Eight years ago at 7.14pm our lives were changed forever and for better by the birth of our daughter. Every year I relive that day and never forget how when I first saw her my reaction was "it's a baby!". Up until that point I think it was just a phrase that I would churn out - I'm having a baby, I'm having a baby, I'm buying a cot for my baby, I'm decorating the room for the baby... But then the baby arrives, and there she is and I thought ok now I get it, it is a baby. A real life gorgeous beautiful baby that is all ours.
After the initial part of coming home and getting a routine and adapting every single thing in your life, I started to realise that I had also thought having the baby, the giving birth and looking after a baby part was all there was to it. But then I discovered that this is only the beginning and that every day and month and year that follows, your life changes again and again all because of this new person, who isn't a baby for very long. They grow and start to walk and talk and have their own opinions (!) and ideas about where they're going and what they want to do, and sometimes that's fine and other times it's not but it happens anyway and you just have to keep going. And if you're very lucky you make more good decisions than bad and once a year on their birthday you take a good long look at them and think ...
... we've got a good one!