This month, three years ago

My due date had come and gone, and we were anxiously awaiting our second baby. According to the ultrasounds, we were expecting a little girl. A daughter. I would finally be able to indulge in all the sweet, ruffly stuff that I couldn't buy the first time. As one does, I wondered what this new little one would be like. What would she look like? Would she look very much like her brother? I knew from the souvenir ultrasound picture that she had a cute nose and a perfectly-shaped, four-chambered heart.

I'd begun having contractions in the middle of September. Twice they'd gone on long enough for us to stop and time them. I thought she might even come early. Not so. She was just making sure we were paying attention. Even before she was born, Laney made everyone in the room stop and take notice of her. Then, on a cloudy afternoon in October, she made her entrance. She was here. Our baby girl.

Three days old

I was more confident in myself as a mother this time around. No longer scared, but still worried. Would I be a good mother of two? Sometimes I wasn't sure I was a good enough mother of one. How much would our family change? A lot? Too much? But mostly I worried for Nicky. How would he handle sharing his spot at the center of our universe? Turns out, he handled it fine. There were a few bumps along the way, to be sure, but she flowed easily into our lives. Our family was complete, because she was now a part of it.

I would swear to you that Laney smiled at four days old. Despite what the baby books say, it's not totally unbelievable. Had she been born two weeks early, instead of two weeks late, she'd have been a month old by then. I have, however, dutifully recorded a date for her first smile on a day in November, at about the right time frame. Truth is, I'd been seeing little grins for so long that I wasn't sure when she really did smile for the first time. She simply is and always has been smiles and sunshine. (Okay, mostly smiles and sunshine. She's got a temper, too, that child).

Now, she's three. Three! I can't believe it's already been three years since we brought her home to us.

Sometimes, I wonder where this little girl comes from. This little girl who loves to make people laugh. A little girl with a sunny personality who charms family and strangers alike. A little girl whose exuberant enthusiasm knows no bounds. She certainly didn't get those traits from me. She is Tigger to my Eyore. I leave it to you to decide who is Piglet and who is Pooh in our family.

It's appropriate to me that she was born in the autumn. Just as we head into the dark Norwegian winter, when the nights are incredibly long and the sun doesn't rise above the horizon for two months, we have her -- our own little ray of sunshine to light up the house on those dark winter nights and keep us going until spring.

Happy Birthday, Little Miss Sunshine!

Three weeks old

One month old

Two months old

Eight months old

Ten months old

One year old

Two years old

Sugar and Spice. . .And everything nice. . .That's what little girls are made of.