A quarter of a centrury old!

Today my baby turns 25! A milestone- she's now old enough to rent a car!

Stephanie Susan was born on a Thursday, at 10.15 a.m. and weighed 7 lbs. She was a tiny little thing- even our doctor joked about her being so small, after her older sisters weighed 8 lbs 7 oz, ad 9 lbs, 7 oz. She wasn't named until she was 2 days old- we were still discussing names. Ralph wanted the name Alycia, to which I responded that if I died in childbirth, he could use that name. To me, Alycia was the awful kid that lived behind us in our first house. He thought of Stephanie, and she looked like a Stephanie. Her middle name was going to be Sue, which is my middle name and Ralph's grandmom's americanized name, but Stephie Sue sounded too much like a country western song.

Of course, Stephanie was immediately shortened to Beps by Manda, who was 2 at the time.

Being the youngest and smallest, Steph of course was the bossiest from the time she could talk! She was so tiny, and had this short, straight hair, that we called her the Gelfling, from a Muppet movie.

Steph scared us all half to death when she developed appendicitis at age 11, but she did fine. She's the only one in the family who ever had her appendix out! She had the lap surgery, and was roller skating a week later.

Steph is now working for ISO, and works with fire chiefs all over the country. She got an associate's in business, and ISO paid for another associates in fire science. She's now attending Holy Family University in Philly, going for a Bachelor's in Fire Science, courtesy of ISO. She has her first apartment, near the university, where she lives with her mini-doxie, Toast.

She's gone from a tiny baby to an intelligent and beautiful young woman.
Happy Birthday Stephanie!