Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Today is my baby girl's 6th birthday and I'm incredibly sentimental.

Six years ago tonight - at exactly 8:40pm - our first baby was born via c-section. Not exactly the delivery I had planned, but in the end she was safe and in my arms. From that moment on, I was hooked. I was a mom and I couldn't believe it. Everyone says that motherhood changes you, but I never imagined I would change as much as I did when I had my daughter.

Nani and I have a special bond. You see, when she was only 6 weeks old, My Marine had to leave. He was transferred to a new unit in Colorado -- which meant that we would be moving too. We couldn't go with him right away because we just had no place to live and I had to pack up everything in our house in Virginia. Here I was -- a new mom, totally on my own with a new baby. It wasn't easy. I did a lot of things wrong, but I think I did a lot of things right too. I loved knowing that I was the only one taking care of her -- I was the one to calm her crying, to feed her, to bathe her, to make her smile, to hold her while I rocked her to sleep. For that short while we lived in a cocoon. She was mine -- all mine. I didn't have to share her with anyone.

When she was 4 months old, we reunited with My Marine and moved cross country to Colorado. Just a short time after, he deployed to Iraq -- and once again we were on our own. I made sure that she knew who her daddy was -- pictures, videos, webcams. But deep down I knew that she was still all mine.

Today she is 6 years old. I remember every single moment of the day of her birth. As I hugged her goodnight last night, I still remember how small she was when the nurses put her in my arms. As she said "goodnight mommy", I still remember her first word (Dada) and the first time she said mama. As she gave me a last smile, I remember the long nights of rocking her while she was teething...her little gums so red and raw.

Little does she know that she saved me. You see, she wasn't planned. By our standards, she was an "oops".  Even though WE did not plan her....to this day, I believe that GOD planned her. He knew that during my relocation and my husband's deployment that I would need something to keep me going. Something to give me a reason to get out of bed in the morning. She was and is my true angel from heaven.

Happy birthday baby girl. Mommy loves you more than you'll ever know.