Today my daughter turns 24!  Wow, it seems like just yesterday she was a little tiny tot.  Well, she was never actually tiny.  I can still remember walking down the hall of the hospital to look at the babies in the nursery and I was looking for Kristen.   The baby I thought was mine wasn’t when I pointed to the little chubby cheeked baby and I said, wow, look at that little baby how chubby she is.  My friends laughed because the little chubby baby was mine!  This picture is a classic “sis” picture because she seemed to always have her fingers in her mouth.  I can still remember some great advice from this woman I never met before that I wish now I would have heeded.  I was walking through Costco and Kristen was in the stroller sucking on her two fingers and this lady came up to me and said you should really break her of that habit right now.  Of course my first thought was mind your own business lady, and I also thought it was so cute watching her suck on her two fingers.  BIG mistake!!  That was one of the hardest habits ever to break, who knows, maybe secretly at night she still sucks on those two fingers.  Another classic Kristen story was when I was trying to break her of the habit, I thought I would just put a little drop of tabasco sauce on her finger and when she put it in her mouth she wouldn’t like the taste.  Nope, not even that worked.  Kristen was so strong willed that one time I saw her put her fingers in her mouth and I told her, “Kristen, take those fingers out of your mouth right now.”  What she did for her little three year old self shocked me.  She lowered her eyes at me, walked to the fridge, proceeded to get out the tabasco, put some on her fingers and then very promptly put them in her mouth, while at the same time glaring at me.  I knew than that I had met my match. 

I can say there is nothing like having a daughter, it was wonderful having my three sons, but I think every one needs at least one daughter!  Another great memory showing Kristen’s strong will was when it was her 6th birthday and we decided to have a pinata for her.  The little girls were all excited  to hit the pinata and since it was Kristen’s birthday we let her go first.  She swung and swung and finally her dad said ok sis, time for the other girls to have a turn.  I could see it coming…she gripped the bat harder and would not let it go.  Her dad tried to get it away from her but before we knew it she was running around the party chasing all the other little girls with the (thankfully) plastic bat. I guess I don’t need to add that the party ended shortly after that!  As you can imagine I was horrified at my little daughter doing this, but the adventures kept right on coming. 

Now she is 24 and let’s hope that one day (in the far, far, far off future) she has a little girl just like her!  Happy Birthday sis!  Love you, Mama