Three years ago today...

...I was in labor with Anna. I was lucky to have been able to do it naturally and she came fast and furious. I remember not much time had passed when my family left my room to when my mom came out to say Anna had been born. She was born at 11:45pm, just fifteen minutes shy of her due date. Anna Hill Zung. Her first name is after my great-grandmother (my Mor Mor) who is my grandma's mom. Her middle name is my mother-in-law's maiden name. Her last name is my father-in-law's Vietnamese first name that he changed to his last name after coming to the US. A lot of history and ancestors packed into that name. Here is a video that Rachel took that night about an hour after she was born. The second video is another right after she was born. She wasn't the happiest little one because the nurse was doing all the things needed after being born. Anna watched these tonight and was very interested, but didn't like the crying. The look on her face was priceless. Then and now.

We called her our little spring roll. She was such a sweet baby that ate well and slept well. Her calm, chill temperment was a blessing and it was so much fun to see her develop during the first year. She looked so much like Mike when he was a baby (and also Mike's sister, Michelle). Here she is on her first birthday...

Her second year brought walking, talking, and a whole lot of personality. It was so amazing to watch as her personality developed and she started to show likes and dislikes. At the time of her 2nd birthday party she was in love with the show "Yo Gabba Gabba" so we had a themed party where Mike dressed up like DJ Lance. It was a lot of fun and she still talks about it.

This past year she has taken off with conversation and interaction. Hearing her stories and jokes blows me away. She loves imaginary play with dolls and animals and loves to read books. For her third birthday we found an amazing doll house that we put together last night and had ready when she came downstairs this morning. She loved it and played with it all day long. Here she is with the house and at dinner tonight.

How old are you today?

Loves the new doll house

Yummy chocolate milk!

I am so very thankful and grateful for Anna's health, development, and overall well-being. She is an amazing little girl with a mind of her own. Very talkative, quick, and can be pretty stubborn. Today there were so many times when I'd look at her and see how she's grown so much and yet know that there is still so much more to come. She is already talking about what she'll do when she turns four and five. She's going to be a force to reckon with (in a good way)...a real pendulum swinger. Thank you, God, for blessing me with Anna. I'll end with a couple pictures that I like. Capturing four generations is hard to do and I'm thankful to have this picture. Anna was about five weeks old when this was taken. The last picture is when we were leaving Children's Mercy Hospital after the whole dehydration bit. We didn't take any pictures during that time, but decided to document the welcomed event of going home.

Four generations: My grandparents, Mike, me, Anna, and my parents

Coming home from Children's Mercy...she is about ten days old

We'll see what this next year has in store for Anna, the new baby and our family. I'll pull out the good old saying of, "I'm not sure what my future holds...but I know Who holds my future."