Happy Birthday Eden

It is so amazing and wonderful how a Little Bundle Of Joy can suddenly become such a Big Little Bundle Of Joy! She was just born wasn't she? And now all of a sudden she has had a birthday! I find myself wondering sometimes where she went and where she is going?

(This is Eden on her birthday 15 Jan 2008)

Eden Caroline Bangert, was born January 15, 2008. She weight a whopping 7 lbs and was 21 inches long. She was definitely my biggest baby, and the only one to actually have rolly-polly, dimply wrists, elbows and knees, hands and feet, and even cheeks that you just have to kiss and pinch all the time. She wasn't born with a lot of hair though and even 1 year later she only has some very fine wisps of hair too short and thin to even think about being able to do anything with... at least she has a very feminine face that leaves no room for wondering "is it a boy or a girl?"

(This is Eden on her birthday 15 Jan 2009)

Eden's birth was actually the most pleasant of the three we have been through. It was a scheduled C-section, the only complication was that my spine just wasn't designed for epidurals and it took what seemed like forever for the anesthesiologist to get it in. But once it was in... WOW, I was cold but euphoric! I actually told the surgical team and whoever else was in the room that I loved and appreciated them and how pleasant they and their work was, and that I was so grateful that they were there... who knows what else I must have said but I probably proposed to all of them my undying affections. And then in a blink of an eye, relatively speaking (Isaac took over 24 hours of labor and C-section) there was Eden! She was so beautiful! I would have known she was a girl just by looking at her lips and eyes and cheeks even if they hadn't already announced her. Her daddy looked so pleased and scared and tired and in love with me and our baby girl. And I was overwhelmed with love and gratitude.


Of course, as with all my kids and myself, she was jaundiced... she had to go spend a night in the pediatric ward under the billy lights. And for a month or 2 she had a tinkling heart murmur which my mom said sounded like a little bell. Happily she out grew both those conditions. Now she is a happy healthy little angel some days, and a happy healthy bully other days. She loves being sweet and flirty, and the little Princess in our house, but she likes equally well to start fights, push buttons, wrestle with Daddy and her big brothers, and run around screaming at the top of her lungs. We have actually seen her push and punch Isaac just to egg him on. And she loves to turn off the TV and run whenever anyone is watching it.


(Here Eden is "Holding down the fort" with her brothers' pop-guns. She'd been walking for only 1 month at this point and did a great job with such awkward guns in her hands. She is showing one of her "tough" sides.)


Another thing she loves in FOOD! Yippee! I finally have a child who loves food. Of course now that she is a whole year old she is starting to express preferences, and generally if it is food she will eat it, and if it is food and you are not sharing it she will eat YOU alive!


(This was her birthday cake, yeah I know pretty cheep, but it had been a very busy day... and she loved it... that's what counts, right?)

On her birthday she weighed in at 20 lbs and 30 inches. Her arms are long like her daddy's and eyes are big like his too, but blue like mine only better! I can't help but wonder how she will grow and develop and next year when she turns 2 who it will be that I describe. I am so grateful for my precious Baby Eden, the Bangert Princess, and my Little Peel. Our lives are definitely better for having her in them.

(This is Eden's first contact with snow! She actually started to like it after a few minutes, it sure was scary at first though.)

(Eden is actually laughing in this picture... her evil "I am having a blast! Well done, Slave!" laugh. Imagine if she where angry...)