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Katherine Heigl posts sweet birthday message to 13-year-old daughter

"She is officially a teenager. I can't seem to process it. How did this happen?" the actor wrote in honor of her daughter's birthday. 
Katherine Heigl with a short blond bob smiles on a TV set in a white dress with pink and orange floral accents.
Katherine Heigl visits TODAY on April 21, 2017.Nathan Congleton / NBCU Photo Bank
/ Source: TODAY

Katherine Heigl is now officially a mother to a teenager and she can't believe it.

The "Firefly Lane" star posted a sweet message on Instagram in honor of her oldest daughter, Naleigh, turning 13.

Heigl described some cute moments from Naleigh's life story so far, from being adopted from Seoul, South Korea to becoming a teen.

Next to a slideshow of photos that showed Heigl and her husband, Josh Kelley, holding Naleigh as a baby and more adorable pictures of their daughter smiling for the camera, the actor wrote, "The first two photos are the first two photos @joshbkelley and I received of our beautiful baby daughter Nancy Leigh Mi-Eun as she waited in Seoul Korea to come home to us and we waited in LA to hold the baby we already loved."

The emotional mom admitted she was crying as she looked at the pictures and reminisced about Naleigh's childhood. 

She recalled her 9-month-old daughter being "all folds and rolls" with "chicken fluff hair" when she was first adopted.  

At 2 years old, Naleigh became "all gap toothed grins and endless giggles and girly sass."

"The memories drift in and out like the ebbing of the tide and I keep trying to chase them, grip them tight in my hands, hold them still so I can live it all just one more time," Heigl shared. 

The former "Grey's Anatomy" actor then referred to Naleigh as "the girl that made me a mother. The girl that gave my life purpose."

She added, "This girl turns 13 today. 13. She is officially a teenager. I can’t seem to process it. How did this happen."

Heigl expressed gratitude "for every new memory I have the privilege of making with this extraordinary girl."

She ended the birthday tribute with many "I love yous" to her daughter.

"I love you with every fiber of being, every cell in my body, every wish in my heart," she said.

Kelley and Heigl also share daughter Adalaide, 9, and son Joshua, 4. 

The couple adopted Adalaide domestically in 2012. 

Heigl spoke about adopting two of her children in a March interview with Parents.

"I just believed that love is love — it doesn't matter what we look like," she told the publication before sharing a story about her older sister, Meg, who was also adopted from South Korea. 

"When I asked my sister, Meg, if she had been treated one way when she was out in public without our parents and a different way when she was out by herself without them, she said, 'Oh yeah, all the time!'" Heigl explained. "That made me realize I had been so naïve."

Although she felt "angry" with herself for not recognizing the way her sister was treated, Heigl said, "I had to calm down and realize, OK, this isn't about how it makes me feel."

She explained, "It's about how I need to protect my daughters and prepare them for the world, because I can't change society in one fell swoop."