Seven

I remember reading one time about how life’s stages come in seven years. You’re no longer a young child when you turn seven, you become a teen at fourteen and an adult at twenty one. If I look back at my own life I see these seven year stages clearly and the saying “seven year itch” makes a bit more sense.

Seven years ago today I was going to my sixth of twelve Bradley Method prenatal classes with my doula, Shawna. (Here’s an article Cam, Shawna and I were mentioned in recently talking about having a doula with our first birth…) If I was going by my estimated due date I was three weeks early when I went to bed that evening, rolled over and felt a “pop” of water. I’m still not confident she’d have been born the next day had the hospital not pressured me to “encourage” labour by breaking my bulging waters.

Lily has played a huge part in making me the woman and mother I am today. She taught me to slow down and to value and strive for patience.

She’s filled my life with so much joy! I often felt lonely not having other friends with kids and certainly not many making the same parenting choices I was making.

Cam worked so many hours in the first couple years of Lily’s life. We really had to make the most of our time with him and I think we did. Skiing, hiking, spending time at the local rivers, dancing in the living room….

I still can’t believe I have a seven year old!

Lily loves to dance and sing. She’s draws and designs fashionable clothing on paper and anyone willing to be dressed up. Lily’s learning to cook and bake and is always eager to help if it means being included in a task.

Lily’s very sensitive but not as shy as she used to be. She’s empathic and an animal lover. She also loves wiggly worms and handfuls of gunnels. Lily could be an engineer one day with the way her mind seems to work. She also has an excellent memory. Nice that one of us does!

Happy one day early Birthday, Lily! I love you!

(I added a few old photos and videos to my Flickr page which you can look at by clicking on any of the older shots in this post. There’s a bit more explanation for each photo there as well.)