It's a girl!!

Goodmorning!
A couple of days ago we got  ourselves a new prince! His name is Oscar. He was celebrated with canonfire and there will be a service of thanksgiving in the palacechurch.
Well, we are glad princess Estelle got herself a babybrother to be proud of but in this house we have yet another celebration that is far more important; our oldest is 17 today!!
17 is nothing really, in the middle of the teens, one year away from driverslicense and voting.
She is still a child in an official way of speaking, but there is not so much child left in her actually.
Well sometimes, when things are rough, or when she makes us laugh. Sometimes the years of safety
and nocaresintheworld are spoken of with a touch of sadness and she still sings Disneysongs with the
rest of her friends.  Otherwise, the items filling her quarters and the clothes in the wardrobe tells another story, the story of someone on the move, picking up useful learning on the way.
We share some of her moments and are left out on others. The fact that we like the same books and films keep us together , we can make comments no one else would understand.
She was born in an akward fashion, presenting her backside first. The midwife, a middleaged woman with long red fingernails told me not to scream or cry, otherwise she would get nervous and what then!!? But still I can hear the words: Look, it's a girl!!!

So, when I opened the laptop this morning, I watched the picture of that girl with the R5 Family , taken at the meet and greet in Copenhagen in october, I was there with her, I wonder, like all parents do, where did the years go?
Where are we a year from now, TEN years from now? She have dreams, just like her sister, some dreams are certainly meant to be true, others, well, we'll see.
As I said earlier this week, being with teenagers is an exciting time, but it will soon be over, we'll have some more years and then they will go on their ways, sharing some of it with us, but most of it with others. And it's just as it should be.
Today, however, the flag will soon be up, the birthdaytray is packed, cards and presents, chocolate and scones, the musicboxes ready for playing, mother is going to try the stairs all the way up, crutches and all. Her sister sits ready with her lovingly homemade birtdaycard.
Still she is a child in our house, still there will be hugs and kisses everyday, secrets shared and grades to be proud of.

It's nice we had a prince, but we have a princess, and the birth of every child in this world should be greeted with thanksgiving, flags and canonfiring from the palace wall.
Today we celebrate a 17 year old person filled with gifts, some in great use already, some yet to de
discovered.  Happy birthday and God be with you, dearest child!!