I am officially the mother of a five year old. I'm not entirely sure how this happened since she was just a fuzzy red-headed baby in my arms but it's true, she is five. I know this because she has declared it to be true, many many times today. I'm coming to terms with it. Five. It's a big one. The biggest yet :)

So today marks five glorious years of life with Claire.  When I was pregnant with her, I remember sitting in her room, rocking in a chair and listening to Clair de lune on her sound machine because that's the sort of silly thing you do when you're pregnant with the first baby. I would try to picture her, the person she would be and if I'm being honest, I failed at it miserably. She is so much more than I ever could have imagined. I predicted a little bit of my personality, a little of her daddy's but nope, she is her own person...100%. In fact, I've never known anyone quite like her :) If you would have told me that I would have a fair skinned, curly haired, strawberry blonde, who is an artistic, dramatic, performer, I would have laughed. But she is all of those things and so much more. She is witty, adventurous, and bold. She has never met a stranger and if she were in charge of our social lives, we'd be having a "party" every night. Her brother is her best friend in the world (although I'm certain she doesn't realize it) and she treats him with so much love and kindness that it makes my heart soar on a daily basis. Above all else, she has a heart of absolute gold and that makes me more proud than any beautiful picture of her or any hilarious "thing Claire says" (although those are pretty great too). She is my dream come true, in every way.

Happy Birthday my lovely girl. We are so lucky to have you in our lives.

Since she informed me that she "wasn't feeling" her birthday photoshoot tonight, I'm sharing my favorites of her over the last year. Photoshoot to come :)