Happy Birthday Molly

Well it is official...our baby is five!

All the cliché statements seem to apply.  They grow so fast…I blinked and she was five…time flies…I can’t believe how big she is.  All of them are so very true.

Five years ago we headed to the hospital in a snow storm with wind chills below zero.  Our usual 15 minute drive took almost an hour.  The room in which I delivered, after a 2 hour labor, did not have heat.  It was 60 degrees in the room so Molly spent the first hour of her life under the heating lights.  She came out so fast that the doctor almost didn’t make it into the room!  It was an adventurous start to an adventurous five years.

In five years we have gone through a lot with our Molly.  She suffered through horrible thrush and then kidney infections in her first six months of life.  She was diagnosed with a developmental delay and had to attend intensive physical therapy for a year.  She didn’t sit up until she was 9 months old, crawl until she was 13 months, or walk until she was 20 months.  She had more medical tests in her first year of life than many people have in a lifetime. She needed glasses at 3.  She has suffered through pink eye, strep throat, chicken pox, flu, bronchitis, and countless other illnesses her brothers have shared.  And yet through all of this, she has smiled.  Teachers and friends describe her as easy going, happy, friendly, and a joy to be around. 

So here we are, five years later.  The sky was full of sunshine today.  There was very little snow to be found and the temperatures reached into the 40s, which is a stark contrast to her entrance into the world.  We think it signals that good things are in store for Molly as she enters her school years.  We wish that she is surrounded by good friends who help keep that smile on her face.  We hope that she sees very little of doctors and hospitals in the coming years!  We pray that she remains easy going, happy and friendly.  But no matter what is in store for her, she will always remain a joy for us to be around.