I have a daughter

For a long time, I didn't think I would be a mother at all. 

And then I was. A mother to a little boy. And then another little boy. And even a boy dog.

And I was happy with boys. I loved my boys. I felt God had given me above and beyond what I could ever think or imagine.

And then, suddenly, our lives were turned upside down. We thought my insides were still broken. We thought there were no more children to be born of my womb. And somehow, miraculously, I was pregnant again.

JB told me the test was a fake.

It was not. An ultrasound would confirm another life was growing. 

We figured that it would be another boy. And we were happy about that. We knew boys. We liked boys. Blue is a cool color. I was a tomboy. Boys I could do.

"I think girl," the Turkish doctor said when I went in for emergency appendicitis surgery. 

Girl? What the heck will I do with a girl?

Today, we still can't believe it. I have a daughter. JB, scared as he may be, is the parent of a little girl. She is different in all ways from our two boys. 

I knew my life would never be the same when we adopted Isaac. Bearing Elijah was equally life-changing. But this girl business? I fear life as I know it will forever be altered by this little lady.

I love this dress! I really do! Not that I will ever, willingly, put on a dress myself. But I do think Abigail looks quite cute in them. And tights to boot. Sigh ...

My friend Casey gave us this skirt when Abigail was just a newborn. She said she purposefully picked out the most girly thing she could find. 

This little smirk makes our hearts melt constantly. It's as if she is saying to us, "Just say yes. You know you will." She uses it all the time. Especially on JB.

And her smile is just as fabulous!

She has started holding her own bottle, and nearly insists on it.

And she is ... in ... to ... everything! HEre she is with some cooking articles JB was sorting. This is her half-cry/half-laugh pose.