The Start of it All

I love this photo.  This is Emmy right after she was born and handed to Neal.  She was all eyes when she came out, and when she went to her father, she just stared at him, and he stared at her.  For me, this picture marks the start of our journey as parents.  And what a journey it is!  We are still in the early stages of parenthood, with a 5-year-old, a new 4-year-old, and a 10 month old.  We have learned a lot, loved a lot, forgiven and appologized a lot, we have gone through a lot, we have struggled to make right decisions for our family...and we've made some good ones and some that aren't as good.  We have won some and lost some, we have made mistakes, we have disagreed, we...well, okay I...have cried a lot, we've had many surprises, seen and been a part of lots of silliness, lots of laughs, lots of tears, seen lots of poop, puke and bottoms.  We have learned to listen better, be more patient, learned more self discipline, and learned to try to take things in stride and keep it all in perspective.  We don't always succeed, but we keep trying. 

We are parents.  And it started here.

I am grateful to be a parent.  It has been a life-long desier to be a mother, and I couldn't ask for a better spouse, companion, friend to go through it all with. 

I'm grateful for the journey.  I'm not the same person I was when that picture was taken (thankfully I wasn't pictured!).  I've grown a lot, matured a bit, learned to relax more and sleep less, and become more of a multi-tasker.  And oh how much more I have to learn!