Yes, You

For me?

For me?

All for me.

Sleeping through the fireworks on the Fourth of July.

Lazing away the summer.

Growing.

And helping.

Today, Laura, you are 1. Today you are no longer measured in days or months or feathery baby breaths but in years.

Tonight you blew out the candle (with a little help from your sisters) at Grandma's house.

Tomorrow you'll continue to walk all over me, demanding to know, "what's that?" no fewer than a dozen times an hour.

Before you were born, a long, long time before you were born, I told Daddy that I thought we might have four children. Four bouncy babies with bright eyes and lots of hair. Was it maybe a premonition? A self-fulfilling prophecy? Or did I just know in my heart that the day you came home to us would be the day our family was made whole?

I think I just knew.

Of course there would have been no way to know your belly laugh or your funny curls or your determination that completely rocks the whole birth-order theory. How could I have predicted a way for us to have four feisty girls vying for firstborn position?

In a miracle of math it's exactly what you are. You are my cuddly baby and my Type A go-getter. You are the light of the dinner table and the laughter of the day. Your sisters adore you. Your daddy is completely wrapped around your pudgiest pinky. I am enthralled with your sense of humor and your dimpled chin. And I'm a little afraid of your scary smarts.

Happy Birthday, Laura. We love you.