Turning two ...

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, JULIA!

Julia is 2 ... how can it be? We are not quite ready to embrace all of the terror that comes with the 2's and the 3's, can't she stay 1 forever?

It seems that with Julia I am holding onto all of those moments tightly, I don't want her to stop wanting to play "rockabye baby" when we get her out of the tub, all snuggled in her towel. Just the sweet face she makes when she looks at me with her teethy smile and jumps onto my lap and says "rocka baby?" ... it makes me melt. Seriously, as of right now there isn't much about Julia that doesn't make you fall in love with her. She is independent, yet loves a good cuddle. She marches to the beat of her own drum, literally -- she will turn anything into a drum or instrument. She's organized, she loves lining up everything from our cabinets and putting them in perfect order on our kitchen floor and then she also finds pleasure in putting things away (she absolutely gets this from her Daddy). Julia loves to snack, she's like a little bird. She'll ask 15 times a day "I eat". If you open the fridge, it's "Mulche (milk) ... peeease". She has wonderful manners -- always saying "peeease" and "tank du (thank you)", she very rarely says "no" but when she does she really really means it (Disney World helped her with this one), she loves to mimic her big sister. Just recently Emma began letting me blow dry her hair and as soon as Julia saw this, she hopped up on the bathroom chair clapped her hands and said "hair mama?". Yup, I will do your hair sweetie. She loves to dress up ... she wears Emma's turquoise shoes and oh yeah she owns that look! It's precious. She likes to pick out her coat everyday and put on her own boots. She's sweet as can be about ... pretty much everything. She loves kisses on her face and giving really big hugs. She is a great sleeper and already has an entire stuffed animal collection her crib. She knows exactly which ones should be in there and if one is missing she'll shout out orders "Boots?" "Mickey?" "Baby?". Then she lays down on her pillow and tucks her right hand into her mouth and say "NIGHT" and goes to sleep. Ah, she's just easy. So here's to wishing that age 2 stays just as peaceful ...

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jules.