Our baby girl, Mariana, turned five yesterday. It’s surreal, really, because it seems in many ways like she was just born and in other ways it seems like we’ve been a family of four forever. Five is such a cool age. It’s that “no longer a baby, but still a little kid” age. She’s still very much in that stage where she thinks her mommy and daddy are cool and loves to give us plenty of hugs and kisses. Meanwhile, she’s independent enough to play in the backyard with her sister and is quite skilled at entertaining herself. Mariana will start kindergarten in August and, let me just say, that is something that she is pretty thrilled about already. She is bummed that she can’t start NOW, actually.
Mariana is a giggle girl. She loves to laugh and play. She has an imagination as big as the sky. She loves to pretend to teach a class which mainly consists of stuffed animals. She’s a fantastic little mommy to her dolls. She makes up songs and stories all day long. She got a doll house for her birthday and just about every mini LaLa Loopsy doll ever created, so she has already spent hours playing with those. She loves to sing and dance, but doesn’t so much like for us to think it’s cute when she does that. She reminds us to say the blessing before most of our meals — just in case we forget. She mostly says the “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayer at night, but sometimes she says her own prayer and she is always sweet and thankful when she prays. Mariana has a spark of mischief and a whole lot of curiosity. Ever since she’s been able to walk, we’ve said she’s an adventure waiting for a place to happen. She’s sweet, spunky, smart, sassy and such a delight. We are so thankful that five years ago, God entrusted a second beautiful baby girl to our care.
This is Mariana when she was one day wearing her going home outfit, but all swaddled up because it was chilly that day:
And, here she is before her “almost” sleepover birthday party on Friday evening:
It’s pretty hard to believe that that baby girl is already five, but…she sure is. She’s five and loving it!!
Thank you, God, for Mariana. Here’s to MANY more happy birthdays!
Blessings,
Kelly