Anna is 5

I can not believe that "baby Anna" has turned 5!!!

Dear Anna,

You spent your first 10 months of life screaming as if you were in the most pain you could ever be in. It was so difficult to watch and soothe you as you were so unhappy. Luckily, that phase did not last past 10 months. Since then, you have been an absolute joy. I can not believe how fast the 5 years have come and gone. You are such a lovely little girl. You are in your last year of preschool which is absolutely crazy to me. Next year you will join your brother at Mary Scroggs Elementary. That is insane! Right now as I watch you play on the floor with your dog ,Winnie, I am reminded of how much you love animals. You roll around on the floor with Winnie and just giggle. You absolutely love this dog. Winnie's birthday is in a few days and so her puppiness and your love for her are a perfect match. You both just laugh and lick and chase and play! It will be fun to watch you grow up with this dog. When you come home from school, the first thing that you do is make a bee line for Winnie. It is such an unconditional love that I love to watch. I can not wait to watch you and Winnie grow up together!

Anna, You love your brother so much! I am not sure how long this will last but you can not wait to see him after school and you love to play with him. Luckily, he likes to play with you too! I could say that 90% of the time you both have a blast together! It is amazing to watch and hear as you both giggle your heads off upstairs! Your brother can also be very protective of you. There were two events this year that showed me how much he cares for you. The first event was when you broke your elbow. Scott was so worried and concerned. Winnie was a really young puppy and one of the things that you were really worried about was if Winnie was going to jump on you and nip at your arm. You were so scared. Scott looked at you as we were driving home from the doctor "Don't worry Anna! I will get in the way so Winnie will jump and nip on you. I wont let her hurt you. " (my heart was melting!) The second thing that happened was when you were walking down our Alley and you fell smack on your forehead. Scott could not see you but he heard you scream and cry. As soon as I got to you I saw Scott sprinting around the corner to check on you. He was so concerned. He grabbed all of the things that you dropped while falling and helped you carry it all inside. He also said he would protect you from Winnie. I have to say, that boy LOVES you. It makes me so happy and I hope that you both understand how special it is that you have each other!

Over the past few months you have shown an excitement about letters and words. You always ask to "do your homework." This usually consists of you practicing to sound out words that you write. I give you the letters and you write them down and work on sounding them out. It is really cute to hear! I love watching your little mind work. You get SO excited when you figure it out too. Right now it is mostly 3 letter words but you have done 4 as well. I think you will be ready for Kindergarten in no time at all! I can't wait to watch you shine!

Another thing that I have noticed about you is that you love to sing. You will belt out songs in the car or upstairs while you are playing. You absolutely love it! I think that you might even be on key which makes your daddy VERY happy! I can't wait to see if this love of music continues. It is such a fantastic talent to have and I look forward to watching it mature. You just never know!

Anna, your Daddy and I love you so much. We want you to be able to be anything in this world that you would like to be. Well, except a Duke fan. Your Daddy and Grandaddy would never have that! Other then being a Duke fan, the world is your oyster. I can not wait to watch you navigate your way through it. You have such potential and are such a kind soul. You love to take care of your friends, animals, plants, brother....it is so beautiful to watch.

Speaking of friends, below is a picture of you and Will at age 5! As we have noticed over the weeks, you have a major crush on this amazing boy. What is intersting to me is there is a background story. Will was your first friend ever. You may not remember this but you and Will had the same Due date. He was born a few weeks before you but you spent your first year together practically every day. His mother is one of my very good friends and we would spend many days together before we moved to Chapel Hill. After we moved, I brought you back to Epworth in Durham to go to preschool. Leigh and I were SO excited because in your last year of preschool, you guys were put in the same class! What is amazing is that we never prepped you two to become friends, it just happened. You both gravitated to each other and love each other very much. It is almost inate that you are suppose to be friends. I have to say, this makes my heart melt because not only are you friends with Will but you have mentioned that you want to Marry him! That would make Leigh and I very happy. Let's work on this, OK?

Happy Birthday sweet sweet girl. I know that you will continue to shine and I can not wait to watch! I am blessed to be your mother and I could snuggle with you all day every day!

Keep being sweet!

Mommy

Anna and Will on her birthday.

First love.

Anna at 4 days old.

I am not sure it gets any sweeter then this picture.