It's belated but heartfelt....

Happy Birthday Kimberly!

(An innate characteristic of this blog is a constant stream of Happy Birthday posts!)

Kimberly Noelle was born Nov. 29, 1984. Her due date was somewhere around Dec. 15 so I really was not expecting her to appear on the scene quite so soon. Unlike Peter, Paul and Mary my bags weren't packed and ready to go. I believe I had run errands all day and had noticed a constant ripple of contractions, but I tend to do that anyway so I didn't really pay much attention. As the evening wore on and they continued, I ended up heading to the hospital. It was a very happy surprise. No mother is sad to circumvent the last two and a half weeks of her pregnancy. Kimberly had the sweetest, cherubic face and as Cabbage Patch dolls were an insane (and I do mean insane!) rage at the moment the nurses in the hospital dubbed her "the Cabbage Patch baby."

Arriving on the scene early was indicative of Kimberly's personality. She always has been eager to jump in the fray. She had five older siblings to catch. She crawled early, walked and talked early and kept on running. She had her first kiss at the ripe old age of three and was taller than Bethany (her next older sister) for a few years. (Bethany finally took care of that situation by seven or so inches.)

We had talked about naming her Noelle for obvious reason but when she sprinted in under the wire as a November baby we decided Noelle would have to take second place.

Kimberly has always added sparkle to our family.

Kimberly was married this past summer. We miss having her here but it's fun seeing her set up shop with Kevin. (One funny note - we already had a Kevin in the family and his family already had a Kimberly.)

Happy Birthday Kimberly! (A little late but as it's not Dec. 15 yet I figure I'm still good!)

I love you!