today was 2 days before adah's actual birthday, but since it was a sunday, we decided to celebrate today-- a day when the three of us could wake up leisurely together and a have a special breakfast, open gifts, make cupcakes, and play at the park before friends and family arrived. it was lovely. when adah woke up and we asked her how old she was, she said, "six" and laughed. she painted while i poured the crepes too thick and anne came to the rescue.

march was a perfect month for adah to be born, a time of glowing hope.

is it because i'm a new(ish) parent that i get so emotional about her special day? i get out the birth video, re-live the painful (for me) reality of how she came into the world via an (unnecessary?) surgical procedure, give my speech about the increasing medicalization of childbirth... and then, in contrast, once i see the first daffodil of the season i get entirely giddy with the memories of meeting her for the first time, driving the 2 mph ride home from the hospital, and sleeping peacefully with her until the colic arrived. during the aforementioned fit of crying and fussing, we wondered, "will she always be this difficult?"

the answer was no. we are so lucky to have such a superbly healthy, vibrant, smart, and funny little spark of a kid. some nights we ask ourselves what we'd be doing if we were childless, and we have no clue. there was life before adah?