For Arwen

 I think Arwen is my #1 fan of this blog.  She takes most of the pictures for it and she always loves to discover a new post.

Arwen turned 15 yesterday!  When your oldest has a birthday, it marks not only an important day in their life, but an important day in your own, the day you became a mother!

I remember so clearly the weeks after I was married.  Just settled into a cute apartment, volunteering at Project Rachel, discovering that we were expecting a month or so into our marriage.

I remember the friends I made at our Bradley Method childbirth classes (hi Heather!:)) I remember reading every single book I could on babies and watching hours and hours of "A Baby Story" on HGTV.

 I went overdue with Arwen and she was 9 pounds 1 ounce: big for a first.  But she was perfect as far as I was concerned, and I was just a little biased.;)  As she grew, we only loved and admired her more.  It's a really good thing we went on to have a whole bunch more kids...I'm pretty sure we were "those" parents with our "perfect" child.

Over the years, Arwen went through all sorts of phases: ballerinas, horses, and a really really long tom-boy phase.  She's sporty, but I wasn't sure we'd ever get past Tom Boy.  But we did!  She was always artistic and loved to write.  She discovered her love of languages and geography pretty early on.

As Arwen became a teen she grew into some new interests.  She taught herself to play the ukulele.  She decided she does NOT like to babysit other kids, but she is head-over-heels for her youngest siblings.  She's an awesome big sister.

I was so uncertain as to what to do for high school with Arwen.  Her Dad wasn't unsure, and pretty soon neither was Arwen!  I was honestly shocked when she told me that she wanted to be home schooled for high school in part because she was afraid she would lose the close relationship she has with her siblings and she was especially concerned about the youngest ones not growing up knowing her.

Arwen tells me just about daily how cheesy I am, and I'm guessing this post is going to make her cringe.  That's ok.  It's the sentimental old mom that I've grown into over the past 15 years.

 I hope I've appreciated every single day with this first child of mine.  She is as precious to me today as the day she was born.  Happy Birthday sweet 15 year old!  xoxo I love you! Your super cheesy, totally embarrassing Mom!;)