Appearances

She has Aaron’s hairline and cowlicks, but her hair is the same color as mine.

Her eyes are the beautiful blue I hoped for, the same blue that first attracted me to her dad, but they’re round like mine. She does get the puffy under-eye circles her dad does, though, and I think they’re adorable even though she’ll probably hate them when she’s older.

Her ears are evenly split – one like dad’s (lobed) and one like mom’s (un-lobed, or streamlined as Aaron calls them) – but you can barely tell the difference.

She has Aaron’s long fingers, flat feet, and long toes. Even her finger and toenails are shaped like his. She has his small head (not that mine is really that large). She has my nose and lips, and probably my freckles at some time in the future, based on the paleness of her skin that’s just like mine.

She holds her hands in loose fists with her thumb tucked between her index and middle fingers, just like me, just like my sister.

It amazes me that less than two years ago, she was just a hope and a dream, and now she’s here, growing bigger and smarter every day, turning one year old in just over a month. She looks exactly like I imagined, exactly like I hoped, and yet she’s still more beautiful than I ever could have thought. Even when she keeps us awake for nights on end, even when she screams and cries at every little thing, even when she won’t eat a single darn thing that we try to give her, she’s the biggest blessing I’ve ever received. I’m so grateful that she’s part of our lives now and I can hardly remember what life was like pre-Gabbie (although I have a feeling there was more sleep). We’re both awesomely in love with our Gabbie-girl that we can hardly stand it. She just makes everything better.