Ari's 10!

My one and only baby girl is officially in the double digits as of this morning. Yep, she’s 10 and yeah ya’ll, that means I’m old. I cannot, for the life of me, grasp the fact that she is 10 years old. Where does time go? It seems like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant with a girl. I was so excited but I’ll admit that I was scurred; I had hoped for another boy since my first bambino was boy and I knew what to do with boys. Plus, I knew the hell I put my parents through and I wasn’t looking forward to my daughter putting me through the same shenanigans. Let me put it to you like this, when I told my parents I was expecting a girl my dad chuckled and then simply said, “Payback, Lor.”

Says it all, don't it?

She’s my little rebel, but I wouldn’t trade her for the world. She’s the smartest kid I know, and I don’t just say that because she’s mine. She’s beyond beautiful and she doesn’t even realize just how gorgeous she is, which makes her that much prettier. She’s kind, yet sassy. And talks more than anyone I’ve ever met. Seriously, if you get in my car and the radio is off you can assume that Ariana was in the car on the last trip because there is no listening to the radio with her in the back seat, she’d rather chat your ear off. She was born a chatterbox; she said her first full sentence at just over a year old. I’ll never forget it, she received a stoller as a gift for her new baby doll and as soon as she opened the stroller she buckled her baby in, started pushing the stroller around the living room and said, “Baby, you ready go bye-bye?”

Dammit, now I’m gonna cry.

She’s super artsy; she loves music, she loves to draw and paint and make something from nothing. She’s my creative child. She’s also the one that’s not afraid to stand up for other kids.

Oh, and she's a goofball. Case in point:

She’s my little fighter. I had a very scary pregnancy with her. I went into pre-term labor at 19 weeks and the doctor basically told me that she wouldn’t survive if she was born at that time. They gave me a shot to stop my contractions and put me on bedrest but I still went into labor about once a month for the rest of my pregnancy. Finally, on the morning of 17 April the doctors didn’t attempt to stop my labor anymore and my 6lbs 0oz munchkin was born only three weeks shy of her 6 May due date. She’s always been small physically but she has a big personality.

When the boyfriend and I get knocked-up I hope to have another little girl, thanks in large part to the awesomeness that is Ariana.

So here’s to you Ariana Noelle, my little guitar playing, canvas painting, talkative rebel of a beautiful child. Happy birthday Bella, we love you to the moon and back.