A note from Mama: Today my baby turned TWO! (sigh...)

My friend Elizabeth was really sentimental about her daughter's birth when her little Violet turned one just a few weeks ago, and I tried to remember if I felt that way for Lily's 1st Bday. I did then, but now she's 2, I thought surely I wouldn't feel sentimental about her birth this far out! Well, about 8 this morning I realized that Lily was born just a few hours before that time, 2 years ago. I also realized that maybe she woke up this morning, about 4:30am, because she knew that was her exact birth time! She just wanted to celebrate! They say that you soon forget the years when your baby wakes up at night and you are sleep deprived...REALLY?

OK, enough of that, now about my baby. She is still nursing. No, I didn't plan to nurse a 2-year-old, but hey, YOU try telling her NO. With a 2-year-old you have to pick your battles! We are neck deep in the terrible/wonderful two's. I say this lovingly and literally. One moment she is a terror and the next she is the most sweet and amazing little creature. Makes PMS look silly in comparison.

My Lily loves to eat! When my cousin Megan was up visiting she couldn't believe how much food the girl could put down. And it's finally begun, Lily is becoming her Daddy's shadow. It's so fun and sweet to watch. She says fondly "Daddy, too?" whenever we go anywhere or talk about doing anything. Daddy is teaching Lily her alphabet, and she's pretty good at singing it. She really knows her grandparents and talks about them all the time. The other day she was saying "Papa Tom is pretty!" (??) I'm not sure what those two talk about on their Friday mornings together! I could go on and on...and I will when I post about her party. But for now, my baby is TWO, and no, I can't believe it's been 2 years since her birth. She is such an amazing little person. And as I think about the next 2 years (STOP your thoughts about a sibling for Lily NOW! Or at least hold on to them for a bit.) the memories of her birth will fade further (sad but also thank God) and my baby will start school! It's funny how you think "Oh, let's have a baby!" but don't really follow through the thought process to include "let's have a toddler!" or "let's have a teenager!" Hmm...


It was Mother's Day, and I asked for a few very small gifts. #1: Let me sleep in (hence Joe did the 4:30 am fun). #2: Take care of Lily's bedtime, the whole shabang. #3: Let me take a nap. Yes, sleep in AND take a nap. I now realize that for "Mother's Day" I wanted to take a break from my motherly duties. That's a little ironic. Uh oh, mother guilt is kicking in again. Oh, and today, while trying to nap, I thought about how my Dad's Mom is not around this Mother's Day, and how sad that must be for him, because it's sad for me too. See, Grandma Mary was always like another Mom to me. I always visited her and took flowers for Mother's Day, because she spent a lot of time mothering me too. She always called me her baby. When she was in the hospital this last time we talked about how I kind of was like her youngest kid, always around during my college years, living with her off and on. About 2 weeks ago, after visiting with her, I was leaving her room and she said "Bye Baby." That whole visit she hadn't been interacting with us much but when she said that I knew she was there. That's how she always said goodbye.