Four years ago today (four years!) my life was forever changed for the better yet again, when I was blessed to become a mom to a little girl for the very first time.  Tegan has brought so very much to our family, and our lives, and I couldn’t imagine this world without her.  Here are the top four things that make her the wonderful, unique, and amazing person that she is.

1.  She is beautiful.  I’m not talking about the big brown eyes and the long curly hair either.  She has a beautiful soul, and a kind, loving heart.  She walks into a room, and it lights up.  She radiates.  She shines.  She sparkles.  She is simply beautiful, inside and out.

2.  She is funny.  Very, very few people make me laugh as hard as this girl.  Period.  Whether she’s making up a silly song, performing a one-woman play into the bathroom mirror, or bursting out into a full-on belly laugh because she woke herself from a deep sleep by passing gas, she is one of the most naturally funny people I know.

3.  She is confident.  I talk a lot on my blog about being true to yourself.  Tegan doesn’t need to learn how to do that.  She knows who she is.  This is a girl who will go to the store in two different neon socks, a loud polka dot skirt, striped tights, a Tinkerbell pajama top, fairy wings, a string of pearls, and marker all over her face.  She not only pulls it off, but she ROCKS IT.  She is perfectly, authentically, 100% Tegan, and proud of it.

4.  She’s creative.  She turns our tile floor into hot lava, our living room into a castle, and a stick into a fairy wand.  She transforms herself into Dora, me into a flying dragon, and her brothers into zombies.  She whips up her own special blends of tea, and coffee, and smoothies, and dinner in her little kitchen.   She weaves stories of adventure, and humor, and intrigue, and heart.

And my life is sweeter from of all of the above.