Happy 2nd Birthday, Angel!

Whoa. Big day! Our little angel is 2! I cannot even believe it! I remember so vividly holding her for the first time, bringing her home for the first time and now she is 2!

September 29, 2009...

September 29, 2010...

September 29, 2011...

We had such a fun day with Carrie today. We started with presents, of course! Very fun and exciting :)

 She got an easel, plastic golf clubs and some new books.

 Easel has been a huge hit!

 Then we kept up the tradition of Pancake Pantry for breakfast and she was excited. Even excited to wear her birthday hat!

 Proudly sporting the hat.

 Playing funny faces game with Dada...

Then they brought out birthday pancakes! She knew exactly how to blow out the candle! It was so cute. But she does not like big piles of food like that so she was still happy to get her silver dollar pancakes and bacon...

Carrie and Mama.

Then we had a little birthday disaster. We came home and got all ready for school. She was so excited to go and bring her cookies and then I was going to pick her up before nap so she could get a good nap and be ready for more fun stuff. But as soon as we pulled up to school, Carrie threw up ALL over herself and her car seat. SO bizarre. She has only thrown up one other time in 2 years so I was in shock. I got her out of the car, she began to sob (saddest thing ever), I stripped her down and everyone was so nice to help me get wet towels and paper towels and begin cleaning her up. I put on her change of clothes and put her on a towel in her car seat to go home. I was sure she had a bug, but as soon as we got home, she seemed all back to normal. She was running and playing so I just let her go since it is her birthday. I figured we would know if she was sick by if she got sick again, but until then, we would just celebrate her birthday. I was sad she didn't get to do her school party today, but she had already had one Monday at St. George's and I will bring cookies to Immanuel next week and she can have a delayed celebration. Here she is wearing her crown after her St. George's birthday party...

And so the next thing we did was what she had been begging to do...paint. And she loved it.

We painted for a while and then she said she was hungry. I took that as a good sign. She did not want chicken soup so we started with crackers and eventually she had had wheat thins, a PB&J and watermelon and she still seemed to feel good. I was starting to think maybe Pancake Pantry was too rich for her first thing in the morning. Or it made her car sick, but she has never been before. But who knows! She then wanted to put on her ballerina outfit and play outside so we did.

Chasing Tilly through the yard...

Neighbors probably thought this was quite a sight.

Then some chalk on the chalkboard.

After that, she took a good nap and I decided when she woke up that she could go to the grocery with me. I had decided she just could not be sick so we went shopping and got some stickers. And for the final fun birthday activity, we took her to get her favorite dinner. Cinco de Mayo Cheese Dip and quesadilla. She had a blast.

Diving in to the cheese dip. It is really all she cares about...she gets that from her mom.

And she got her birthday cupcake at last. She has been talking about wanting one all week and even though her cake will be at her party, we had to do candles and a cupcake on the actual day.

And once again she nailed the candles.

When we got home, she got to get the mail and she got a book in the mail from Mimi and a birthday card from Aunt Tink. She was so excited to end her day with mail for her. We, of course, read the book right then and there before she got ready for bed.

And then Dada put her to bed after a super fun day. She never got sick again and had a blast all day. I think she just wanted to be spoiled all day at home on her birthday ;). And she definitely got that wish. And we loved every minute of it. I love her and our sweet family and feel very blessed. As Graham was putting her down, "Great is thy Faithfulness" just popped into my head. It was amazing and brought tears to my eyes. Because it is true.

Here is some of the letter I wrote Carrie for her 2nd birthday...I want her to have it when I print this blog year into a book so she always knows how much I love her.

 To my sweet Carebear,

 Carrie, how has it been 2 years? I still remember the day you were born like it was yesterday. You have been a bigger blessing than your dad and I could have ever imagined. I cannot put into words what you mean to me, but you are my angel from God and you always will be. You and I have a special bond little lady. We have spent almost every minute together since you were born and it has been so special and amazing. How blessed I am to be home, watching you grow and change each day. I try to never take that blessing for granted. You do not play all that well by yourself because we have played together nonstop the past 2 years. You love having me by your side and I can never refuse you there. Each time we play, you make me smile and laugh for a new and different reason and it gives me joy that I could never put into words. You love your daddy and you light up when you see him, but you sure do love your mommy. Most nights you only want me to put you to bed and you want me to read you books and sing you songs and it is truly my delight to do these things. You have a baby sister who will be here soon and I do not know how you are going to share me.  I love when you are in another room and you say “Mama, come ‘ere!” You always have something to show me or something you want me to do. You are not always super sweet to me because you know me best so you test me most. You like to see how far you can push me before you will get in trouble, but that’s okay. I know that is part of being 2 and I am up for the challenge :) (most days anyways!). You sometimes have a hard time sharing, but again, I expect that.  It will only be harder when your sister arrives!

Carrie, you are so smart. Your vocabulary is crazy good, you know your ABCs (and have for many months), you can count to 12, you can sing at least a dozen songs and it never ceases to amaze us. You also remember EVERYTHING. We can’t get anything by you! If we tell you something or promise you something, you are not going to let it go until it happens! So we are very careful what we tell you.  Some of my favorite things you say are “Mom, you’re precious” (clearly you hear that a lot from us :) ) and “What’s Dada doin?” You always want to know where he is and you ask me the question in so many different ways…high pitched voice, low pitched voice, with a furrowed brow…I don’t know what made you start doing that, but it is so funny and we laugh at it all the time. Also when I say “I love (fill in the blank)” you say “No, I love (fill in the blank)” and we go back and forth and end up just laughing in the end. It is just one of our little inside jokes that we love! You also think out loud…for example you will say “There’s a finetruck!” and I will say “You’re right!” and then I will hear you say to yourself “Not an ambulance.” Another thing you do that makes me laugh every time! Your favorite things to do are color, watch TV (Dora or Caillou mainly), go on runs with Dada to the park, play on the playground, play outside, play with the dogs, read books and see your buddies. You are just like me in that you are happiest when we are busy. I try to fill up our days in order to stimulate that little brain of yours. The only time you are truly content to sit still is when you are in your favorite little chair watching TV (you are just like your dad in this way) or when we are reading to you in your bed before sleep time. I can hardly even get you to sit still to eat! And let me tell you, you are still one picky little eater! You don’t like to try anything new and you certainly do not like any new texture to your food. I hope things have changed by the time you are reading this because your dad and I love to eat and try new things and we want you to be able to do that with us! Your favorite things to eat are watermelon, hot dogs, pizza, grilled cheese, cheese, yogurt, smoothies and sweets. You like most fruits and most lunch time sandwiches, but you could be completely fine with no dinner at all! You have figured out that cupcakes, cookies and cake are amazing, but you still are not fond of the icing and the mess it makes!  You do not like a mess of any kind and hate to be dirty. Most mornings when the grass is wet, we start out in rainboots so you don’t get stressed about your feet getting wet or dirty. You recently jumped in puddles for the first time, but only because Scott was doing it. You actually loved it so maybe you will get into being a mess someday, but for now, I love that you like to stay clean :). You were into Tomboy things for a lot of this year, but you still wanted to be clean and not play in the dirt! Now as you turn 2, you really seem to be all girl. You still like to play outside and play with balls and golf clubs and sporty things, but you insist on wearing only dresses (you always say “no pants!), you like your babies, your My Little Ponies, having picnics with your animals and getting dressed up. It is fun to see you turning into a little lady. It also shows me how wonderful of a big sister you will be.

You made your first ‘big girl’ transition this month and moved into your big girl bed! You do not love transition usually so I was really nervous, but you handled it like a champ! You said bye to your crib and did not look back and moved into that bed like a princess. It has been a while now and we have had no problems with it and you absolutely love it. You love to sleep with all your animals around you and love spreading out. Dada and I love looking at you in the monitor all spread out looking like a little princess in a big bed.  I am so proud of you for the way you handled that first big change.

Right now you are in Mother’s Day Out 2 days a week. Mondays at St. George’s and Thursdays at Immanuel Baptist. You adore school. To you it is a world full of fun new toys, good buddies, sweet teachers, fun art projects, playtime outside and big lunch times with lots of people. You are never sad to see me go and always walk right in and look back to say bye to me. I am so glad you love it so much. On non school days we have swim lesson, music class and playgroup. You love all of these things, too. You are quite the little fish at swim. You are so enthusiastic about it and have done great! In music, you like to be in my lap or my arms, but you get excited about it and we listen to the songs from your class ALL the time in the car. You know a whole lot of them because that is all we are allowed to listen to! You love your little Friday morning playgroup as well. You look forward to it every week and have made some really good little buddies. It has been so fun for me to have you become friends with my friend’s children. I can’t wait to see who you have remained friends with after all these years.

Carrie, your #1 love is ‘your people’ as we call them. You obviously love mom and dad, but you also adore BA and Cy-Cy, Mimi and Fran, Papa and Steppy and your Uncle E.  It is a huge highlight in your life right now whenever any of them come around. BA and Cy-Cy obviously live in Nashville, but BA has been having Chemo in Arkansas so they have been gone for long stretches at a time. I think it confuses you and I know you miss them a lot, but they are almost home for good and I know you cannot wait to see them nonstop like you like to do. It is so nice to have so many people love you so much. I thank God for this every day because I always want you to feel safe surrounded by a Cloud of Witnesses who love you and cheer you on every day of your life. Carrie, I hope when you are reading this, you have a heart for the Lord. We pray together every night and you never forget. You also love to bless your food. You come home from Church every week talking about a new Bible story you learned. I know the Lord is already working on that sweet little heart of yours and it is so awesome to see. I thank Him every day for lending you to me and letting me raise this sweet child of His. I hope I make Him proud in years to come as we continue to watch you grow and change. Never forget you are our angel and we are ALWAYS here for you.  You will always have a home with us and we will never take one minute with you for granted.

Happy 2^nd birthday, sweet Carrie. Thank you for the joy you have given me. I love you more than you will ever know.

Love, “Mama”