McKenzie is nine

McKenzie turned 9 on October 2, 2008. Nine isn't really a big milestone birthday, but for McKenzie, finally catching up to her two best friends (who are both 7 months older than her and a grade ahead) was worth celebrating (in addition to that whole birthday thing).

We just had a family party on her birthday. Luckily, Nate made it back from his business trip in time for the family party. Two years before he was in Italy for McKenzie's birthday, and she's never let him forget it. She still brings it up at random times, saying "Remember that time you missed my birthday, Dad?" When his boss asked him to go to Charleston the week of Kenzie's birthday, Nate told him he would only go if he could be back in time to celebrate with the family. Good thinking, Dad.

Kenzie opening presents:

With all her loot:

Happy Birthday, dear McKenzie:

The whole gang together:

Notice the sling on her arm? About two weeks before, she had fallen off a balance beam during an open gym session at the local gymnastics center. After ten days, when the arm still didn't seem to be acting quite right, I took her to the doctor. The doctor moved her arm every which way during the examination with almost no complaint from Kenzie. She decided to do an x-ray just in case, and the x-ray revealed it was a broken shoulder. Mother of the year--right here. I think it was almost more traumatic for me than for her. The doctor assured me that with how little McKenzie had complained there was no way I could have known, and McKenzie, like always, was quick to forgive. Still.


A few after her birthday, Kenzie took a couple of friends out to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Tres Hermanos, and to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua (I know what you're thinking, but it was actually pretty funny). Everyone had a great time.

The birthday girl in her birthday sombrero with BFFs Lauren and Lily:

And this is what I wrote on the day McKenzie turned nine:

My not so little bundle of joy

McKenzie is nine today. And with every birthday of every child of every year, I find myself wondering where the time has gone. The seems like just yesterdays are always on the tip of my tongue, yet when I think about all that has happened, all that we’ve been through, and how much she has grown, I realize that of course this much time has passed.

At 6 pounds 14 ounces, she was my smallest little bundle of joy. Over the past almost decade, she has become my not so little bundle of joy and also my bundle of contradictions. She is my silliest and most serious. My toughest and most fragile. My first to forgive and last to forget. My most popular and most lonely. My most affectionate and most distant. My happiest and most melancholy.

She sometimes laments being the outsider among her sisters—the only brown-eyed brunette in a family of blue-eyed blonde women. I tell her I love that she is different because she brings me the best of both worlds. She sometimes wishes she wasn’t the oldest sister with all of the extra responsibilities and expectations. I tell her that being my first daughter will always make her extra special. She sometimes complains that I am quicker to praise her younger, more emotionally needy sister. I tell her that nothing and no one brings me greater joy than her. And it’s true. I hope deep down (or not so very deep down) she believes it or that at least someday she will.

McKenzie is a blessing to our family. She is helpful, kind, full of gratitude and a crack-up just like her brother. She is sensitive, but forgiving and makes us smile everyday.