5 Years Ago Today...

...our beautiful little girl, Samantha Elizabeth, was born at 5:19am, weighing in at 7 lbs. 11 oz (a very "convenient" weight, Steve likes to joke...get it? 7-11?), and measuring 19.75".  Our first, last and only child, a child we'd tried for for many years.  A perfect, crying, pink child with a lot of hair, an unusually short umbilical cord (the cause of the slowing of her heartbeat during labor), and an extra chromosome.

Poor Steve got suckered into a) standing at the wrong end of the bed with b) a pair of surgical scissors (or whatever it was that they use) in his hand and a slippery umbilical cord being thrust at him by the doctor, who said cut here.  Two things he emphatically swore he would not do, ever.  Oops.  He really wasn't in a position to say no at that point, though. 

Aside from a pesky hole in her heart (announced to us the next day by the cardiologist we have loved now for 5 years) requiring surgery at 4 months, and a mild case of jaundice, she was healthy enough to come home with us two days later.

Samantha has been the most amazing thing either of us has ever done, as well as the most amazing person either of us has ever encountered.  Down syndrome is irrelevant in this post, so I won't talk about what the extra chromosome means.  It's just a small part of who she is.

Samantha is beautiful.
Samantha is smart.
Samantha is stubborn.
Samantha is determined.
Samantha has a wicked sense of humor.
Samantha has a true heart of gold, with empathy to soothe a whole world's population of pain or sadness. 

Samantha is my best friend. 

And now that day is here, the day our baby can well and truly be called a big girl.  The changes in her this year, the growth and development that have been so obvious, are staggering.  The maturity she displays, and the sensibility, the sensitive soul she holds within her, the academic developments she's picked up along the way...I'm overwhelmed.  More than we could ever have thought would occur this year. 

FIVE. 

Happy, happy birthday, beautiful Samantha.  We love you more than words can express.