Madeline is five

Madeline,

I hope you can see that the first five years of this blog are a love letter to you. Anything I say is redundant at this point but I keep saying it because I wanted you to know it so badly: you are so loved and you are so special. You are a gift.

You are the joy, the light, the beauty in our family. Daddy and I became parents because of you and changed our lives inside out. I don't remember being bored before you came along but now that we have you, I see that our lives were black and white before and you turned on the color in our lives.

When I look back at this picture from last summer and your incredibly special summer reading program White Castle meal, I realize just how much you've changed and grown. Your face is still one of the most beautiful sights in the world; it's just a little more mature now.

This was the year you fell in love with pink cowgirl boots. No one is allowed to call them "cowboy boots." You correct us every time. You owned two pairs this year because you literally wore holes into the soles of the first pair.

You are still a girly girl and love to accessorize. As Clairee Belcher so eloquently put it,  "The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize" and you, my dear, have perfected it to a science.

Do you know I love you more than my luggage?

 

You just completed your first year of school and you LOVED it. You loved everything about it and it was so entertaining to hear you talk about school, to drive you to school and to pick you up from school. You had the world's best preschool teacher and I'm so thankful your first school experience was so positive.

I agree with you, school and learning is awesome.

You make Christmas so much more magical, so much more meaningful and so much more sacred. I love counting down the days with you, reading through the Christmas story, sipping hot chocolate every day in December and listening to your favorite, "The Polar Express" soundtrack.

Madeline-girl, your love for your daddy just gets stronger every year. You've become very interested in his work and how he spends his days away from us. Daddy took you to work several mornings so you could see what it's like. However, based on the amount of PBS shows you watched online, I think you still don't have a clue what he does.

Your life changed completely this year because the Little Man arrived in our lives. When I first watched you hold him, I knew my heart was messed up again in the best way possible.

For realz, you are the best big sister and I love watching you care for Caleb and play with him. My prayer is that you two will always be best friends. I hope you always take care of him and he takes care of you. And yes, we are a family who takes early morning walks in our pjs. So glad we captured it for all posterity.

When you learned you were going to have a brother or sister, one of the first things you said was, "Can I ride in the big Target cart with my brother or sister?"

After waiting 15 months, your dream finally came to fruition.The sight of you holding Caleb's hand throughout the entire store melts me. I want to always remember it.

Then it was your last day of school. I'm not sure how it happened so quickly but suddenly it was May and I went with you for the Mother's Day Tea where I learned that I always say no. You were just days shy from turning 5 and I was relishing every minute of 4. Oh, how I loved year 4.

I'm always telling people how you crack me up every day and this picture is a good example. You think nothing of riding in the car with Rapunzel hair and Hello Kitty sunglasses while looking through your precious Disney autograph book. This is just life to you.

Child, you slay my heart.

Welcome to 5, Madeline. I'm not sad because you are my little fine wine. You just get better and better every year.

Mama loves you in a circle. It will never end.