Happy Birthday Kylee!

Look how she has grown! Above is in 2006 below is yesterday

My number 3 baby just turned 12. I can't believe it. She is still stuck in my mind as a very little girl and she is getting so tall and grown-up looking, I don't like it. Because it also means I am getting old to have 3 girls over 5 ft tall. She is going through the transition of finding out who she is and if she is likable. Last year was bumpy, summer was depressing and this school year she is blossoming and building good friendships and is now building confidence.

We thought she was boy until the very end of my pregnancy when I started to doubt and an ultrasound somewhat confirmed my doubts. I had dream about a baby boy but what is so funny is she came out looking just like the baby boy in that dream. Just a girl instead. We were going to name her Kyle for a boy and choose Kylee for the girls name so that is how she got the spelling for her name. She was baby with a tremendous amount of dark brown hair. Now she still has a tremendous amount of brown hair. She was a very good baby. She cried in the car when we would stop at stop lights but all I had to do was bounce her car seat and she would be fine. If she fussed while we were at the store or anywhere else I just had to swing the seat and she would fall asleep. She loved her swing and so did I. When she was a toddler she was very painfully shy. When people would talk to her she would give them ugly looks but once she knew the people around her and they got to know her they would call her Smiley Kylee. She is our middle child and that has made her the peacekeeper and the steady easy going one. She has a sister with a strong personality above and below her. I have always been able to count on her to be good. But she would have moments where if she got in trouble she would do a super duper good job of it to make up for all that good time in between. One day she found blue finger nail polish. Never had problems with it before. She painted the little kids table, some walls, some door handles, some toys and numerous other things I discovered weeks after the episode.

She is a very good kid, very eager to please. She has a strong desire to touch and be touched and I don't think we do that enough for her. She is a good artist but needs to build more confidence there to know that she is. She is creating her own niche with music. She loves to sing and is developing her voice. She is learing trombone which will be an area all her own and I was impressed at how well she learned the violin last year as well. She is a little spacey maybe a smidgen lazy or there is a super laid back side to her so she needs to be pushed sometimes to step it up. Her younger sisters at times come close to showing her up but that never bothers her. She is kind of like sneaker wave. You think she is lagging behind and doesn't seem to be up with everyone else and then all of a sudden it clicks and she right there above and beyond everyone expectations. We work real hard to make sure Kylee isn't the lost middle child especially since she has sisters that can overshadow her with their dominant personalities. She has this little thing I call a curse and it is really sad. Whenever she has made something special it will get broke or like last night she lost her punch card at the carnival before she used the whole thing. Little disasters always seem to happen to her so I kind of guard her and guide her carefully to prevent it or make it better when it hits. Many times she just has to deal with it. She is still a little girl who likes her dolls and special things. It is OK with me if she takes her time to feel more grown -up. She loves her jewelry and feeling like a girly-girl. She doesn't follow the crowd. She knows what she likes. She loves Hello Kitty and loves movies-especially when princesses are a part of the story. I love how she gets along with her 2 younger sisters most of the time. She is a special girl with a special place in my heart. I can't believe she is old enough to be 12.

Happy Birthday Kylee!