My best girl

Every morning, while walking with Bella up to her school, I say, "Who's my best girl?" And she pats her little chest and says, "My am!" Then I saw, "Who's my main squeeze?" And she hooks her still-chubby arms around me and says "I yo feeze Mama!"

When she gets home in the afternoon, she bursts through the door calling out, "Here I am! I home now!" We all fawn over her and beg for hugs and ask her about her day. We've missed her, acutely aware of how quiet things are without her. She's missed us, too, and wants to chirp excitedly about the minutia of her day.

These are the little things that we would've missed had I not decided to get pregnant. I didn't really want another child, but I agreed to it. During the pregnancy, I didn't get invested in the little baby growing inside of me (for many reasons, including a paranoia that if I cared too much, something horrible would happen). But now? Now, I can't imagine life without this little monkey with her crazy Lou Ferrigno hair and her stubbornness and her mean streak.

She's my best girl, my main squeeze. I pray every day that we never have to know what life is like without her.