Today's reason I am excited to turn 26

Recently, my mom came into town and brought with her my birth certificate for me to keep. I was briefly glancing over it when I noticed something that just went all over me. All of my life my mother has told me that I was born at 7:06pm on July 15, 1988. Well, in actuality, she only got most of that right. She blames it on the fact that she went through 36 hours of dry labor only to end up having to have a C-section. She says she was so delirious by that point that she didn't know which way was up, much less what time of day it was. Yes, I have heard about this birth experience more than once.

So today's reason for why I am looking forward to my birthday is because this year I get to do something for the very first time. I get to celebrate my actual time of birth, 7:06 A.M. It seems like a small detail, but I always believed I was a night baby. And everyone would always joke that that is why I absolutely hate mornings and always stay up way into the wee hours of the morning. Well, I guess we were all wrong. I am actually a morning baby!

The only bad part? I have no idea how I am actually going to make myself get up that early in the morning to be able to celebrate the actual moment of my birth! But I better figure it out since I have been off by 12 hours every other year. This is my first year to get it right!

Have you ever found out something about yourself that surprised you? Share below!

Where has the time gone?

I can't seem to figure out how Ella became 9 1/2 months already. Did I blink at some point and miss the last 9 months?? How did we get to the point of her cruising around the furniture, laughing constantly, having a personality, and being the most important part of my life? When did things change? For the life of me, I can't figure out where the time has gone. I know everyone says that it goes by so quickly, but they are downplaying it! It feels like just yesterday when I had plans to move to North Carolina, when I found out I was pregnant, when I went into labor, when we celebrated her six month birthday. How did all of this pass by without me realizing that time was slipping away from me?

Somehow Ella is a big girl already, and I am overwhelmed by it. Next thing I know she will be going to pre-school, grade school, high school, and then college. How do mothers handle this? I can't imagine letting her out of my sight even for daycare. How am I going to handle a future of letting go?? Even now, I become so overcome with such a deep love for her that I am caught off guard by it. I love everything about this child. Daycare is a fast-approaching likelihood, and I am panicking on the inside about it. I keep talking about how badly I am ready to go back to work, but how can I leave her? I know mothers go through this everyday, but it doesn't make it any easier. My attachment to Ella and vice versa is so strong that I do not know how to spend a day without her. I've never been away from her for more than 4-5 hours.

I'm watching her sleep right now as I blog and drink my decaf, and there is such a peacefulness about her that it immediately gives me peace. Ella is the most important thing to me. Now I get why nothing compares to a mother's love for her child.