Dear Emily,
You arrived 4 years ago today at 8:53 PM, just one minute after your sister. No one knew it at the time, but your care team from the NICU had a hard time getting you to breathe. I didn't know until much later that it took a lot of work to get you to take your first breath of life. Your tiny 1 pound, 10 ounce body would have fit in the palm of my hand if I could have held you that night. Your sister had been named for weeks, you were still Baby Girl B. I told your Dad that you had to have a name before I could go in and see you... he took to reading words around the recovery room trying to come up with something we could agree on. It came down to Emily or Sara. By the time I was finally wheeled into the NICU, you were Emily Dawn and well on your way to breathing on your own.
By the time your first birthday rolled around, you were 19 pounds and 11 ounces. You weren't using words yet, and didn't even crawl very well, but you had already mastered getting up the stairs. You were just two months away from when you took off walking. You had therapy at the house and in Twin Falls, and met every milestone we needed you to meet. You already had 8 teeth and there wasn't anything you didn't like to eat. Everything made you happy, especially the dogs.
Then all of a sudden you were two, and your personality was beginning to shine. You were counting to 8 and mastering the ABC song. You would shout out "Airplane!" and "Boon!" and liked pointing out every horse and cow we saw along the road, but were also using three word sentences and talking well enough that we could have a conversation with you. You loved being outside, especially in the sandbox or at the water table. By this time, you had really come to love your baby doll and blankets, loved to read books, and build with blocks, too. I also remember this was the time where you were calling everybody Pat...
Then it was time that you become a three year old. You were so excited to have your "cupcakes in June!" You had started your love of board games, and we spent many hours over the past year playing them. You were still known as a happy girl, however, you were also very shy. It took many encounters with someone before you would interact with them. But you always loved to talk about them long after they were gone. You were a helper and well on your way to becoming independent.
This morning you woke up at 7, and the first thing I heard you say was, "I'm 4!" By 8 o'clock you had opened your presents (this year it was a slip n slide, a karaoke machine with CDs, board games, a giant puzzle, some clothes, some money, and a project box from Babbaco), we had already played the Cupcake game, several rounds of Hungry, Hungry Hippo and started the puzzle. You had Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast (oops, the dog ate that one...) Minnie Mouse pancakes with chocolate chips for breakfast. You'll spend the morning at preschool with your friends. It won't be long now before you'll always have the summer off and won't have the opportunity to go to school and celebrate.
You tell me your favorite colors are pink, purple, and blue. You recognize all the letters (unless it's written in a tricky font), can write Emily and Dad, and can spell Hughston correctly. You know both of your parents' phone numbers. Your best friend in Maeve from school, and you're still a Momma's girl. I asked you what you wanted to be when you are all grown up and your response was that you wanted to be a real kitten. The Lorax is your favorite movie, and you ask for Barney shows a lot so you can sing. You love to make up new words to songs, and I love that about you. You spend most of your time out of preschool playing preschool with all of your beloved stuffed creatures. Today you got a new one, the Barbie dog, and named it Lula. Your favorite places to go are a park and the library, but you're really pretty good at going on any adventure we throw at you. You tell us frequently, "I'm so big!" and "I do it myself." The words poopy and elbowhead come out of your mouth a lot. And you still prefer to call us Kelly and Aaron instead of Mom and Dad, and that drives you father absolutely crazy...
I'll go to your school at lunchtime where we've prepared a treat to share with your friends, ice creams sandwiches with sprinkles. We'll spend the afternoon however you want, but I'm hoping it includes a nap. Although it's hard to get you to go to bed before 9:30, whenever we try to skip nap you fall asleep on the loveseat just before dinnertime... Tonight we'll meet the Emily fan club (a group of adults that all agree you're pretty cool) for pizza, the food you ask for the most. We'll share a cake shaped like a giant cupcake that you helped me make. A playdate with your bestie is in the works for a weekend day, after all a slip n slide is better when shared with a friend.
Tonight I hope you crash, still excited over a perfect day. But before you do, we'll have to take one balloon and set it free in hopes that it reaches your heavenly sister. We'll have to find time in between all the busyness to call Grandpa because it's his birthday, too. Maybe we can play a couple more rounds of games and puzzle assembly!
We love you, Emi/ M&M/ Em-pot/ Squishy/ Emily. Happy 4th Birthday Princess on Earth!
Love, Mom & Dad
