Lucy Nadine | Cincinnati Children’s Photography

So, today my girl turned 7. I’m going to try really really hard not to get so sappy that I make myself cry. My labor was long, (28 hours) hard, (2 hours of pushing) and exhausting. The first year with Lucy was much more of the same. She was up every night EVERY. SINGLE. HOUR. for the first 5 months, didn’t sleep through the night until she was 1 year old, and was colicky. Man, it was beyond tiring. I’m mostly going to remind myself of this today because as I scroll through baby pictures of this girl she had the best cheeks of life. I’m only kidding a little when I tell you I measure the cuteness of babies on their cheek size. Jesus must have known I needed a chipmunk-cheeked kid and gave me Lucy Nadine. See the cheeks?!

Now that she’s no longer a baby, I can tell you she is NOTHING like she was as an infant. She is sweet, she loves BIG, and she is my helper. The other day I had her do some chores before we had guests over and she cleaned the bathroom, cleaned her room + made her bed, and then asked if she could take over sweeping for me. When we were done she looked at me and said, “Mom, is there anything else I can do for you?” All of the stress of having a spotless home melted away and I responded, “Let’s cuddle!” Her sweet little face lit up like Christmas. And then I talked to her about The 5 Love Languages and which ones we each thought applied best to us. I told her “acts of service” was one of the top ways I felt love and we came to the conclusion that “physical touch” was one of hers! I knew she wanted to speak my love language so I was so excited to be able to speak her’s back. It’s so cool how God uses kids to help us learn more about Him and the way He loves us. I’m eternally grateful He saw fit to gift us with this sweet girl to raise and to teach about Him. Happy Birthday, Lu. We love you so much!

 

7 lbs 6 ounces of pure cheeks.