As of tomorrow, I'm be mom to a teenager.

Shea turns 13 tomorrow.  I dunno where the years went....it seems like just yesterday that I was pacing the floors at Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge, waiting for Professor Moriquand to come out of the OR and tell me she made it through the surgery ok (she had a duplicated kidney on the right and it had a different drain rate than her main kidney...meaning that she got infected regularly and spent a lot of her first year in the hospital). 

It seems like just yesterday that she was going to kindergarden, all dressed up in her little outfit with apples on it.

It seems like just yesterday she was losing teeth and skinning her knees....playing dress up and slopping around in my shoes - shoes that she's now outgrown.

I really don't know where the years have gone...but gone they have.  Dave and I are so proud of our little girl...even though she's not such a little girl anymore.  Sometimes when I look at her, I can see glimpses of the woman she will be become.  Smart - my god, she's smart - funny, independent, poised and graceful...she's going to be some woman, is our Shea.

Happy birthday, Shea.  Welcome to your teenage years.  Strap yourself in, hold on tight, and enjoy the ride....