Happy Birthday to Victoria

Victoria turned one year old on May 21st, 2006. One year. That is exactly 365 days that she has been making my world a much better and more fun place to live in.

I never thought that having children would make my life that much more worth living. Although I still don't understand how they work their magic, my daughters have definitely found the key that unlocks whatever the opposite of Pandora's Box is. They have unleashed a world of happiness, fun, love, wonder, awe, silliness, inspiration and simplicity that has filled my heart and soul to its maximum capacity. I don't think it can get better than this...yet, every time I feel I can't be happier, Elizabeth or Victoria do something that reminds me they can always make it better.

Victoria walks now. A year ago I held her in my arms and she was no more than a hungry and sleepy bundle. Victoria says papa (her favorite word), mama and thank you now. A year ago she made funny sounds that I had to figure out. How can life change so much in only one year? She is bright and happy and full of life. She has learned so much in the first year of her life that it only reminds me how wonderful it must be to have a clean and fresh mind where everything is new and everything is beautiful.

She is finding out that she can get her way with dad by pouting her lips, that she can melt me with kisses and that her sister is always good to her no matter what. She also knows for a fact that she is queen of her grandparent's hearts and it doesn't take much to get them to do what she wants. So, although there is much to say about her, her personality pretty much is this: she is cranky when she's hungry, she goes nuts when she's sleepy, she's determined to crunch up her nose and squint her eyes when she smiles, she loves to sit in the "Elmo Chair" and she'll eat anything that she is fed. Oh! And she is also addicted (as described by her dad) to lemonade. Victoria has become a very feminine little girl who wears her sister's bracelets and head-bands and stands in front of the mirror smiling at the beautiful girl in the reflection.

I don't know how much a single person can improve their life in one year. So many of us are at the same place in our jobs, our home, our love life, etc. But Victoria...Victoria has become better, faster, brighter, happier... there are no limits to what she can do and learn and say (as soon as she decides she wants to talk) and the places she'll go I'm sure will be wonderful - I just hope she lets me tag along once in a while.

Happy (belated) Birthday my Vicky. I hope that I have given you at least a fraction of the happiness that you have brought into my life. I love you.