The big 0-2

Emily is now a two-year-old. Wow!

We had a great birthday here, with "just" family to celebrate Saturday morning with her. My grandparents, my aunt and uncle, my parents, my sister and her family, my brother and sister-in-law, and Travis's parents came to our house for brunch and present-opening, plus a little playtime before Emily crashed for her nap. We had pancakes, egg casserole, and fruit salad, since those things (roughly) are some of Emily's favorite foods. All she ate was the pancakes, but she's the birthday girl - I didn't push it. :)

The gift opening was hilarious. She wasn't quite understanding that there were lots of things for her, and once she opened something and liked it, she didn't know why we'd try to take it away from her to give her another mysterious package. Her cousins tried their very best not to be impatient with this!! She was particularly fond of the things she picked out for herself when we had gone shopping at the toy store a couple weeks ago (I hid them when we got home). There's a stuffed pig that she really likes that has three buckles across its tummy - it looks ridiculous but apparently it's very entertaining! She also enjoyed getting new clothes from her Grandma Sullivan - immediately stripped off the clothes that she was so excited to put on in the morning, and put on her new outfit. And wore it the rest of the day! She got a kitchenette and set of play food from her Johannsen Grandparents (a steal from a garage sale of course - I can't imagine what this would've cost new!!). She was one very, very happy birthday girl. She LOVED having "two grammas!!" to dote on her, and they were delighted when she let loose and sang some kind of aria just for them. She loved her schoolbus cake, which I might say I was pretty proud of, and blowing out the candles. She dove right in and started eating the skittles off of it, then went in to take two big bites out of the cake itself. So funny!! All this on top of a celebration the day before at Ms. Amanda's! We were glad to have today just to relax and unwind a little, although Travis was pretty productive today doing little projects around the house.

The things Emily can say now are just amazing! Over the past month her ability to form sentences has really cemented, everything from "I did it!" to complex thoughts about things that happened several days ago. She had a lot to say last night about her birthday as we were going to bed and talking about what had gone on that day (as a way to get her to lie still and unwind a little!). I can really ask her what's wrong and what happened if she's crying, so I plan to continue to combat any whining with telling her to use her words, because she really does a good job with it. I am amazed at my own ability to heal any minor owie with a kiss, which now comes requested as the offended body part is brought rapidly to my face for remedy. My favorite kisses are those for chins, I think. :)

Baby is re-approaching my ribs again, just out of sheer size, I think. I haven't had to take any tums at all for a couple of weeks now because s/he's sitting so much lower than Emily did. I am glad to be a little bit sore in my lower abdomen rather than feeling stretched from the inside!! And wow am I sore from yesterday's activities, and tired, too! Slept a full night plus an hour nap today. I don't have much for contractions, which is nice because knowing my first experience they don't do me any good anyway. I'm really easily out of breath, though, carrying Emily up a flight of stairs or getting up and down off the floor, which I seem to do a lot of these days. It gets to be overwhelming if I think that my current physical state will continue after the baby is born, but I know that this isn't forever. And even the post-partum healing will end, and I'll be probably more brainless but at least physically feel better! I just keep telling myself these things. If I can get through Halloween, everything will be all right!

I think I forgot to mention that my doctor said I am measuring a little bit big. She marveled that I could have a 9+lb baby without any stretch marks, and I said it's because ribcages don't stretch! I'm glad to know that my hunch about Emily's mismeasured size was right, and that my doctors are really taking her size into account when considering my care this time around. I may not need to cry at every appointment this time around!!

We sure are one lucky little family. :)