Motherhood and Step Motherhood

I wasn't around on the day she was born, for when she first learned to crawl, or to walk or even for her first teeth or her first words. 

I came along further down the track, when she was 2 and a 1/2. Back at that point in my life kids weren't a thing I was even thinking about but when I met her Dad, she was a part of the package deal. And wow what a deal that was. I never realised a rosy cheeked blonde haired little girl could have such an impact on my life. Now almost ten years on a lot of things have changed. 
I've experienced my own series of firsts with her. I haven't tried to take the place of her mum but some of her firsts in life have happened while she's been in our care. And for all those things it creates our own special lot of memories. 
I'm not mum to her nor do I wish to take the place of her mum. I have my own special place in her life. 
As she grows up I hope she looks back at all the things she's done with us and remembers it fondly :) her holidays and family outings we've taken her and her sister on. I hope she looks back and realises the unchanging constantness her father and I have had in these years, how we are a constant in her life and don't change regardless of the circumstances or the goings on in her life.