Happy Birthday, Joan!

Today is Joan's birthday. She opened her gifts from family and from Kim and Josh this morning and we sang to her.

She has a chocolate brownie cheesecake for celebrating today. Her sisters helped her pick it out. We'll have to save a piece for Tom to eat when he gets home tomorrow night.

Tomorrow her girlfriends will come over to spend the night. They'll have a German chocolate cake, and take-out from the local Chinese restaurant. On Saturday we'll take them all to the lake to swim.

When Joan was born, we lived in upstate NY. Our house had no air conditioning, and the summer was very humid. She was our first - and only - summer baby. My friend, Lynn, kept Toma, Jacy and Sarah for us, and Mom drove from Alabama with Glenn and Aric.

Steve and I got to the hospital, and Steve immediately went to the cafeteria to get breakfast and coffee while I sat on the bed reading the paper. My midwife, Regina, came in, examined me and yelled to the nurses at the desk that I was ready. I heard one of them say, "But she's sitting there reading the paper!" They bustled in, kindly took the newspaper from me, and encouraged me to push. Joan was born a few minutes later, with Steve looking on, slurping coffee from his paper cup and telling the midwife and nurse what a great job they were doing.

Afterwards, he went to get the children, and Mom soon arrived with Glenn and Aric. Jacy brought me a fistful of wildflowers she'd picked in Lynn's yard, lovingly arranged in a Mason jar. Lynn sent two ripe peaches and a couple of her homemade blueberry muffins (to this day, those two aromas in conjunction take me back to Joan's birth day) which I devoured later while reading and nursing the baby. I was in the hospital two days, and while I was there a bunch of interlibrary-loan books came in for me at the library. Steve brought them to me to enjoy - they were all on homebirth, and my midwives got a kick out of finding me in bed, 24-hours post partum, planning out the next birth!

All the children held Joan and stroked her little face. They kissed her and cooed to her. She was our "fair-of-face" Monday baby.

Now she's 14 and taller than everyone but Steve, Glenn, Aric, and Tom. We only get to kiss her at bedtime. She's our domestic diva - loves to cook, bake, sew, and knit. And plays basketball.

I'm so thankful for Joan and the part she plays in our family!