My baby girl turns two

Saturday June 25th was my sweet baby girl's second birthday.  I can't believe two years have gone by since that incredible thunderstorm and power outage when my water broke and our little peanut changed our lives.

What a sweet baby she was.  Though now with two newborns, we are suddenly reminded of all the difficulties you just plain erase from memory.  Lilli too had gas issues, grunting, crying inconsolably, cluster feeding (with sore boobs - nightmare!!), the 5:00pm crazies, and issues falling back to sleep after feeding in the night.  But with out our recent reminders, all we can really remember is what a great baby she was.

Here we are two year's later.  She's talking up a storm.  The other night John was feeding her dinner and she lost half of her pizza on the floor by pulling her plate off the table (this is a fun game for her).  John's response was "Lilli, God - " and he caught himself and stopped there.  Lilli however knew what he was getting at and she finished it for him - "Dammit! Dammit!"  Neither of us could actually reprimand her or tell her this is not something she should say because we were too busy laughing our asses off.

We ask her how old she is and she says "Two Babies!".  This is what she associates with the number two - poor thing.  We talked about the babies so much before they arrived that she cannot disassociate the number two, her age, from the fact that there are two babies in this house now.  Either that, or she knows how freaking cute she is when she gives that answer, so she keeps giving it.  Somehow I think the latter might be the case.

Other than the talking, she is doing things that no longer resemble a baby.  The way she climbs the stairs or gets into a chair at the kitchen table.  She can hold a crayon correctly without ever being taught.  She is learning her alphabet, numbers, colors and shapes.  She can play memory games and put puzzles together.  She can partially clothe herself (mainly socks and shoes) and is constantly saying "Lilli do it".

For her birthday John and I bought her a tricycle, and we were surprised when we showed it to her that she knew exactly what it was.  The benefits of daycare I suppose, because we have never spoke to her about bikes.  She loves it and wanted to get on it right away.  She actually did pretty well.  We kept trying to help her get the rhythm of the pedals and all she wanted was "Lilli do it."

As we were in the driveway with the cycle, John's family from Nebraska started to show up for the day.  We had Grandpa, Aunts, Uncles and cousins coming for a BBQ and cake and ice cream.  And also to meet the twin brothers.

John smoked a brisket (which he tended to overnight while up feeding babies - and it was good!) and mom made purple flower cookies (which I forgot to take a picture of and they are all gone now).  I want to always be the mom that makes a cake or treats from scratch.  Last year I made here cake, but with two newborns all I could crank out this year were the cookies, and we purchased a cake with Lilli's favorite TV friends on it, Dora, Boots and Diego.

Dora, Boots and Diego figurines now are her "Guys" that she takes around the house everywhere, including her new water table from Mema.  This is going to go out on our new child safe deck (if it is ever finished) and Lilli can play with water and ice to her heart's content.  She loves water and ice.  No idea where the obsession came from, but it keeps her busy for a good long while.

The entire weekend Lilli was about as sweet as I've ever seen her.  Maybe it was all the attention and gifts (she is spoiled by her aunts and uncles and grandparents), but I also think she might be getting used to the idea of being a big sister.  She loves on her brothers all the time, so if she isn't used to it yet, she should be on her way.  I keep hoping by the time I'm home alone with all three kids, she will realize the babies aren't going away!

She is, and will always be my baby girl, whether she's two or twenty-two.  Happy Birthday Baby Girl, Mommy loves you!