Marcella 1st Birthday

 January 7, 2009 – January 7, 2010

Dearest Ella,

I will never forget the day you were born…We had been waiting for 16 hours of labor when the good doctor decided a c-section was the thing. Mama’s friends Beth and Brigitte waited the whole day with me and your father & Papa Craig. The doctor held you up in the air so I could see you and you looked so angry! You gave us a good holler and then they set about cleaning you up…you were so big!

You may not know this but we had been waiting for you for years and hoping for you and praying that you would come into our lives…and then there you were. So alive, so mad…so beautiful and healthy. You really took my breath away. Just ask your father if you don’t believe me…They tell you to sleep in the hospital while you can but I secretly would stay awake and just sing to you and kiss you. That was when I started calling you “little bit.” You were not that little, and your dad asked me what the nickname was from. I was too embarrassed to tell him it was that you were a little piece of my heart.

You were such a good sleeper, from the very beginning, it was like you knew we needed the rest….I was so afraid I would not know what to do with you. But each day would come and pass and we would figure it out. Your Uncle Bill was here to help the first few days and his experienced hand and being on California time were invaluable.

So a few highlights from your first year….

A few weeks after you were born, Barak Obama was sworn into the office of President of the United States. I sat there glued to the TV, holding you in my arms. Telling you all about it, describing the ceremony moment by moment. I felt deeply that day that if an African American could be voted into office, we were at the beginning of a new era. An era of more peace, less hidden oppression of minorities, more hope than ever of safety and security for everyone regardless of their skin color or personal preferences…or religion. I was so happy to have you in this new world…part of a great new future. Maybe the hormones had something to do with my emotions. But it was a great moment, nevertheless.

When you were four months old I went back to work full-time. That is when we met our own personal angel on earth, Coni. She was a natural with you. Eventually, when you started to talk, it was half in Spanish and half in English! I was so afraid to leave you at first. But I could see when I came home to you, you were safe and loved and so happy. She made a very hard decision, to go back to work, so much easier and even a little wonderful. She really became a part of our family.

When you were 9 months you took your first airplane flight. That part was not so fun. But we had Thanksgiving and a wedding for cousin Emily in Nebraska. It was cold but so fun and everyone took turns playing with you and your cousin Daniel. You were a darling the whole trip. Except during the ceremony you discovered what a big voice you had when in a stone church with cathedral ceilings. Luckily it was unseasonably warm for Nebraska so we spent some time out side.

You know you barely crawled before you started walking. But before that was the dancing. You had favorite songs, but pretty much anything would get you moving. People would come over just to watch your act. You did this thing were you would drop low during your little dance. You had a serious fan club of followers. And no one can be as proud of a child as your father would be of you. All he could talk about was you and each and every milestone. It was as if you graduated from Harvard every day, a thousand times over.

Lila, our trusty little puppy, was not as taken with you at first. She actually pooped in your room when we first fixed it all up. I don’t know how she reacted when she first smelled your scent. Our friend Erik brought home your baby cap for her to smell. I will have to ask him about that one day. But Lila became your dog, didn’t she. She is now as enamored of you as we are.

So, my dear little one, you kept growing. And before I knew it, it was your first birthday. I did what everyone tells new mommies and daddies not to do. I had too many people in our house! I invited everyone I know and then some. It was a little insane and overboard. But it was fun. And when everyone sang happy birthday, your face just froze. Halfway through, you realized we were all singing to you. You gave most of us the stink eye. But your piece of cake seemed to make up for all of that. You had not had cake before and completely relished the experience. And the icing.

So here we are. A family.

Words cannot express how much you mean to me. To your father. We love you so much little bit. Happy happy birthday. You have changed our lives forever and touched our hearts in a way we did not know was possible. When I try to describe it – it all sounds so cliché. But the fact is, our lives will never be the same. And we are more than grateful for that.

Love,

Mama