hospital. But he was such a trooper. He stayed with me the entire day! I wasn't having any contractions when I arrived at the hospital so they put me on Pitocin. I was on Pitocin all day. By 8:00 in the evening, I still had not dilated past 2. We waited a little longer, seeing that Rachel was not in any distress, but my 8:30 we decided to have a C-section. By 9:18 p.m. our precious little 5 lb. 13 oz. beauty was born. I have some of the most precious pictures of her and her daddy who was as proud as proud could be. I wish he was here to see the beautiful young woman she has become.

Over the years, I have such precious memories of her. Here are a few of my favorite:
1. For her first birthday, we bought her her very first baby doll. It was all soft parts. Right away she named her baby "baby Rachel" or as she used to say her name "Dachel". After that, she took baby Rachel with her everywhere she could. When she was getting sleepy, she would suck her thumb and rub the little sock of baby Rachel between her two fingers. It was soooo cute! That sock area got pretty worn out.
2. On her second birthday, we had moved into a tiny apartment but still managed to have both sets of grandparents, 4 great-grandparents, my brother and now sister-in-law, and her sister at the apartment for her birthday party. We all squished into the livingroom for the gift opening. One of the presents was in a rectangular clothes box. Before she opened it up, she said, "Dis(this) is cwothes(clothes)!" And she was right!! How funny!! We all laughed!
3. When she was 2-1/2 we started her in dance and tumbling at a dance studio called, "Toes, Taps and Tumbles". Her class was early enough that the babysitter would have to put her leotard on so that we could go right there after I picked her up. She was always excited about dance cwass(class) but one day she was squirming around and the babysitter asked her what was wrong. She replied, "My weotard(leotard) is aw(all) squey(screwy)!" Obviously, we hadn't gotten are r's and l's yet!
4. She loved to wear hats when she was little. She was really good about leaving them on and always looked so adorable!
5. She loved to watch and dance to Barney. She had her own Barney and would hold him as she danced along to the show or video. There was a teddy bear song where a little girl on the show would dance with her teddy bear. Rachel would get her teddy bear and try to imitate the girl on the show.
6. She loved to read books. Earlier this year, she asked me for her favorite book from when she was little so she could do a project for speech class. I couldn't tell her what her favorite was because she just liked to read. She would sit in her little rocking chair that came from her great grandpa and read to her stuffed animals and dolls. I can still picture it as if it was yesterday.

I love you, Rachel! Thanks for being the best daughter a mother could ever ask for. I hope and pray that God will bless you with another wonderful year of life filled with precious memories with the people you love and a great adventure as you continue to seek God for His direction in your life!