Birthday Girl!

"Oh yeah, I remember what this is all about!"  Exclaims the expression on Baby Miss's face as we celebrated her birthday last night with a cookie pie, ice cream and a few friends.  I have to laugh when I think about how we've scaled back on the birthday celebrations over the years.  With the Girl, every birthday included balloons, streamers, favors and lots of people.  Which equated to a stressed-out Momma that didn't even get to enjoy the moment cause she was too worried with the details...were there enough treat bags for everyone, was the house tidy with everything in it's place (a rarity that usually only occurs on such occasions in this house), etc.  All for a one, two or three-year old little girl who didn't care about such things and who had no such expectations.  With each successive child I'd like to think I've grown a bit wiser and now our birthday celebrations are pared down, more intimate versions of previous years.  And hopefully when they're older and look back at pictures they'll know that the lack of decorations or people wasn't because we loved them any less than a sibling but that we'd grown and learned what works best for our family.

 As this sweet pea turned two I mourned the loss of my little babe.  She is now a full-fledged toddler and has been for a while now but the age of 2 just puts a little finality on the conclusion of the baby years.  But, I didn't dwell on it because, man is this Baby Miss at a fun age!  She is fearless, expressive and funny.  Her vocabulary is like no other two-year old I have ever known.  In fact, this morning at her Well Child Check-Up, no sooner had the nurse asked if she'd started putting two or three words together to make phrases, than Baby Miss walked over to Little Sister, held out her box of raisins and asked in perfect pronunciation, "_______ (Little Sister's name here), would you like some raisins?"  The nurse just laughed and said, "Check."  She adores her older Sisters and is my cheerful morning person (quite unlike the other two).  She usually starts off her day by asking where the Girl and Little Sister are before we even make it out of her room.

And the dress that she is wearing in these pics, it's her favorite.  Her "ballerina dress."  A majority of her day is spent twirling when she wears this dress.  She doesn't mind being the center of attention and is pretty good at garnering it.

 This is her best little bud, Miss C, giving her some birthday love.

 The gifts were a hit this year.  She loves this little music box with it's twirling ladybugs...

and it's quite plain to see that she's smitten with this giant giraffe.  She brings a lot of joy and laughter to our house.  J and I are so abundantly blessed to have not one but three daughters, all of which are uniquely and wonderfully made by an amazing God, the ultimate Creator.  Only He could give gifts this good!  Happy 2nd Birthday Baby Miss!