Celebrating two.

Soooooo, Elle's two now. We celebrated the big day over several days in various ways.

First, Elle got to celebrate with Tim's side of the family in Ohio. Elle's aunt (the mother of four boys) was thrilled to throw a princess party :)

Then we spent the Sunday before Elle's birthday as the "main celebration day." We started by heading to the beach - she had been talking nonstop about the beach for DAYS. On Saturday, we went to Target, and she asked if we were at the beach. We left Target, and she asked if we were going to the beach. But on Sunday, when I woke her up, I asked her if she wanted to go play in the sand, and she looked panic-stricken and said "No, Mommy. Go to the beach!" I tried to explain that she could go play in the water, and again, she insisted: "Go to the beach with Mommy Daddy!"

She was happy once she realized that sand and water WERE the beach. It was a gorgeous day, and we had a blast. My friend Traci joined us for a few hours, and Elle loved having the undivided attention of Mommy, Daddy AND Aunt Traci. Elle liked throwing shells, sitting in shallow water, playing in the sand and not leaving the sun for a second. She kept calling all of the seaweed "jellyfish" and could be heard saying "Jellyfish, go away" at various points throughout the morning.

We stopped for lunch on the way home, and then, not surprisingly, Elle fell asleep in the car. I transferred her to the crib when we got home, and she continued her nap. We actually had to wake her up, but she didn't mind because we gave her the birthday presents we'd gotten for her.

We got her a play golf set and a Thomas the Train track set (she loves playing with the one my parents have from when my little brother was big in to Thomas). She was excited about those, but the big winner has been a guitar that I scored on Craigslist. Elle had been playing with a guitar at one of her sitter's and I decided I'd try to find one for her. I really wasn't excited to comb garage sales and Goodwills, so on a whim I turned to Craigslist ... and in about 10 minutes I had found a kid's guitar for $10, AND the seller volunteered to drop it off at my work the next day. The guitar is "real" - just kid-sized - and came with two large picks (for little hands) and an instruction book. Elle isn't a musical prodigy (yet), but she L-O-V-E-S "playing" the guitar.

After she'd opened our presents, we went out to dinner, where Elle was doted on, sang to and ate more food than I think I've ever seen her eat. I was actually worried that she might get sick because she just kept eating ... and eating ... and eating. She even tried shrimp for the first time and kept asking for more.

On Tuesday, her actual birthday, she woke up to a floor-full of balloons in her room. She was super excited about it and kept walking around giving different ones to me.

She had a waffle with sprinkles and got to open some presents throughout the day. We had tacos, one of her favorite foods, for dinner, and then we sang to her and she got to eat a "cupcape." We opened cards and some more presents, and she enjoyed playing with everything, flitting from this to that back to this in a matter of minutes. 

Presents and cards and well wishes have continued to trickle in over the last few days, and Elle has lived it up. Extended birthdays have always been one of my favorite things, and Elle seems to enjoy them, too :) She got an awesome play table with chairs a few weeks before her birthday from my older younger brother and his family a few weeks before her birthday, and one of her favorite toys is a shopping cart that my sister and brother-in-law sent. She wheels around and actually cheered "Shopping is good!" and followed it with an ecstatic "Wheeeee!" a few moments later. She got upset when I told her we were going to the grocery store but she couldn't bring her cart.

Elle is loving all of her cards and presents, loved the extra attention and birthday "cupcapes" and seems to have had a pretty stellar second birthday :)

Two.

Dear Elle,

Today is your second birthday. I know it shouldn't have hit me so hard, but I found myself thinking back to that day two years ago a lot today. Two years ago this morning, I was in labor but had not yet met you. By the afternoon, it had been two years since I officially became a mother - had held you in my arms, nursed you and memorized your puffy little features. By the evening, it had been two years since we had called everyone with the news that we were now a family of three. I remember so many details of that day - it feels like it was just yesterday, yet so much has happened that it is hard to believe it has only been two years.

Your first birthday was bittersweet, because it was the FIRST. You had changed so much in those first twelve months, and then you were one. Your second birthday is emotional because the past year has gone so incredibly fast. I fear time will not slow down and it will feel like tomorrow and you will be 10. Once you started walking and talking, time sped up and keeps snowballing as the days and milestones blur together.

As your personality has emerged, there are definitely days where I feel overwhelmed by this responsibility of motherhood. I often feel that I am not enough - not patient enough, not creative enough, not fun enough, not good enough. But there are twice as many moments - moments that are much easier and happier to remember - that leave me in absolute awe that I get to be your mother and leave me thinking that I must be do something halfway right to have a daughter as remarkable as you.

It amazes me to see how you make connections and pick up on the smallest details. I often think there is nothing you could do to be any more entertaining. There are days where I am in an absolutely awful mood and I think of something you said or did weeks ago and I can't help but smile.

And while you are smart and funny and adorable, you are also very determined, charming, compassionate and emotional. You have wiped away my tears and comforted me with a reassuring "It's OK, Mommy. Don't be sad." You get upset when you don't understand why you can't have or do something, and you'll melt in to your blankie and furiously suck your thumb like your life depends on it. You have endless energy and such a passion for so many things, whether it be fruit snacks or singing or cooking in your play kitchen. You don't do anything halfway, which is both exhausting and inspiring to watch :)

One of your favorite books is "On The Night You Were Born." I always make sure you know that you weren't born at night - it was a bright, sunny morning that I vividly remember - but much of the book still rings true, and as I read it to you last night my voice broke and I got choked up. Baby Girl, the book is so true:

On the night you were born,
the moon smiled with such wonder
that the stars peeked in to see you
and the night wind whispered
“Life will never be the same.”
Because there had never been anyone like you . . . ever in the world.

Life will never be the same, but I couldn't ask for anything more. Happy second birthday, Boo Bear - can't wait to see how you grow and develop in the next twelve months!

Love,

Mommy