Liesel is SIX!!!

Liesel's official six-year-old photos:

Why does six suddenly feel ages older than five? As her legs grow longer and lankier and her quips more witty, I'm determined to enjoy the little time I have left with Liesel as a little girl.

 Liesel's requested Cap'n Crunch, chocolate milk and bananas for her breakfast in bed. For her birthday cake she picked out the cookie dough ice cream creation from Coldstone. Yummy!

Before I ever had children, I had many, MANY reservations about being a mother. Trusting in the Lord, I decided to take the leap of faith and just jump in. Then the morning sickness hit and I felt like this baby truly hated me. After seeing my sisters suffer through their own difficult pregnancies, I was rather terrified. The OB from my regular OB/GYN was horrible and my gynecologist wasn't qualified to be my doctor. It took me a while to find a good doctor so I was pretty stressed and frazzled when I got to my first sonogram.

Doctrine & Covenants 110 details a visitation from the Savior to the prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery at the Kirtland temple. In verse 3 the Lord's voice is described "as the sound of the rushing of great waters." That scripture came to have a very sacred meaning for me personally as I heard the SHOOoooSHOOoooSHOOooo of my unborn baby. That sound of rushing waters was to me the very voice of the Lord. That was the moment, the very second even, that I became a mother.

Liesel cracked my heart wide open and suddenly I wanted nothing more in life than to bring her into this world. Just before she was born, dear friends and family told me not to worry if I didn't bond with her right away. It's perfectly normal for that connection to take a while. I needn't have worried though because I fell utterly in love with her the moment I laid eyes on her. I was a goner. As much as I loved travel and my career and being relatively flush with cash, I happily traded it all in. I would much rather wear yoga pants, Brent's t-shirts and have not showered in 3 days if it means I get to witness the miracle that is my Liesel Lu. I am so very blessed and honored to be her mother.

I can't wait to see what this next year brings!