Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

So tomorrow you will be turning 6! Wow, that is a big number and what a journey it has been... Lately we have been fighting a lot, maybe because we are together everyday or because you are more your own person now and then again just a kid. Your dad & I tend to forget sometimes because you are wise beyond your years. You shine wherever you go, you make everyone around you fall in love. You are adored by your family. You are so very sweet and loving. You are my little companion in life, walking hand in hand everyday.

You are now sleeping late, swimming a whole lot, in love with the Disney Channel, changing schools for the fall, reading a little bit on your own, about to lose your first 2 teeth and very afraid of losing your teeth, you have traveled on your own many times already and make friends with the whole plane, you are fascinated with everything Asian and want to celebrate your next birthday in China, you can say Hello in 7 languages, you love to dance, you love makeup, you love to wash your hair, you want your own laptop, you still suck your thumb and use a satin blankie to sleep, you talk and talk and talk, you are very confident and can start a conversation with just about anyone, you are brave, you love movies, you love Colombia, feel Colombian and would love to live there, you love being my baby and having me take care of you, you love to cry for just about any reason, you are friends with all our neighbors, you love to dance, you love to draw and paint and do crafts, you are very fluent in English and Spanish, you love clothes, shopping and purses, you want to travel the world, you are simply magnificent.

Tonight is like 6 years ago, a sleepless night. I was 195lbs and nights were endless...you were quite comfortable inside my tummy and had no desire to come out. We were told that if nothing happened the birth would be induced Friday morning (Yehh, this is the first year your birthday falls on the day you were born). So we were just waiting, so excited to know you would be coming home soon. The day of your birth, we were scheduled to arrive at the hospital at 6 am. Daddy was working at a bar and came home at about 4:30 am with some 30 balloons, of every color of the rainbow, for me...for Us. It was so sweet and surprising... Your birth was rather quick, you came out squinting your eyes just looking at me. I was crying as you were looking at me like "hi Mom". You were so tiny that when I picked you up you would not reach my belly button and I always wondered for how long I would be able to carry you. I am proud to say I still can, even with one arm and with you weighing a bit over 50lbs. Sad to say though I am getting close to my limit, you are densely built... but then again moms get this super natural strength that sustain us through the greatest of challenges or help us pick our child as if they were still babies.

Many people say you are the way you are because of the way I have raised you...maybe so but I truly think I can't take all the credit. A lot of it is you, you are an old soul in a little girl's body. I believe we pick our parents to guide us on the journey of our lives. Somehow you looked down and picked me and for this I really just have to say Thank You. You have brighten my life more then I could have imagined, you have allowed me to overcome many fears, you teach me so much everyday with your wisdom. You are my biggest blessing and raising you is my masterpiece.

Happy Birthday mi Nena Hermosa. I love you.