Happy Birthday to my sweet 8 year old daughter Cassidy Eileen Townsend. Today I have been thinking a lot about the last 8 years with my daughter. It feels like 8 year ago was soo long ago but it doesn't seem long enough to have my little girl turning 8. So I thought that I would recount the last 8 years with her.
Curtis and I got married December 14, 2002. A month later we conceived Cassidy. This was not in the plans as I was going to school full time and playing on the UAA Volleyball team. It was a very hard pregnancy. I was very sick and also struggling emotionally not being able to play volleyball. I know that I made many people not very happy with me that I was pregnant and not playing the next season. How ever during the time it was hard but now that I look back I find it a huge blessing to take a year off of playing and letting my body heal. My body was so damaged from play volleyball and it needed a break.
Well October came and the doctor checked me at my appointment and told me I was at 4 cm and asked if I wanted to be induced because he was going to be out of town on my due date. So we scheduled an induction a 8 days before Cassidy's due date. All of my babies come at least a week past their due dates so I believe that is why Cassidy had problems when she was born because she just wasn't ready. It took 8 hours of labor for our little one to come. We started have complications during labor I don't really remember what but I know that they got the room ready for a C- section. Luckily everything worked out that she came vaginally. She was born at 3:52pm. Weighing 7ibs and 19 3/4 inches long She came out purple and was grunting to keep her lungs open so they took her to the NICU. This is a picture of Cassidy soon after she came out before the took her.
Curtis and I got married December 14, 2002. A month later we conceived Cassidy. This was not in the plans as I was going to school full time and playing on the UAA Volleyball team. It was a very hard pregnancy. I was very sick and also struggling emotionally not being able to play volleyball. I know that I made many people not very happy with me that I was pregnant and not playing the next season. How ever during the time it was hard but now that I look back I find it a huge blessing to take a year off of playing and letting my body heal. My body was so damaged from play volleyball and it needed a break.
Well October came and the doctor checked me at my appointment and told me I was at 4 cm and asked if I wanted to be induced because he was going to be out of town on my due date. So we scheduled an induction a 8 days before Cassidy's due date. All of my babies come at least a week past their due dates so I believe that is why Cassidy had problems when she was born because she just wasn't ready. It took 8 hours of labor for our little one to come. We started have complications during labor I don't really remember what but I know that they got the room ready for a C- section. Luckily everything worked out that she came vaginally. She was born at 3:52pm. Weighing 7ibs and 19 3/4 inches long She came out purple and was grunting to keep her lungs open so they took her to the NICU. This is a picture of Cassidy soon after she came out before the took her.
She quickly got better and I got to hold my sweet newborn baby. I remember sitting there in the NICU room and just start bawling. She was so little and precious and I was so glad that she was okay! We didn't have a name picked out for her yet. We didn't find out if she was a girl or boy. If she was a boy I wanted to name her Cayden. But if she was a girl I was not sure. So Cassidy just came to my mind and we both liked it. Curtis that night took Cassidy for a walk in the hospital and read her some book I don't remember what novel he chose. He also used the computer there and looked up names and told me in the morning that he really like Eileen. So that is how she got her name.
This is Cassidy 2 days old. She was so little. She was a pretty good baby. We had a rough start with nursing. She didn't really have the sucking reflex. My mom worked with her trying to get her to suck and finally she did but I was so sore from nursing after the first month that I resorted to formula. When she was almost 3 months old we got in a car accident on Christmas day and my back was hurt pretty bad. So I was not able to pick her up and hold her so that is when she went completely to the bottle.
When Cassidy was 10 months old I went back to play collegiate volleyball. Cassidy and Curtis were my number one fans. They even wrote an article about me and another mom on the team and our kids. So this picture was in the ADN. Going back to play volleyball was really hard on me. My body was in much better shape but not any better injury wise. I was in so much pain playing that it was not something I could do again. The first month of me going back was when Curtis and I decided that I was only going to play that one year and then we were going to move to Juneau. I am glad that I played that last year. It was good for me to realize that it was no something I wanted to continue doing to my body and I missed a lot of Cassidy's firsts because I was gone. 
This is Cassidy a couple days before her first birthday. We were taking a shower together and I accidentally knocked a shaving cream can off its shelf and it hit Cassidy on the head and she had to get stitches. Luckily that is something my dad can help with so we went to his office and he sewed her up.
All of Cassidy's first 5.5 years of life I was in school. Pursuing my college degree. I was a very busy mom and had lots of homework and papers to write. This is my children in our house in Juneau making a spice cake. They had gotten into all of the spices and dumped them out in the bowl. I was busy upstairs writing a paper on the computer. When I was busy with my homework was when the kids found fun things to do to entertain themselves. I remember I just laughed and got the camera took pictures!!
Cassidy is always quick with a smile. And she is always into her own fashion. She loves to dress up and loves her unique look. This was back in the day when she let me pick out her clothing.
And this is her picking out her clothing. I love the way she dresses. It speaks she has a lot of confidence in her self and I have just learned to encourage it instead of hindering it.
Cassidy was able to be at the birth of our daughter Catheryn. Cassidy was so loving and excited to have a little sister. She even told me that I did a good job! Cassidy named Catheryn. We gave the kids some names that we were thinking about and Cassidy kept calling the baby Catheryn before she was even out. That was also before we knew if it was a boy or girl. Cassidy is such a great big sister. It is hard that she is the oldest and has the most responsibility but she is so good at it. 
Here is Cassidy this summer. She loves getting her picture taken and posing. She is a cutie and I sure do love her. We are so grateful that she is in our family. I couldn't imagine not having her in my life. She has taught me so much and as the first child she has had so much of her parents learning how to be parents with her. She defiantly has it harder than her younger siblings but she is the perfect child to be our first. I couldn't ask for anyone better! Happy Birthday to my sweet girl! We love you very much and so grateful our Heavenly Father sent you to our family.
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