She's 5. . .

This little lady turned five today.  Exactly three weeks before my 20th birthday, after 38 hours of stubborn labor (she actually moved up and lodged herself in my ribs midway through the second day--this girl does nothing on anyone else's schedule), the fantasmic Dr. Shimizu handed me this (as her father put it) "funny looking", massively cheeky, already very strong and busy little plump raisin.  She started screaming almost immediately and did so for quite some time.  She was trying to roll over and scoot in the warmer before she was even hosed off (and did in fact move herself up by pushing her tiny little feet off the bottom wall of the warmer).  Its funny how even in the delivery room, all my children's personalities have already been clearly foreshadowed.

Keilana is exuberant.  Vibrant.  Energetic. Cheeky!  She unfairly gets more of the complaining than the other kids.  But anyone who has spent much time with us knows she's the darling of my heart.  She is dramatic and passionate, happy and creative, beautiful and friendly.  Her shyness, which I worried so much about, is starting to fade away.  She is sometimes still nervous, but she loves people so much that she pushes through that so that they see the same fun little girl we enjoy everyday.  Last week we spent the evening over at a friend's house and one of the father's entertained the kids for all of us.  The next day he told me, "She's so creative and so much fun."  She went to a friend's birthday party this week and when the mom dropped her off she said, "She's so darling! I've only ever seen her in Primary, where she's so quiet, it was so fun to see her like this."

Keilana is overflowing with a zest for life.  She is anxious to please people and has a smile that absolutely lights up a room and a laugh that no one can resist.  I'm grateful for my wonderful little girl, and for all the emails, messages, phone calls and visits from her fantastic family that made her day so special.  Love to all.