a perfect present

Wow, its hard to believe that 5 years ago today I was sitting in the delivery room in Anchorage Alaska just given birth to my first and only baby girl. Her birth was perfect, amazing even. We had done it before so this time Beau and I were calm and cool. This was the first time I hadnt broken my water but felt contractions so like first time parents we walked proudly into labor and delivery waay too quickly, 3cm to quick to be exact. We received our walking papers. For those who have done it you can feel my pain. You get there soo excited only to be met with dismay and told to walk around the hospital, its soo embarrassing! but we walked, until i could walk no more. I was huge, 60lbs larger than my average miniature stature prefers. Pregnancy through an Alaska winter+comfort foods with limited activity=one big beautiful belly!! My midwife announced that she would keep me since it was my third baby and should progress faster than before. A couple of hours later I was pushing, and then chaos broke loose. Stop pushing she said, DO NOT! She was not the first person to tell me this, and like the last person, i ignored her. Occipital Transverse, Must Turn Baby Now, Dont Push, Huge Baby....Im hearing it all but it means nothing to me, my body said push and so Piper flew out like super man. Her positioning was odd and medically almost always "requires" a c-section. Her shoulders were vertical and her head was sideways, she weighed 8lbs (although throughout my pregnancy i received ultrasounds alerting us to a low birth weight). This all meant nothing, now that she was here...bruised, jaundiced, with a nose that would point to the left for the next 2 months, my princess was born. She was to be named Penelope, except i chickened out, so Piper is was! and she was perfect! Always the diva she required fancy ice cream asap (thanks to mary L.) and a trip to Red Robin on the way home from the hospital (dad is still trying to live that one down). While i was at the hospital birthing a beauty, my husband was moving us out of the old house and into a 4bdrm right down the street. Piper arrived to her new abode amidst boxes and grandparents assembling furniture.

Fast forward a few years and that large and in charge baby has grown into a smaller than average, healthy, active, intelligent, big and little sister. She is quiet, still requires more sleep than all of her siblings, low maintenance, and totally pinkalicous (thanks to theresa!). She is beautiful and Im so proud to be her mom. Since birth she has changed immensely. She traded that jaundice for a perma-tan that is uniquely hers (all of her brothers sport the pasty white version) She traded her thick black spikey do for rapunzelike wavy blonde locks accented by a gorgeous smile. Of all the children, she is the most kind, always willing to share and often taken advantage of, forever forgiving. She loves ballet and singing, she loves to swim (she is getting lessons for her birthday) and help mom bake. She hates bugs and pants and never complains about the excema on the bottoms of her poor cracked feet, showing the inner strength of a future mother no doubt! I love her and though I intended her to be our last (it was all about getting that little girl right?) she is certainly special and holds her own. She can wrestle and punch though rarely uses these super powers, preferring to breastfeed and babywear her My Little Ponys and rearrange her littlest petshops. She is ours and we love her!

We celebrated her birth a month or so early as we were moving and wanted to share her special day with friends. Thanks to a cake lesson from Danielle she had the most beautiful cake! and thanks to our awesome photographer we have some great photomemories of her special day. today we celebrate with just our little family, having the typical kempe bday dinner (due to the fact that all bdays in this house are around the holidays) a fried turkey and taters. She helped mom bake her fave strawberry cake with her own special touch, chocolate chips??? and received her first bike without training wheels (5 year olds arent allowed those things in our house lol). Paxton feels threatened as she assures him once the rain stops she will have no problem riding it (took him months). June 27th is a wonderful day, 5 years ago the world received a welcomed blessing :)