Two Years

This week has been busy and eventful and full of celebrating. It has been Kate's birthday week! I'm a very sentimental person (sometimes a little too much!) so I did lots of reminising about "this time two years ago I/we were___." I understand that Kate isn't really aware that it is her birthday but I think its nice to still sit and think about how much she has changed our lives in these last couple of years and the joy we felt around those first few exciting, yet tiring, days.
Tuesday afternoon Kate and I went out for her last outing as a one-year-old. We did some major shopping to spend her bithday money that family had sent her. If you know Kate, then you know she really loves shoes and clothes more than toys so she was having a ball. Later that night, her "Birthday Eve," we watched the video that we had taken at the hospital and the first few days following her birth. She was in love with the little baby in the video. The three of us were all snuggling in bed when all of a sudden the birthday girl stood up, walked to the end of our bed, and.....tossed her cookies. Yes, in our bed. This was the first time that Kate had ever had that happen so we were all a little shaken up and not sure what to do. It happened once more about an hour later but some cuddling with Mommy settled Kate's stomach and she finally fell asleep. It was sad that when it was officially Kate's birthday she was sick and not feeling so great.
The next morning Kate woke up and wanted to watch more of the baby on the TV so we watched the video of her birthday last year. It really is crazy how fast little ones grow up. She looks so much older from just last year. She was still a little sick but took a long nap and was all back to normal and ready to celebrate her day! We took it easy that afternoon while we waited for Jonathan to get home from work. Unfortunately, since Kate had her little episodes the night before we had to cancel plans we had made with friends for the evening. Oh well, a trip to the movies can wait I guess. Once Jonathan got home we took a quick trip to Toys R Us for Kate to pick out a toy and get her birthday balloon from Geoffrey. Kate couldn't decide on a toy but was loving the movie aisles so she ended up getting some new DVDs, one of which is "Charlotte's Web." We picked up food from Cotton Patch (since that's basically what she lived off of when she was in my belly thanks to Jonathan working there at the time) and headed home to have a family dinner and watch her new movie. We had a lot of fun discovering the animals in the movie, eating our dinner and cake, and trying to build a fire in the fireplace. Even though Kate's birthday started off with a little glitch it ended up being a lot of fun and we enjoyed spending time as a family.
Today marked the day that we brought Kate home from the hospital. I remember bringing her home but not yet realizing that we really get to keep this baby and raise her for the next 18 or more years. The first day home also brought on one of the worst nights Kate has ever had, to date. She cried, more like screamed and I mean SCREAMED every hour, on the hour for about 30 minutes. So really we had a night full of screaming with little short pauses in between. Jonathan stood it for just under an hour then got my mom from the guest room & told her he was sleeping on the couch and she could help me. Poor guy, I couldn't blame him though, he had to go back to work the next day. Its just funny how life with a newborn is somewhat of a blur but then certain moments really stick out in your mind and make for a good story.
Well, that wraps up Kate's birthday week. I'm so proud of my little girl and how much she's grown these past couple years. She is developing her personality and independence and it is so fun to watch. She learns something new everyday and never fails to put a smile on my face no matter how my day is going. Motherhood is crazy, emotional, tiring, rewarding, and about a million other things but I feel so blessed to have been given this role and especially with this little girl and her daddy by my side. I love you, Kate. Happy second birthday!