“Let me love you a little more before you’re not little anymore” – Michelle Thevenot

Last night I was laying in bed with Gabby retelling her the story of the day she was born. In some ways it does seem like yesterday and then in other ways it seems like it must be more than 11 years because we have had so many memories together as a family. But then I realize as much as she has grown up – she is somehow still so little. 

Is it possible that she will be off to college in 7 or 8 years? Yet she still needs our help reaching a book on a top shelf in her room. She is growing up right before our eyes, yet can sometimes still seem like my little tiny girl.

It is hard for me to reconcile her growing up and the fact that she isn’t a baby anymore. Yes she will always be my baby but she is maturing faster than I ever could have imagined. She reads voraciously, she draws like there’s no tomorrow, she writes like she’s old beyond her years, she rides a horse, walks her dogs, picks out her own clothes, makes her own bed yet she still snuggles with a stuffed animal every night, loves it when Keith asks her his nightly question of “who loves you more than anyone else in the whole wide world” and gives us the hugest hugs and kisses every morning.

I love this kid more than she will ever know. She melts my heart with her kindness and compassion. She drives me crazy with her desire to have nothing ever change, nothing ever. She rewards me with her quest for knowledge and her incredible imagination and elegance of prose. She is this amazing little girl that we are so fortunate to have in our lives. 

We will love her forever and ever but I know I will look back on these years and realize how fleeting they were. There are trying times but mostly rewarding times and quite honestly I wouldn’t change a thing. I’ll just enjoy each day while we are still lucky enough to have her under our roof as our little baby.

Happy 11th Birthday Gabriella!