Birthday Gal

Maggie Rocks the Big 1

I still cannot believe we are parents and now it's even harder to believe we have a 1 year old little girl. She's a wild woman and such a blessing. I try to talk to God, tell him just how grateful we are, but my words don't match my emotions, the dictionary doesn't hold a word to describe the gratitude in my heart. 

We snapped a monthly picture and we're so glad we did. We can see little changes in her every month and we love looking back at these hilarious moments. I can still remember begging Blue to not lick her face or hearing Blue cry outside the door because he couldn't come in during picture time. How about the time she cried for 10 minutes after I took the 6th month cookies away from her or the time she almost fell off the chair because her beloved tomato toy was on the floor? Ah, these pictures were not easy to snap, but are full of hilarious memories.  

C and I are truly blessed to have joined the Parent world. The year passed quickly and we all survived, but we know we had a lot of help. 

Special shoutout to the greatest Mother in Law who does way too much to list, she's pretty much the reason we survived.

Thank you a million times to our family.  

Thank you to the countless pieces of advice, baby sitting gigs and time from our family & friends.

The support and love we have received was/is amazing. 

 5 things about Baby M 

She's Strong 

From day 1 she fought for her life. The pregnancy was a difficult one for her birth mom. She had a lot of stress, bad choices and the atmosphere was often scary. Then at birth, she came early, little miss impatient. I'll never forget when the nurse told us we needed to pray that Baby M wouldn't take her first breath right away. I'm no doctor, but basically some toxins from drug use and discharge were found in her sac and they feared she'd face some problems if she inhaled any. My anxiety went from 95 to 195 at this point. I remember looking at C and him giving me the grin, his grin is a simple way of telling me, "It's alright." Baby M passed, she didn't inhale any of the toxins, but because she was early, she was very little. She was 4.6 lbs and three weeks early. The doctor let us hold her and then whisked her away for some tests. After about 3 hours he comes in and tells us that Baby M is strong and her tests results stunned the hospital staff, every test she passed with flying colors! He wanted to watch her eat in the nursery and then if all went well throughout the night, she would be free to leave the next afternoon. Baby M showed her strength from day 1. She's fought more battles than some adults I know and she's still standing strong. 

 She's Inpatient 

She does not have time for slow moving people. It's true, if she's hungry or tired, you have .5 seconds to respond before she goes into her hulk mode of throwing the craziest fit. She may be small, but she never skips a meal. She knows what she wants and she knows when she wants it. I fear this will only get worse... Prayers are appreciated. 

 She Loves 

She is so generous on giving hugs and kisses. Pretty sure she pushes her limits with some of the babies in the nursery. If she's in the kissy or huggy mood, she will force her hugs and kisses on you. If you cough or sneeze she's the first at your feet to let you know she heard you and wants to check on you. When we walk in the door, her eyes light up. That look alone, can give me the strength to move mountains, to lock eyes with the crazy little gal is so beautiful. I hope others can feel her loving spirit. 

 She's C's #1 Fan 

I remember people telling me about little girls loving their dads, but seeing it, is pretty amazing. I have the privilege of sharing parenthood with one of the most generous and humble men I've ever met. He loves God, me and Baby M, in that order. I remember the days when he worked nights, the countless times he missed sleep because he could hear her cry or the appointments he never wanted to miss. C has his flaws, but to Baby M he's the cream of the crop. From the moment she came home, he's put her to sleep just about every night. She cries for me to hold her a lot, but the second he enters the room she has to be near him. If he's outside, she wants to see what he's doing . We have a routine - bath time, TV time and then sleepy time. Before bath time she can be found beating on her drums with C or listening to C play his drums. She's his biggest fan. I'm grateful she has such a strong male in her life. One that will guide her through the storms and lead her by example. I'm also forever grateful that when Baby M departs and enters her adult life, I'm still left with one handsome fella, my husband. 

 She's Ours 

She's a Martinez & a Rodgers. Forget the fact that she was adopted, she's legit one of us. She has my crazy attitude & hair. She has C's evil grin and love of music. She has our humor, the dance moves we do, the funny voices we use and the crazy ideas we have, she shares our humor. 



Happy Birthday to the coolest 1 year old gal! 
 I am grateful for the long period of uncertainty. In the 7 year wait, our marriage grew stronger and we, as individuals grew stronger. 

Hug your kiddos tight!