My daughter is five

Tomorrow my daughter, Isabel Margriet, turns five years old. And this time it's for real. She's already had two "fake birthdays" as she likes to call them because, well, she's a diva. Before bed tonight she asked me if her friends would be bringing her presents (again) tomorrow. Uhm....no. "WHY NOT?!" she wanted to know. Well, because it's not your party day, sweetie, it's just the anniversary of the day that you were born.

Oh and what a day that was. On that day, my life changed forever. I went from a mom of one to a mom of two - and now that I am a mom of three I know that going from one to two is the bigger trauma. I went from being a mom to a boy to a mom to a girl and I still don't think I've come to terms with that. See, I always thought that I'd have a girl or two, but when I learned that my first child was a boy I settled into the idea of being the queen among my men. I had a dream one night that I would go on to have three boys and it felt just right. Then along came my spunky daughter who quickly became the queen of the house and kicked my puny throne to the corner.

Isa tries my patience, pushes my buttons and turns my hair gray, but she also makes me so proud with her boundless creativity, social ease and sharp wit. Isa is a singing beauty with new bruises appearing hourly over her fading tattoos. Sometimes I think I should have named her Maria - She'd outpester any pest
Drive a hornet from its nest
She could throw a whirling dervish out of whirl
She is gentle! She is wild!
She's a riddle! She's a child!
She's a headache! She's an angel!
She's a girl!

She's my girl....and she's five! Happy Birthday, Angel Cake!