Someday I Will Miss This Chaos: Happy Birthday, Riley!

8 years old. Wow. Several times within the last few weeks, when people ask me how old my kids are, I stumbled trying to remember how old Riley is. How is it possible that she's 8 now?

8 years ago she entered our lives, reluctantly. After about 2 hours of pushing, out she came. I was convinced she was a boy, and when Phil announced: "Oh my God, it's a girl!" I think my first reaction was "No way!" She was a fantastic baby (especially when compared to her colicky, non-sleeping brother) and such a fun toddler. But in all seriousness, she has really come into her own this year.

We had her parent/teacher conference earlier this month, and we were told she's a stellar student. She's currently reading at the 4th-grade level, and her math skills are astounding. The school will take these specialized tests in January, and her teacher believes that Riley will qualify for advanced placement for math.

School comes so easily to her, and it's amazing to see her learn. On the other hand, when she can't understand something easily, she tends to shut down and burst into tears. She's her harshest critic, something I believe she picks up from me, as I'm my own worst critic. She's had her moments of drama, but I have a feeling this is just a glimpse of what we have to look forward to during the teenage years.

She's an outstanding soccer player, something else that she has really come in to. Her soccer coach from when she was 5 asked her to play some 3-vs.-3 this summer just for fun, and she really improved with her play and her self-confidence. In fact, earlier this fall, an opposing coach, whom we had never met, came up to us and raved about her and said he wanted to recruit her to play for his team in the fall. Then tonight we got a call from her old coach who wants her to play indoor in January. She absolutely loves sports, especially swimming, softball and soccer.

Happy birthday to our beautiful girl. We love you so very much!