Happy Birthday Brooke

My oldest daughter turned 13 today. She was born at 1:42 am a week after her due date. She was born on her uncle's birthday (Susan's husband, Dale) and he predicted when I first told them we were expecting that she would be born that day.
During the middle of the night I woke up at about 3:30 and started thinking about when Brooke was born. I love remembering those great moments of a new little baby coming into the world.
It's been an amazing 13 years with her. She was a bit of a challenge as a baby - she cried whenever we went in the car at night. We finally decided she was afraid of the dark. She cried a lot - I didn't ever really consider her collicky, just a high needs baby. But she was beautiful and we loved her in spite of the crying.
Today she is happy young woman, most of the time. She is friendly but shy at the same time. She is a very good friend - agreeable and gets along with everyone. She is a good student and it's so nice that she very capably takes care of herself and gets her work done.
She is a wonderful pianist and surpassed me a long time ago. I love listening to her play and I NEVER have to talk to her about practicing.
It's been fun to watch her develop her talents in volleyball. She was a great sport to attend all the practices and tournaments and not play a lot but still have great team spirit.
We gave her an outdoor volleyball set for her birthday and we look forward to lots of fun games out in the back this summer.
I love being able to share Brooke's experiences in Young Women. She doesn't seem to mind that I'm there and I try not to get in her way too much or inhibit her. I think mostly she is just embarrased about me being obnoxious and silly.
Brooke is a great big sister to Jared and Kamryn and its great knowing that I can leave them with her and they will be well taken care of. It was cute watching them go in her room this morning and tell her happy birthday - in their own little way.
I love Brooke very much and I happily look forward to the next few teenage years with her.