Mark, get set, don't go...

Had someone ever told me how hard 5 years could be, I am not sure I would have believed them. You started out with a difficult pregnancy that ended with me covered in head-to-toe hives, that I would scratch until they bled, sleeping on an air mattress on our deck (in January!) because I couldn't stand the heat and a month of nothing but cold showers when my body decided I was allergic to you. Maybe I should have seen the foreshadowing then. As a baby you were difficult, fought sleep like it was the plague, and wanted to eat whenever it was inconvenient. Once you become a toddler it was like trying to corral a rocket. You never stopped moving, talking, or screaming. You still hated sleeping and never wanted to play by yourself. You possessed no fear which created the opposite in me as I worried incessantly. You wanted what you wanted when you wanted it and didn't have an ounce of patience. You learned to talk which meant you knew how to tell me "No!" You always wanted something new and better to keep you entertained. You were friends with everyone you met and had no concept of a stranger. You demanded that I carry you everywhere, you hated driving in the car and I still wasn't getting any sleep. We added a little sister, someone with a completely different outlook than you, yet she will always get into any sort of trouble you talk her into. Your infectious personality permeates everything in our home and when you ain't happy, ain't nobody happy! Then you went and did the absolute worse thing you could: you turned 5! This was a milestone I had dreaded since the day I brought you home. This was the day that marked the beginning of the end of what I had known since I become a mom. Because despite all the difficulties, the long days, and the heartache that came with you, you were mine. I know what you do each day, I hear all the things you say, I share these experience with you and I know what makes you sad. I can stop the kid whose pushing you, I can ask you what your thinking and I know everybody who is around you. But now we get to open the door and it is your turn to run head-on into this world. I know you are ready, I know you are a little scared like I am, but I know that even with some of the bad, just like we've had these past 5 years, that there will be so many great and wonderful things that I cannot even begin tell you about just waiting for you! You are beautiful inside and out, you are smart, you are brave and most of all you know who are. Please continue to care about others as much as you do now, many friends count on you to be there to help them through a bad day. Don't stop learning new things, your thirst for knowledge will push you to know great things. Remember where you came from, for that is where we are all trying to get back to. And most of all, absolutely the most important, don't forget I was there in the beginning and will be through it all. I cannot wait to see what trouble the next phase brings, for each day with you is better than the last. But I really hope I can start getting some sleep...
Happy Birthday Braelyn Paige!