Spitting Image

"She has your nose." 

This was the first thing I heard the moment Ella was born. When they placed her in my arms and I got my first glimpse at this little face I had been waiting to see, all I could see were Aaron's eyes.

"She has your eyes," I whispered as he leaned in and we looked on in awe at our little miracle. 

It is a moment etched into my memory. The moment I met my daughter. 

For months I had tried to picture what she would look like. Attempting to squish my husband's and my face together in my imagination. I never could have pictured the beautiful daughter we now have - who highly resembles her father, and whose face transforms akin to mine when she smiles or scrunches up her little nose. 

What I was not prepared for - nor had I spent much time thinking about - was what kind of personality she would have. Two years in and we are getting a pretty clear picture of the traits she has inherited from each of us. 

And what we have discovered is, she is a lot like me. This was the mirror I had not expected to be put in front of me. It is a little overwhelming having some of the traits that you don't necessarily like about yourself thrown in your face in their most organic form. But, then she displays some of my favorite attributes, and it makes our bond just that much more sweet. 

She is stubborn, has a slight case of OCD, inquisitive and just has to know everything (why? what's that? why? why? WHY?), independent, and slightly manipulative. 

But she is also smart, creative, organized, clean (don't know where she got that one!), theatrical, loving, kind, and funny. 

It has taken me many years (and I still have work to do) to take my weaknesses and turn them into strengths and/or learned to temper them. It is humbling to observe that I have been able to take my natural instincts and mature with them over time. I know Ella will do the same and I am excited to one day know the adult she becomes. To witness the evolution from the raw-ness of toddlerhood into a mature adult and all the stages in between. 

What an honor to be a part of her story.