Abby turned 5 today. Seems like just yesterday she was toddling down the hall learning to walk and now she's preparing for Kindergarten. :( I'm not sure if it's b/c she's a girl or what but I'm already feeling the weight of sending her off to school. It seems harder then it was to send Luke? Maybe b/c their personalities are so different? Luke really thrives on being w/ other kids. He seems to do well staying very busy. Abby is more of a homebody. Enjoys snuggling, watching TV, staying in her pj's! She drags her feet to preschool everyday but is happy as a lark when I peek in her class and pick her up. Maybe she's just not a morning person? like her Mommy and Daddy?! . So Abby wanted to go to Chuck-E-Cheese for her 5th Birthday. Blah! I'm not a fan of germs, kids running in every direction and loud noise! I actually booked a gymnastics party b/c I didn't like her idea. But after much thought and her pleading w/ us we gave in. I think all she wanted to do was go in the ticket blaster!! This girl surprised me today. She's quiet at school and w/ friends till she gets to know them. But at the party she was out their dancing w/ the stranger who hosted the party... she was very anxious to get up to dance w/ Chucky. They actually had to have her sit back down a few times! :) She was not afraid of the ticket blaster (high winds in your face blowing tickets everywhere). She's got an interesting personality.. Quiet but confident. A shy risk taker? She's definitely got a bit of her Mama's blood in her. She likes a thrill! We found this out at Snow Trails a few weeks ago. I took the two big kids tubing. Luke had one ride and he was done. I secretly would have been content to go home too. I prayed the whole way down asking that we please please please don't flip b/c seconds before we got on the magic carpet and headed up the hill a child Luke and Abby's age crashed pretty good and freaked us all out.So Luke went home... and Abby said "I wanna go again!" she loved it! So we spent the night just the two of us.. Luckily we never flipped. (thanks to my prayers!) :) and Abby and I had some great time together. Some days I feel like the two of us don't connect very well but I was reminded of what a sweet little girl she is when we spent some alone time together. It's gotta be hard to be the middle child. .Here are some pictures from Abby's birthday. Opening her new Webkinz dog blowing out her candles and Luke in the background blowing too!! :)

Belle birthday cake!

Mama and Abby at her party.

Waiting for them to turn on the ticket blaster!! LOVE IT!

You can't watch your child turn another year old w/ out taking a walk down memory lane. 5 years ago today I headed to the hospital for an induction. I had no desire what-so-ever to go through the pain I did w/ Luke's delivery. I was determined to get my epidural ASAP. We arrived at 8am.. and it was about 9:37? when Abby was born! The epidural guy had me sign the papers then left me for surgery and said he'd be back! :( he never made it back!!! I'll never forget the way the nurses looked at me and commented asking if took Lamaze? They couldn't believe I was in so much pain as early as I was. I felt like a wimp. but in minutes.. I'll never forget how my body just clamped down on that baby.. I was terrified at what I felt. Rich and I were all alone.. forget the call button! I screamed out "I'M PUSHING!!!!" w/ big eyes... I was terrified! The nurses ran in and said "oh honey you don't want to push if your not dilated yet". She checked me.. and sure enough.. I was ready and so was Abby. Dr. Schoutko just happened to be walking by and was not even on call. They pulled him in.. he had no time to change.. they couldn't even prepare the bed for me before out came Abby. Her favorite part of the story was how she peed on Daddy while he was holding her before they took her away! So while I would never choose to deliver w/ no drugs again.... I feel empowered that I did it and survived! :)

Happy Birthday Abby! We love you!