A very, very unbirthday to LILY!

Today is my beautiful baby girl's first half birthday!
With lots of help from family and friends, you have survived six whole months!
This may take all day t o write, but that's ok :] I want to get the words just right.

While awaiting your arrival, I found myself in awe and disbelief that "other moms" would sit and pine over the last three months, the last nine months, the last five years. [none of whom could beat my own mother's pining for my newborn-ness AND Lily's simultaneously!] I sat and waited for you for nine months that seemed like an eternity so I couldn't begin to imagine what a "blur" of six months could feel like. But sugar, while I want to say I would give anything to have you back in my belly, snug and safe and kicking around [pre twenty pound giant dough baby] that couldn't be further from the truth. while it has gone by quicker than I thought it would, these past six months have been well spent living in the now. The naked, giggly, messy now.

Upon meeting you, my life is forver changed. While I became a woman of God the day I married daddy, leaving the life of being a child in my dust, your existance has made me more of a woman than I thought possible, a mother. Throughout my life I have learned that conceiving, giving birth to, sheltering, and feeding a child dosn not always a mother make. Love, discipline, and nourishment arre absolute necessities that must be present. I am humbled to be be able to call nyself a mother. It is something I have wanted longingly my whole life.

You are the prettiest, most curious, and most easy going baby I've ever met!
Your humur has me cracking up every day!


5 days old























12 weeks old





















5 months old























Sometimes I feel like it's just me and you. That we are in this together and we just have to stick it out, one spill at a time. But you have the best daddy ever. His desire to provide for you, to love you, and to ensure you a world that you can see Jesus in is astounding. If the world could only see your face light up when he comes home at night, I have to say, that makes it all worth it.

We love you so much, more than I thought possible, and as you lay here, sleeping in my lap, I am thankful. Thank you Jesus for giving me this perfect, rambunctious gift. Thank you for allowing me to raise my child without the gimics, without the doubt, and with all the courage that a woman could ask for. I look forward to the day when you bless my Lily with the same honor.

Mae

Oh PS!
Check back later bc I will be uploading some picture of all the pretty things I've made Lily with week :]