Alexandria's 14th birthday.

I just realized I never posted the birthday tribute to Alexandria.

here it is...

8.23.2011

When I woke up Alexandria this morning, I resisted the urge to crawl into bed with her and tell her all about the day she was born. She used to like that when she was little; now the dominate non-morning-person gene has found her. She's a Duke, that's for sure.
My dad used to laugh historically at my morning grouchiness, and antagonize me, but that's another story. She'll embrace the glory of early mornings soon enough. For now, I just let her bask in misery because I can remember how bad it hurts to wake up when you're a teenager.

I digress.

Every birthday she's ever had has been emotional for me. The birth of your first child is epic. I'll never forget those first few hours with her. I just couldn't believe she was mine. Every time I looked at her, my heart skipped a beat. Having a labor that spanned across three days kinda messed with my head. I didn't know where I was or what day it was for about a week. I was in a bubble, sights were blurry, every part of my body hurt, but I didn't care. Somewhere in that fog came a feeling that the world was finally right. I had a baby.

Jump ahead 14 years and I have a little lady.

Birthday dinner with cousin Lauren.

This is what happened when I turned my back for 2 minutes.

She and Lauren will do about anything for a great photo;

yet, I have an irrational fear of mall security.

This one is from the summer visit to my mom & dad's house.

flailing around in the wine section?

great idea, girls!

Bieber fever at its best.

I love this picture (which is the first second of a video) because it captures her real smile. I also love the fact that she doesn't have her 12 year molars yet. It's a perfect analogy to her being 14; so grown up, yet still so incredibly young. Story behind the teeth: she got her baby teeth so late, and apparently has super sonic roots, so all but 2 of them have been pulled. The dentist pulled 8 teeth over a year ago and swore that the adult teeth would come through in a mater of weeks. On numerous occasions I've panicked because I thought maybe we somehow lost track and they were permanent teeth he pulled, can you imagine?

Anyway, next year she can get her learner's permit. Can you imagine?

news!

I'm not going to miss fall term after all!

The money showed up in time for B term.

As you might remember, I mentioned B term classes are LOOOONG!

So, I'm taking 3 online classes.

* human growth and development

* general psychology

* humanities

I chose online for the ease of doing my schoolwork at a convenient time for my schedule- like instead of sleeping at night.

I'm pretty excited about it.