Random Thoughts on Having a Daughter

I just loved being pregnant with Kate. The more I think about my time with her growing inside me the more I love it. I wish I had known that it was a girl while I was pregnant. It would've given me just that much more time with her in my heart. I can't get enough.

I watch young girls with their mothers now with a special interest. I imagine Kate as the delicate eleven year old who just came in and ordered a caramel latte for her mother and a strawberry smoothie for herself, acting all grown up. My Kate will be there in a flash. All grown up and beautiful.

I get to have this. This mother-daughter relationship. I'm no longer only on the receiving end. I get to be on the giving end, which is a hundred times better, I have to say. No matter what she does or how she feels about life, or me, I get to just love Kate forever. I don't have to figure her out or blame her for anything, I just get to watch in amazement as she grows. And love her, oh, how I love her. That is the gift of a daughter. To have *this much* love in my heart.

A girl is just so precious. So sweet and such a treasure. I feel the same way about my boys, but with boys I don't have permission to protect them from everything. They need to be tough. They'll be men someday. But Kate, I get to keep her. Keep her heart safe, keep her sweet and gentle. That's something precious.