five.

i remember it like it was yesterday. i was carrying my leopard print pillow up to labor and delivery, wearing my cute bright pink velour sweatsuit and just had my toes polished bright red... yes i know i could no longer see my toes, but in my mind, they were going to be one of the first things my daughter saw, so they had to be perfectly polished. i was being induced because my baby was "getting too big" and should have been around 7 lbs.

the first IV went in my arm about 8:30. this wasn't so bad. the pitocin was kicked up a few notches about 10:30. hmmmm, a little bit uncomfy. the nice nurse came in and asked me if i wanted an epidural. WHA? i can have one of those things now? even though i'm not in THAT much pain? SURE.... sign me up! i don't really remember much about the rest of the time, except for my legs being UBER numb and the dude that gave me the epidural telling me that I probably shouldn't be watching ER reruns (as they were stapling a guy's head closed) perhaps he was right, but who cares, i was in la la land!

it hit 5 pm, then the fun began. there was shift change. my very nice drug friendly nurse was replaced by nurse crachet who proceeded to turn OFF my epidural so "i could feel" everything. literally those were her words, but she could have been speaking russian as far as I was concerned because that statement literally made NO sense to me! why would they turn off this miracle juice?

after 2 fun filled hours of hard pushing, my 7 lb baby turned out to be a 9 lbs 1 ounce, perfect pink bundle of joy. she was the perfect baby. from her beautiful nose, to her pudgy little fingers, she was perfect. she slept through the night from the day we brought her home. by 3 weeks, she was holding her head up. yes, i like to call her my lil' over achiever. she has brought me so much joy in my life. i honestly don't know what we use to do without her in our lives... all i know is life must have been VERY boring.

my little punk turns 5 today... we will be celebrating at the happiest place on earth... and i for one, couldn't be any happier.

i love you aubrey grace. you are my sunshine.