We have always jokingly called Anna Kate our perfect child from the day she was born.  We even go on to say she’s the reason we were able to have a third child; because she was just that perfect that we were convinced three would be a piece of cake, ha!  She was our only baby that didn’t have colic (um, right there makes her the winner by default, lol).  I held her in a sling for the first 6 months of her life while I was on the build job of our house (in the summer) without a peep out of her! She has always been a little rag doll to Noelle’s beck and call, and during the terrible 2’s, she would silently sit in her stroller like a perfect angel while other 2 year olds had their Mommies chasing them like they were on a wild goose hunt (looking much like I do today chasing Rose around, funny, but not at all if you are me).  Other parents would even ask me, “What do you do?”  And I would just throw my hands up and say, “That’s just Anna Kate.  She’s our easy one.”  The doctor even said during her birth, if she handles life like she’s handling birth, she’s going to be an easy going gal!  And when it was her turn to become the big sister, she was so sweet and gentle.  Rose didn’t phase her.  Anna Kate knew the perfect combination between loving on Rose but also letting her have space to explore on her own.  Age 3 came and went.  She wore whatever I put on her with risen arms waiting for whatever I picked, ate and slept when we instructed, and pretty much laughed and played the rest of the time; oh and listened to stories and chapter books with her big sissy.  There is no other way to describe Anna Kate, except as the perfect child.  Until this summer.  Now, that tiny little verb has changed to was… there was no other way to describe Anna Kate… such a bummer.  We had such a streak going with that one!  We almost had everybody fooled.  Oh well, after all, no one’s perfect.  Although I joke, this summer has been very difficult for her.  She has been growing and learning and changing and with that has come some growing pains, such as general frustrations, not liking what the family eats, screaming, hitting, yelling, not sleeping, and everything else we missed out on during the first four years of her life!  When I reflect on the summer of 2013 with my middle child, this picture will forever be branded in my mind:

See her little neck veins… yeah, I’ve seen them bulge almost every day for the past three months!  I can write all of this, because with the green trees showing tiny tips of orange on their leaves outside, and school bells ringing, I think we have finally reached the end of it.  Or the worst of it.  I joke all the time about Rose being in her terrible 2’s, but 2’s is just destruction.  4’s is more emotionally charged, and I know you veteran moms are thinking, you ain’t seen nothing yet, and you’re right! I can’t even imagine, but I never thought this summer would happen to my perfect child, but it got the best of her!  It shook her up and spit her out… which means she’s totally normal, and although, up until this point, she’s been way too easy, she’s still such a bargain.  I can’t wait to have a front row ticket to the rest of Anna Kate’s life.  She’s so great!  No one can deny that!  Right now, as I type this, we’re sitting here talking about snakes and her wedding!  So, after every tantrum is conquered comes the irreplaceable blessing of living every day with our fun-loving, hilarious, dancing brown-eyed girl!

This kid right here is my heart throb, even though she’s not perfect… she’s perfectly Anna Kate! 

Anna Katey Watey, I love you to the moon and back!  You make my heart skip a beat every day just being with you!  I’m so glad you get to be my buddy this year!  I can’t wait to read and get into all sorts of crafts while Rose is asleep and Noelle is at school.  As I always say in our house, everyone gets a turn, and this year is your turn to have the most adventurous afternoons with yours truly.  I hope I can be as imaginative as you are.  I’m so excited to have you all to myself three afternoons a week, to love, snuggle, play and do whatever we want to do!  (laundry included)  XOXO, Mommy