HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY JAYANA

My darling daughter, Jayana, turned 6 years old on Wednesday, January 27th.  I can still vividly recall all I had to endure in order to have a successful pregnancy -- complete bed rest, over nine weeks straight in the hospital confined to my room, doses of turbutaline, magnesium sulfate and other drugs to avoid losing her because contractions started at 18 weeks of pregnancy, a false alarm transport by ambulance over 80 miles from one city to another for fear of an early, possibly fatal, delivery and, finally, the subsequent transport by ambulance over 80 miles in a snow storm resulting in her delivery by emergency c-section at 31 1/2 weeks.  My baby girl weighed in at 4lbs, 2oz. and remained at Johns Hopkins NICU for approximately one month.  She was then moved to a less critical facility until she was finally strong enough to come home.  I will never forget that joyous day.

Of course, being the princess that she is, there's a BIG birthday party planned for this weekend.  Mommy needs a part-time job just to keep up with all the glorious expectations this little girl has.  I keep asking her to direct me to the tree where I can go and pick money.  She then comes back to reality and responds, "okay mommy, I know, money doesn't grow on trees."  Although we've planned a big party for the weekend, dad and I simply couldn't let the day of her special birth pass without celebrating.  So, per Jayana's request, we had a wonderful family dinner at Red Hot & Blue, a local Memphis BBQ style restaurant.  It was absolutely perfect.  Granted, our kids were pretty much out of control as usual and we probably said "stop" "sit down" "don't touch that" "don't do that" about 100 times... but that's life as a parent!  They're only little once so you have to enjoy it and embrace it.

As my precious daughter gets older I do feel closer to her.  The maturity of 6 year old kids nowadays constantly amazes me.  Sometimes she says things that just melt my heart.  Needless to say I am very excited to see her continue to develop and grow into a gorgeous young woman with strong morals and values similar to what my mom instilled in me.  I love you Jayana.  You will always be mommy's princess!!


Cheryl