My Sweet Girl's 2nd Birthday

To my sweet girl Kylie Jo,

As I was lying in bed last night I couldn’t help but think about the night that you were born two years ago.  Your dad and I were both so excited to finally get the chance to meet you.  Then all of the sudden at 12:18, late at night, you made your debut.  Our hearts were forever changed.  I will never in all of my life forget the moment that I first saw you.  You were  perfectly made…..and so loud!  And WE made you!  It just blew my mind!

And now somehow you are two years old today and I can‘t stop getting teary eyed about it.  You are changing and growing so fast right now that I wish I could just put life in slow motion.  I don’t want to miss a moment!

From the start you have always been a girl who knows what she wants and what she doesn’t want.  We like to call your little soul spirited and at this phase in life you have plenty of spirit to go around.  Lately your favorite thing to say is "I want"….I want to go this way….I want yogurt chips…..I want to swing……I want more…..I want outside…….I want to push the stroller…..I want mommy…..I want daddy…..I want to sit there….. I want I want I want.  When you don’t get what you want you can throw a pretty big whine fest.  Sometimes you will even warn us, “I am whining”.  We just tell you to go sit on your carpet square in your room until you are done whining and you do.  We have to use loving tones when we get onto you because you are very sensitive and will cry instantly if we raise our voice.  You do not like to disappoint us because you are a pleaser with a soft heart!

All of the sudden in the past week you have developed such an imagination.  You walk around with your babies, purses, animals, strollers, keys, phones, and have a grand ole time playing.  With this imagination you have officially become our little Texas tornado.  You can take a clean house and have it become one big play room faster then I can come behind you and pick it up.  I guess that means that you can tell we have a lot of fun!  But when I ask you to clean up you start singing “Clean up Clean up” and you help until you get side tracked.  You do love to clean though.  Just the other day I caught you scrubbing the kitchen floors with a rag...I guess that is my cue that I should probably mop soon!  :)

Also in the past week or so you are starting to string all sorts of words together so that you are basically talking in sentences.  We were trying to count how many words you were saying before you made it to two but we quit because you are saying new things every day and we just can’t keep up.  You talk ALL the time!  Right now you are playing and you are saying, "Just stand up, you are supposed to do it, stand up...does it scare you...all done....ready go.....the heart says boop boop boop....I pray......just stand up......it itches....i'm all done"  See what I mean about constant talking!  

You also love to read books (especially Library books).  We go to Goodwill all the time to pick up a few more books because you spend hours looking through the ones that we have.  I am making your dad bring down a book case today from the attic so you can have all your books in one place.  This will probably be a birthday present in itself for you.

Your favorite movie is Finding Nemo.  I don’t even want to count how many times in one day that you ask to watch it. We rarely give in because you aren't allowed to watch that much TV in a day but when you get to watch it you get super excited!  My favorite part is watching you sitting on the couch in awe of all the fish and SHARKS, and whales.  You get SO excited when we put it on that you squeal and run around.  You can't stop smiling while you wait for the movie to start!  When the sharks swim on screen you usually say, "Scare you Scare you".  This is what you say when you are scared....but we know that you also secretly love those sharks even though they scare you a little.

You LOVE animals.  We spend tons of time looking at animal books, animal videos on the computer, and animals outside.  You love to make the sounds that the animal makes.  My favorites are your pig snort, your frog ribbit, and your skunk pee yew.  Your favorite animals right now are animals that live in the water…whales, dolphins, sharks, and otters.  But I am sure that will change because you don't stick with favorites for very long when it comes to animals!

You love to be outside.  I think you would live out there if we let you.  We spend a lot of time swinging in your swing, taking walks, letting you push your stroller, playing in water, and swimming in memaw and granddaddy’s pool.  Outside is sort of you and daddy's thing right now.  As soon as he get homes you both go outside and play because it isn't 110 degrees then.  I can't wait for fall weather so we can be outside all the time!

You love to go and do.  Some of our best days are when we go "exploring".  We spend a lot of time at Walmart getting groceries, Goodwill looking for books, beanie babies, clothes for you, and just random things that are fun, the park, the pet store looking at rats, fish, lizards, cats, birds, and turtles, the library looking at "bookies", church playing with your friends, Memaw and Grandaddy's house and pool, Chick-fil-a for the shakes and the indoor play place, Target just to get out of the house and because it's moms favorite store, AND traveling to Illinois, Arkansas, and Clute where we visit family.  You like to be on the go!  Pretty soon I want to enroll you in a tumbling class because I think you'll love it!

You love to eat.  You like pineapples, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, peaches, apples, oranges, kiwi, grapes, corn, peas, broccoli, green beans, black beans, sausage, chicken, pumpkin seeds, cottage cheese, pasta, guacamole, gold fish, and OF COURSE ice cream, shakes, and popsicles.  Eating is something that you have never really struggled with as you can see!  I am sure I am missing things that you like too but you like everything!

You are still a great sleeper too.  You take a two hour nap in the afternoon…three hours if you are really tired.  Then every night we take a bath, read books, say our prayers, and you try to get in more reading.  We have to carry you to your crib and you usually are crying.  But as soon as we lay you down in bed and close the door we don’t hear a peep from you until 7 in the morning.  You like your sleep!

You are my pride and joy.  Their is not a day that goes by that I don't thank God that I get to stay home to raise you and watch you grow up.  You are so smart, so funny, so beautiful, and every minute that I get to spend with you I treasure.  I told your dad just the other day that I am living my dream.  There is no place that I would rather be and no thing that I would rather be doing then loving on you and watching you grow into the person that God designed you to be.

Luke 1:80 The child grew and became strong in spirit.  

KYLIE JO'S BIRTHDAY IN PICTURES

Walking into her birthday day!

How can't streamers and balloons make you start the day with a smile?

Tryin to put a bow on her head....she gets presents today but she knows she is really our present!

Oh balloon fun!

All dressed and ready to head outside while Lila is napping!  First time she has ever asked to wear her sunglasses and a bracelet.  STOP GROWING UP!

She looks like she thinks she is a star....waving without looking!

"I want to swing!"

We planted this tree when Kylie was born....lets watch them grow!

Tryin to snag a leaf...good thing Dad's not around!

She picked two!

Wouldn't be a good day if we didn't push the stroller around a little bit!

Going from one driveway to the next with her walk!

My big girl watching Nemo on the couch!

Funny part of Nemo

Checking out the decorations and the birthday bib

The "Party" decorations for this year.......minimal but perfect!

Lila Ruth slept all morning so mom and Kylie Jo could play play play!

Dad took a half day so he could spend extra time playing with the birthday girl !

This is the gift that is just from dad.....Kylie's favorite book from the library!

She LOVES it!

Had to read it right away!

It wouldn't be a party without a game.....ring around the gator

The tongue has to be out when opening presents!

Uncle Chris meeting Lila for the first time!

I just love how concentrated she gets when she opens presents

Every last piece of paper and tape has to be off the present before she can enjoy it!

A pro at opening bags!

Thinking that if she puts her doodle pro circle on her that it will leave black circles on her face like it does on the doodle pro.

Hmmmm I have all this stuff but what's in that bag?

Granddaddy and Kylie Jo's puppet time!  I don't know who has more fun!

Looking at flash cards!

Laughing the good belly laugh!

The cake!  

Who cares about cake when you can lick icing off fish?

YUM!

The big present!  Trampoline!  A HUGE hit!

Bouncing with her friend!

At 8:30 it was time to come in and she wailed because she was having so much fun!  She was SO tired from her big day that she slept until 9:00 in the morning!  Which was AWESOME because mom and Lila were tired too!