Our sweet girl is 5!

Girlfriend!

I woke up this morning and kissed your Daddy before the sun was up ~ and said remember what we were doing 5 years ago? At that time we were already at the hospital, pacing the halls and giggling in between contractions, eagerly awaiting your arrival. You were by far my easiest delivery, and you will always hold a very special place in my memory as you were a very treasured and longed for VBAC. Jules, from the moment I pulled you up onto my heart, you claimed your place in it.

You are an amazing little girl. You are so whip smart baby girl. Your memory and recall astounds me.

The other day your Dad and I were getting dressed to go out. You were hanging around with us. Jake was rolling around on the floor, and I teased him, saying, "Jake, that's what you should do if you ever find yourself on fire".

You said, "Yep. Jake, you just STOP, DROP, and ROLL JAKE ROLL". I started laughing, and asked you where on Earth you had heard that? You told me that you had fire safety in your 2's class.

I said "Julia, we are going to have to start renting out your brain to companies, you have such a good memory". You said "What is renting, Mama?". I said that it would mean that we could let companies use your brain, and charge them money to do so, on an hourly basis.

Without skipping a beat you said "Well, if you did that you would have to give me all of the money you earn because it would be MY brain they were using!". A budding capitalist you grasped the concept in a moment.

You are a little mother hen, you love to take care of and nurture both Jake and Luke. You are a meticulous student, and pay close attention to any task you are working on. You love to play dress up, the fancier the better. You are very into fashion, yet you never clash your opinions with me ~ you ask me what I think and you are always willing to work together to come up with an outfit. You love to snuggle, love to be tickled, love to laugh. Your laugh is infectious. You love to be in the kitchen cooking with me, and you make baking a lot of fun. You have become a great swimmer, and are starting to love sports, which thrills me.

I am so grateful that I somehow ended up with a daughter amongst all of the Mangan boys, Jules. I treasure our relationship. You are (at the moment) my easiest child ~ so much fun to be around, so fun to talk to, and I love hearing your thoughts on the world. You can sometimes have a hard time if you have to say you are sorry ~ and you don't always deal well in the rare moments you DO have to be corrected, but we are working on those things. Though you can get very upset in the moment, given some time and space you always come around. I see so much of myself in you, Jules. I hope that I can help you navigate the joys and challenges of having a passionate nature, baby girl, because its such a gift, but it can be hard on the heart, as well.

I love the little girl you are, Julia. Thank you for being a ray of blond curly sunshine in our family. I love watching you becoming the person who you are, and I love every inch of your beautiful soul.

Welcome to 5, sweet thing.