Sessions with Sweetie: And Just Like That

My first baby is two.

It's been quite a year for her. Unfortunately, it seems the majority of the year she was hanging out with a sick and exhausted pregnant mama, but despite endless loops of Baby Einstein, Sesame Street and Curious George, she's become quite a little girl.

At two, we can say for sure that she is smart, curious, strong-willed, funny, soft-hearted, tough, athletic, energetic, independent, and very loving. Even still, after having had her around for more than 733 days, I can confidently say that I continue to love her more every day. How is that possible? When does that stop? She's my life's joy and my whole heart, and her daddy's as well.

We celebrated her actual birthday in a very low key way. After waking her up with balloons and singing, we took her to a bouncy play house in the morning with her best friend Jake. Came home, took a nap, and after nap we went on a family walk. Peter took her to the park after that, and we grabbed some burgers as a family of four for dinner. At the end of the day, a package arrived from her Gramma in North Carolina - a brand new double stroller, which we quickly assembled and took for a test ride. Of course, we told her this was a birthday present (having nothing to do with our new addition) and she absolutely loves it.

Saturday was her party, and I use the word "party" pretty loosely. There was no decorations to speak of, no party planning stress on me, the one balloon we had was actually a birthday gift, and only one party guest her age (best friend Jake, once again came through!) but she had a blast, and so did the rest of us. We gathered at my mom's house with only immediate family and might-as-well-be-family close friends and watched the toddlers play with New Puppy for entertainment. I was willing to do the food, but my mom came through (as she always does, above and beyond) with burgers for the crowd, and my aunt provided some great side salads. We tested out the new blender my mom got by making pina coladas (yum!), the guys drank some beer, and I made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. It was perfect, and the kids had so much fun. Pretty sure New Puppy had fun too - he was exhausted by the time we left, as were we all.

Thankfully, once again, Kelli brought her fabulous camera and took some amazing pictures. She's a wonderful friend to me for more reasons than I can count, but one pretty great perk is that she's got a great camera and a great eye, and has taken pictures for us on some pretty monumental occasions (Ellie's First Birthday, Dash's actual birthday, etc). I'm so grateful for her - and the photos too! And because I couldn't decide which ones to use, forgive the photo overload. :) (also, it appears the lack of sleep is catching up to me, by way of bags under my eyes. Please forgive, and remember, I do have a newborn....)