Across the Miles: A Birthday Wish for my First Born...

Twenty seven years ago today was one of the very best days of our lives...

We had our first little baby, a little rosebud girl. Complete with lots of dark hair that the nurses exclaimed over, a little button nose, and rose petal lips. She came out frowning at the light overhead! I remember that like it was yesterday, how she blinked her eyes as if saying "Shut that big sucker down, it's blinding me!!". I remember thinking how much she looked like daddy.

Our little 8# 13 oz. bouncing bundle of joy was happy to be here!

I was shocked that she kept her blue eyes, neither of us have blue eyes. Little did we know, her dark brown hair would grow in blond as could be!

She and I talked a lot, her and daddy rocked a lot and she was an astute observer of EVERYTHING. She thought sleep was a waste of time, and was very curious about everything that went on in our house.

(Her thing about not liking to sleep has since changed!)

She was such a curious little whip, she even liked to sit on my lap when I sewed...
(I enjoyed making her frilly dresses!)

Soon we sold our new Camero because car seats don't work out well with two-door vehicles. We bought a big behemoth of a Pontiac....with four doors. We were a family and we loved it.

Here she is around her first Christmas when she would have been around 11 months sportin' some new teeth and with her new Cabbage Patch doll...they were the "thing" that year, the first year they came out. Daddy bought hers from his work and couldn't wait to give it to her.

She has curlers in her hair...she was born with long hair and it grew like crazy. She needed her bangs cut so they would be out of her eyes by the time she was a few months old.

We had someone looking up to us now, following us in life. The realization that we were parents and this little one was totally our responsibility was both awesome and a little scary. A new parent really learns to pray!

Well, she grew up into a cutie pie and I'll just let the pictures roll now, what fun little girl she was, a little goofball really and she still is a lot of fun to be with; a regular little character. One of my favorite traits about Jamie is her work ethic and her sense of responsibility and she's a caring person who's generous to a fault.

Here she is at about age 5 with her little neighborhood friend, Katie.

Her second birthday.

My mom made this frilly little outfit. Jamie, and all the little girls in our family could not get away from ruffles and lace. I treated this kid like she was a doll, always changing her clothes. Whatever she had was passed down to my sister's little girls and it all got used for quite some time. So cute, and so much fun for moms to play dress up with little girls!

Maybe that is why her favorite outfit when she was older were a good pair of blue jeans, a plaid button up the front shirt and a pair of cowboy boots!

Oh, the poor little girl, I TIED a ring to her finger and around her wrist for pictures! (So she couldn't swallow it!)

I made her this little yellow dress with eyelet trim, one of my first attempts at making her dresses. I loved all the pastels. And I thought that tiny little patent leather purse was the cutest thing I ever did see! (And, her ring is on her finger without a tie this time!)

Grandma made her this confection of a lavender dress for her first Christmas, oh how I loved this one, it made the rounds to Jamie's cousins and I still have this in a box in the attic. She would twirl in this and looked just like a little porcelain doll!

Here she's showing her adorable chubby cheeks as well as her serious side, probably trying to figure the camera out. She grew up to take some photography and darkroom classes and is a really good little amateur photographer.

And a little Polly Flinder's pinafore dress in pink and white with the classic back lighting done in photo studios back then.

She became a big sister at about 17 months...and was always mom's little helper.

Oh, I just love this look in her kindergarten school picture!

She grew up, and was a great student, always her teachers liked her and couldn't say enough good about this little quiet girl. Little did we know that all through early elementary she had a substantial hearing loss and we worked on that with various surgeries, multiple sets of ear tubes, tonsillectomy and two adenoidectomies and she still did very well in all her grades...

We tried shorter hair in upper elementary and junior high. This was about the time another little brother joined the family. She was Luke's other mother....the best big sister in the whole world. He worshiped her.

She went through the mouth surgeries, roof expanders and years of braces, unfortunately for this girl she had two sides of family with tooth issues. She did as she was told by her orthodontist and came through with beautiful teeth.

This was around the time we got in the only car accident we'd ever been in and Jamie was the only one with injuries. She came through it with double black eyes, body bruises, contusions in her scalp and a pretty good concussion. She was a tough little spitfire.

Retainer!

A beautiful young lady.

One of her senior pictures I took out by the old barn in summer, with one of her kitties. So Jamie.

And we got a few senior shots in the winter with full snow. I love this one. She didn't inherit looking so darn cute in a hat from me....she got it from her little papa....he wore a cowboy hat and cowboy boots every day.

This is after her graduation from college and her move south on a visit up to see us one summer. She has one associates degree in business and one in automotive technology. She finished both in a little less than three years.
(One of her favorite classes was transmissions!!)

She always wants to visit Frankenmuth when she comes home....

Here's Jamie and her new husband, Thad on a visit home.

Nothin' more fun than bein' with my girl...

And a big, wonderful, happy day in her life, and a proud day for her mom and daddy.

And now, they are about to become a family of their own....and I'll get to watch my daughter become a mother. I am so happy for them and so excited to meet this new little fella.

It will be a special year for her 27th. They're about to buy their first house and about to become parents. Next year, she'll be bouncing a baby while she eats her birthday cheesecake!

Happy Birthday, Jamie. Me and Daddy love you to pieces.

And If I could, I would set you up on a chair in front of this scenery for a week for your birthday present.....

XOXO

(Jamie took the photo above at the beach at Gulf Shores, AL)