This time, two years ago, Ryan Schofield and I had just checked into Rockyview General Hospital for an induction, on my very last day of full-term pregnancy.

My OB had asked me how I was feeling three days prior to the induction, and I had responded with something like ‘get this friggin baby outta me.’ And he said ‘Oh, I’m working Rockyview on Friday night, why don’t you just come in?’ And I was Gobsmacked. I was like ‘what do you mean?? Just waltz in with our birthing bag on Friday night and you’ll just induce me and we’ll have a baby?!’ And he was like ‘Yup.’

So, two years ago, on the night of Friday April 12th, Ryan and I had just checked in to Rockyview General Hospital and I was about to be induced.
I remember being SO excited to meet the little person inside of me.
I remember wondering what she would look like.
What would she like doing for fun?
Who would she grow into?
What kind of baby would she be?
Would I love her right away, or would it take some time?

At 7:30 am, Saturday April 13th, 2019- I got the answers to most of my questions.
My girl was Blonde! Shockingly Blonde! Nurses- gathering-around-her-bassinet-to-stare-at-her white-blonde ‘fro kind of blonde.
My baby had blue eyes. Fuzzy white hair all over her skin. Little peach fuzz white hair covering her shoulders.
I remember wanting so badly to pull the swaddling blanket back and to kiss her perfect little baby toes.
I unravelled the blanket and discovered that my baby girl had terrifyingly long sloth toes. They looked like fingers, they were so long. I put the blanket back on them.
I had No further need to question my immediate love for her, though.
From the moment they put her on my chest, I knew my heart would never be the same.

I wondered if she would be a ‘good’ baby. The only word for her that I had in the first few weeks was ‘sweet.’
If someone asked how she was, I would say ‘she is just so sweet.’
I told her all the time, ‘you are sweet as a beet.’
And here we are, two years later, and even though she has her occasional toddler mood moments, she is still very, very sweet.

I wondered when I was pregnant, would she be silly? Would she be weird? Would she be active? Would she be loving to others?
She is all of those things.

I think the thing that has struck me most about her that I never could have predicted is that she Loves to jump.
She jumps when she’s excited. She jumps when she’s bored. She jumps when she loves something. She jumps when she’s trying to impress someone.
Before she was verbal, she would show me she liked something by jumping on it.
Favorite book? Bring it in to the kitchen and jump on it.
Favorite teddy bear de jour? Put it on the living room and jump on it.
Now, she talks allll the time, but she still leaves the dinner table most every night in the middle of dinner to run and jump around the kitchen for a few seconds and then she comes back to eat.

My sweet as a beet, still Very blonde little jumping bean turns two tomorrow, and I feel like it was just yesterday that I welcomed her into the world.

There’s a saying attributed to a few different speakers that ‘when a child is born, a mother is also born.’ Or, ‘when a child is born, the mother is born again.’ I’m very much feeling that tonight- just sheer gratitude that Sadie is my child, and that I get to be her Mama. I hope we get to enjoy many more birthdays together.

Xoxo, Em