Happy 5th Birthday Madeline!

It's hard to believe that my baby girl is now 5 years old...it seems impossible to me that she can already be 5!
In 5 years this child has taught me so much...patience, humility, determination...just to name a few.  She is always full of surprises..has been since the day she was born - she arrived 3 1/2 weeks early just in time to spend Thanksgiving in the hospital and has seriously been full of surprises since.  She has earned many nicknames including Chunky Monkey and Madzilla...ahhh the toddler years, she wore the name Madzilla well (remember I said she taught me a lot about patience).  She has taught me determination in 2 ways:  there is NOTHING and I do mean nothing that she lets stand in her way...which can be a good thing-I think, but makes it challenging for mommy to train.  She has also taught me about her determination in another way.  When she was just 3 weeks old, she had RSV and was in the hospital in the NICU for nearly a week...as a mommy there is nothing like seeing your baby placed in an ambulance with a critical care team and rushed off to the hospital and there is nothing like seeing your infant hooked up to all these monitors that are constantly beeping...scary times but she was determined to get better and she did =)

So today in honor of her 5th birthday, I wanted to share some pictures of our sweet little girl over the past 5 years:


The day she was born:

About 3 months old...she had her daddy wrapped around her little finger instantly:

About 6 months old sitting with her big brother Jack:

About 8 months old, first trip to the beach:

She turned 1 on Thanksgiving day:

Her 1st birthday party:

For the longest, I did not think she would ever have hair....then she finally got some.  Here she is at about 1 1/2 years:

Ahhh...determination....we hit the terrible 2's early...always an overachiever, lol:

About 20 months:

2nd birthday party:

2 years old:

2 1/2...getting her own little pedi:

3rd birthday party:

3 years old:

4th birthday party:

4 years old:

4 1/2 years old on a school field trip:

Our 5 year old:

and last night before she went to bed, she asked her daddy to paint her fingernails and toenails...of course he did as she requested...it was a precious site to see!

Happy Birthday to our precious, determined, full of energy, funny, fearless, little princess!  I have loved watching you grow and learn over the last 5 years and can not wait to see more!!!