Two...

Ellie is two...which she reminds me of often by saying "I twooooooo" in her high squeaky voice with puckered little lips. My baby is two and now, I am offically the mother of toddlers instead of infants. Who knows how that happened so quickly, but I just hope I learned something along the way...this little girl is going to keep me on my toes! My sweet Ellie has a mind of her own... my "Wild Child." She is loud and courageous and assertive. She climbs and jumps and runs. She stands on her head a lot and she seems to have no fear. Ellie does things that Kate wouldn't even dream of doing. She colors on the tile floors in the Kitchen. She eats Play Dough. She stands on the rocking chair and tries to make it rock as fast as she can. She climbs up the tallest slide at the park. She slides across the coffee table on her belly. She screams at deafening levels in the car. Steve thinks she may be an Opera singer someday. I think she may burst my eardrums.

But the truth is that Ellie's spunky, outgoing personality is what I love most about her. It's hard not to notice her -with her beautiful red hair and striking blue eyes (and loud, boisterous personality). I should have known that Ellie would be a wild one with a mind of her own. She surprised us all by her very existance. After all of our struggles to conceive Kate, Steve and I decided not to use birth control after Kate was born and to hope for a miracle. When Kate was a year old and there was no "miracle" in sight, we made an appointment with our fertility specialist to plan for Baby #2. Just hours before that appointment, I found out I was already pregnant. I know that we often talk about Kate as our "miracle baby" because we tried to have her for so long and because the doctors were starting to give up hope on us. But Ellie is every bit the miracle, because she came into existence without medicine and doctors and ultrasounds. She just "happened" to two people who didn't think it was possible, and that is most definitely a miracle.

I love so many things about Ellie. I love the way she clings to me like a monkey and wraps her harms and legs around me and won't let go. I love the way she wants me to swaddle her stuffed animals before she goes to bed. I love her tiny little voice and the fact that she calls me "Mama." I love the way she scrunches her nose and makes funny faces. I love the gap between her two front teeth and her outtie belly button that sticks out even farther when she's crying. I love the way she tries to keep up with Kate and the way she sings and the way she dances with the crazy legs. And even on days when she's making me crazy and she's sitting in time out, I love when she says, "I sorry, mama."

My sweet girl, my Ellie Belly - I love you so very, very much. You bring joy and laughter and energy into our lives (along with a few gray hairs and a burst eardrum). Happy 2nd Birthday - may you always be full of spunk, full of joy.

The other day, I heard Ellie saying "I flying, I flying." She was laying across her shopping cart with her feet in the air, while it rolled across the floor.