Thursday, October 7, 2010

make a wish!

My first child was a girl. She was perfect except everyone under the sun would assume she was a boy.  I became obsessed with wanting her hair to grow.  The things you think about when you are twenty and kind of dumb…

Our second girl was born almost exactly two years after the first.  This is how she looked fresh from the womb:004

Umm…it’s okay if you laugh (just a little).  She had so much hair we couldn’t believe it. She had flocks of it even all over her back and shoulders.  She was like the monchichi (remember those?) I always wanted.

monchichi

I loved washing her hair, by 7 months all that hair was gone.  It would be matted on her crib sheet like a cat slept there.  Did you know baby hair falls out like that?  She is a gem, my Maggie.  

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She is so full of compassion and energy and makes the sun shine on the cloudiest of days.

If you haven’t guessed today is her birthday, her sweet 16.  I should be saying how 16 years has gone by so fast but truthfully it feels like she has been a teenager forever.  One day she was a scrawny kid who rollerbladed in the house and sat on her own arm and broke it (while we lived in the Netherlands mind you and my husband was away and I had no idea where the emergency room was).  Then overnight she was a young lady that would spend her allowance on make up and carry a big purse that weighs 43 pounds.

She has been taller than me for a few years and snaps her gum and says “y’all” like Flo from Alice.  She is her father’s daughter in that her ambition knows no bounds.  And also that she has huge parts of intelligence and craziness mixed together.  One moment she will be looking at vintage jewelry then the next she will be playing football in the yard.

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Happy sweet sixteen, Mags!

 

6 comments:

Andi said...

Okay, so tasteless, nosy gal that I am, I just did the math...You're only 36????

Why are you so much wiser than my 34 year old self? I thought you looked young, but you just seem so wise!

And, don't hate me because I had a monchichi.

Oh, and my youngest looked just like that...Only her hair came back in sandy blonde! Don't you love those crazy eyed hospital pictures? I actually didn't buy one...I feared that crazy look was somehow a reflection on me...

Turns out the craziness probably was!

Emily said...

She is beautiful Kate.

We have a baby picture of our first daughter like that only my husband is holding up her head and it looks like he's choking her. Her eyes are just like that.

Freckled Hen said...

Ouch it pains me to admit this, Andi but I'm 38.
Thanks for the comments...you guys make me laugh!

Unknown said...

What a beautiful daughter--well, that last picture for sure! ;) I forgot about monchichi!

Leila said...

Beautiful girl! Happy Birthday to her!

Yes I do know about falling out hair. My #2 daughter had thick curly hair and it slowly fell out so that by the time she was 2 she had *no hair at all*!! Yikes!!
Then it grew back and she has incredibly thick straight hair.

Even though you are a spring chicken I don't hate you.

Love and kisses!

Prairie Rose said...

Okay.
So,I opened up your blog this morning and this is what the cat sitting on my lap heard "What!?! There is no way she could be old enough to have a 16 year old daughter!"
Whereas Miss Kitty got up and sniffed the computer screen and looked at me in agreement.
When you posted a pic of yourself awhile back I thought that you and I were about the same age (26) or you were even a little younger.
Never the less,Your daughter is a very lovely young lady and I wish her a beautiful day!
Everyone thought I was a boy when I was a baby too.
I was bald till I was three years old and it didnt help that my parents were dirt poor and I had to wear my boy cousins hand-me-downs.
No wonder I dont leave the house in less I am wearing dangley earrings and heels!
I want to make sure people know I am a girl!