Happy Birthday, Katie!

Today is a special day!  Katie, my baby girl, turns 30!

Folks, I'm a lucky mom.  I have four fabulous children, all of whom I'd do anything for (and vice versa, as they've shown time and again).  And this little girl is a dream.

When she was born, with a full head of curly hair and two big dimples, perfectly beautiful in every way, I fell in love.  She was the BEST BABY EVER: slept all night from age 6 weeks, with a schedule that went like this:

up at around 7:30, nap at 10:00, nap at 1:00, to bed at 7:00, sleep all night.  In between all that sleeping, she was happy to play with her big sisters, play with her toys, or just observe the world around her.  No fuss, no muss.  She was a blankie and thumb sucking girl.  She still has blanks.  Maybe still sucks her thumb for all we know.

She loved fancy dresses and shoes (a trait that continues to this day), dolls of all kinds, riding her "Chubby Chopper" around the neighborhood, and tagging along with the big kids.  She talked early and often :-)  Preschool was so much fun, with lots of friends and activities.  Once I asked her, "Do you have a piano in your class?"  and she replied, "No, but I have a Michael in my class!"  Always the joker.

She had a few "hair-raising" adventures: once Cara cut her beautiful long hair to the scalp in the back, then had her wear a hood all day so that Mom wouldn't notice.  Thus the pixie cut was introduced into Katie's life.  When she was a toddler, I LOST her one day after picking up the kids from school.  I was in a total panic searching the neighborhood for her, but no one had seen her. I called 911 in hysterics, and the kind operator suggested I go check the car.  Sure enough, she was sound asleep on the floor of the station wagon, covered up by blankie.  I still cry every time I think about losing my precious pup.

When "Bruddy" came along, Katie took him in hand (after pulling him off the bed when he was 2 days old.  Oops) and guided him through life.  She was all girl to his all boy; nothing Tony could do would phase his big sis.  Even the time I left them in the running station wagon (that car figures into a LOT of my stories) at the top of our steep driveway with the parking brake off to run tell my neighbor we were going to the store.  I heard a giant CRASH, and to my horror, the SW was now crunched into the garage.  When I ran to the car, Tony was sitting behind the wheel looking a little shell-shocked, and Katie was sitting in the back, wide-eyed.  All she could say was "Bruddy Drove!".

Her nicknames: Katie-Kat, Ramona, Quimby, Pofyliner, Gore/Gorey Girl.  Probably more, we are nicknaming fools.

Her school years were also dramatic: the weekend she brought home the class guinea pig (much to my chagrin, as I hate rodents) and came flying into our room on Saturday morning yelling "How did THAT happen?!!" -- turns out GP was pregs and there was a tiny GP in the cage.  She invited all the neighborhood kids over to witness the miracle of birth, while I placed a frantic call to her teacher; Teach said that GP might have up to 10 babies, but they usually died after birthing 8 or so.  After a stony silence on my part, Teacher offered to come over and supervise.  Luckily, Patches only had the one and lived to return to class on Monday, never to come to our house again.

We won't dwell on the time she got in trouble for burning Kleenex in the Science Lab, or the time she got sent home from Camp Cross for carving her name in the brand new cabin (note to KL: use an alias next time).  Mostly, she was a brilliant, fun and happy student who competed in Knowledge Bowl, took some legendary turns on the stage in "Bye Bye Birdie", "Oklahoma", "Little Shop of Horrors" and various choir events, played volleyball and basketball, and bravely battled her way through thyroid cancer her senior year, gall bladder surgery in college and this year's ACL/MCL debacle.  She's an amazing oncology nurse, and I have not a single doubt that her patients get well faster because they have Katie caring for them.

Can you tell I'm in love with this girl?  Who isn't!?  She's the best.  Thanks for letting me be your mom, Katie.  I love you to pieces!