Jenna's First Birthday

It's hard to describe how a mother truly loves her child.  Words don't seem to suffice.  Love is pure and deep and everlasting when you have a child.  No mistake or poor attitude can make you love your child any less.  No matter how often my children mess up or how mean they are to me or anything of the sort, one thing will always be constant and that is my love for them. 

When our little Jenna Marie was born, I was overwhelmed by the experience.  It was a hard delivery and completely unanticipated.  I remember when she came out and they took her away, all I could think of was how happy I was that it was over and the pain was gone.  I quickly bonded with her and it's been nothing but love since.  Jenna truly has a special spirit.  Our family needed her.  She brings a calmness to the chaos.  Before I had her, we used to joke that none of our kids would be mellow.  Josh and I are both strong willed, sometimes stubborn people (OK, always), so we knew our kids never stood a chance at being calm.  However, Jenna is just that.  She has the sweetest spirit about her.  She can just sit on my lap all day and be as content as could be.  By this age, Andrew was running circles around me and climbing up the walls.
Jenna is quick to smile.  She rarely cries.  She'll sleep anywhere and doesn't require entertainment to keep her happy.  With that being said, we are constantly playing peek-a-boo, singing songs to her, and asking her to wave to us.  She eats it up too.  She loves clapping for herself when she's proud of what she's done.  She's recently started brushing her own hair and likes to put on Anna's headbands by herself.  This girl has melted our hearts.  I would suffer every ounce of that pain again right this minute if it meant she could always be mine.  I truly and deeply love this child and all of her goodness.  It has been the best year of my life taking care of her.  Happy Birthday sweet Jenna.

Look how's she's grown.

I always feel nostalgic on birthdays.  I love thinking back to all the events and excitement leading up to their births.  I hate the pain of labor but I love the joy and anticipation that comes with it.  It truly is the best time of life.  We spent the day playing together, looking at old pictures from when she was born, reading her birth story again, and watching some home movies of the day she was born.  It was a great day to celebrate a great little girl.  

We found some old toys in the attic and wrapped them up for her.  She loved it.  We also bought her a few new outfits, and the big kids loved helping her open them.

I love the sequence of these next three pictures.  Watch her facial expression.

Hahaha!  "That was funny Dad."

I wanted to get some cake smashing photos of little Jenna but I forgot that she's a "lady" and doesn't like to get her hands dirty.  Pardon me.

We tried forcing her hands in it and she looked confused and then crawled away.  Ha!

It was a wonderful day and she's a perfect daughter.  We're totally smitten!