Growing Up Wenzler: Etta's 7th Birthday

My sweetest Etta, the one who made me a Momma, turned seven today. Seven whole years. She's so big now. I feel like I was just writing about her 5th birthday and that was two years ago! Etta has truly changed me. she makes me a better person. My priorities shifted. The things that I thought were important, turned out not to be so important. I have learned to be an advocate and, while I once knew very little about special needs or how a non-profit organization was run, I now find myself a founding board member of a not for profit organization that services individuals with Down syndrome and their families. If I had to do college over again, I would major in non-profit management or speech therapy or occupational therapy or something along those lines. Anyway, this post isn't about me. It's about my amazing, inspirational daughter. My big girl who just wrapped up her first year of elementary school. She's matured a lot in the last year and I am so proud of all of her accomplishments.

Last night, after the kids went to sleep, I sneaked into Etta's room and dumped no less than 40 balloons on the floor.

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Etta's Big Gift this year is a bike! She still needs to work on coordinating the peddling, but she's been wanting a bike for a while. Anytime we're in Walmart, she tries to hop on one.

Etta had her annual Birthday Zebra Cake. I feel like most people are tired of hearing the Zebra Cake Story every single year. Short version is that I ate a Zebra Cake on the day Etta was born and now she gets one on her birthday every year (and she truly only gets these on her birthday. We don't just keep Zebra Cakes in our pantry throughout the year). It's part of her birth story and if you would like to read the longer version of the Zebra Cake Story, you can find it by clicking here. Scroll to the bottom.