it's my birthday and i'll blog if i want to!

35 years ago today, my mother went into labor several weeks before her July 4th due date and the result was....me :). I was supposed to be Rebecca, but when Dad saw me he declared I looked much more like a Jennifer (I think just about everyone in 1975 thought their daughter looked like a Jennifer...).

I was only 4 pounds and 4 ounces, the smallest of my mom's typically small babies. I don't know if there wasn't as much concern over premies back in those days, but they let my parents take me home the next day with a promise they would wake me every hour to feed me to make sure I gained weight.....

An eating pattern I continue to this day with the same result :).

There is a picture of me when I was only a few weeks old. It was my aunt's wedding and my dad is holding me. You can barely see me I was so teeny! I got over such a 'condition'....and went on to have nearly ten pound babies of my own.

I'm grateful for this day I was born. I'm grateful for parents who loved me enough to bring me into this world. There were a lot of things I would have changed about my childhood, and a lot of things I had that I want to be able to give my boys. A lot of heartache I would rather not have had to go through, but never enough to make me want to give up. As Barney used to sing to my captive 3 and 5 year olds: "I'm glad that I'm alive, I'm happy to be me, and that's the way to be!"

Glasses up. 35. Here's to an unforgettable year of the good unforgettable kind!

and just for fun--here I am at my 6th birthday. It was a surprise party with all the little girls in the neighborhood in attendance. That's my big sister standing by me and my new bike with the sweet banana seat and giant handlebars.