Tay-Tay is TWO!

Happy Birthday, my sweet, spunky, adorable girl!Yep, our little Taylor is two today!! I'm soooo excited to be celebrating her day with her and could not even begin to express how much I love this big ball of sunshine!Her stats from her well check -- 25 lbs. (52%) and 35.5 inches long (87%). Tall and skinny with chubby cheeks and chubby feet and healthy as can be! Here are some things to remember about our Tay at TWO:

First and foremost, Taylor has more personality in her pinky toe than most of us will ever have! She has always been this way. You can see it all over her face, so full of expression and eyes wide and bright and always looking for the next thing to learn about! She is hilarious without trying and usually can't quite figure out why everyone is laughing at her! She is mischievous and is ALWAYS into something! She is so stinking lovable that you feel like you might burst when you are around her! It's contagious! And thankfully she is a snuggler sometimes so you can get your fill of her! She has the most EXCITED voice! From the moment she greets us in the morning to the way the littlest things make her happy, she just seems to find joy in everything! She can be incredibly feisty and determined (but what two year old isn't?!) and when she wants something, she is NOT shy about making it known! And her cry, oh my goodness! It is the saddest thing in the world! Her bottom lip sticks out a mile and quivers as these huge alligator tears drip down her face! If you have any inkling of being mad at her, it fades in milliseconds when she cries because you absolutely turn into putty! She is quick to say sorry for anything that has hurt anyone, but also quick to take some good swipes at her big sister when she's mad (she is currently in a hitting phase that we are working tirelessly to break!). She is eager to say, "I love you" and "Hi" to anyone and everyone wherever we go and does not have a shy bone in her body! She will be your best friend whether you want her to be or not! I'm telling you, the personality oozes! We've always said, she is so full of personality that when you are near her, it sort of just spills out all over you and you can't resist her! The bottom line about her personality is that she is just the happiest little person you could ever meet. A constant smile on her face, a quickness to draw you in and make you her friend, a love for life and an endless curiosity. And with those chubby cheeks imprinted with dimples, she is pretty irresistible! She catches attention wherever she goes. Usually it's the red hair and curls that people first come up and comment on. But then she talks to anyone who comes near her and you can just see how it brightens people's days and they always walk away with a big smile. I love that about her!

One of my favorite things that she says is, "It's okay, Mommy (or Kaiya or Avery or Daddy), I'm right here." My other favorite that she still says is, "I boshed it" when you ask her where something is ("I lost it). Sometimes, if Avery is off sleeping somewhere, she will ask me where Avery is and then ask, "You boshed it?" as if I lost Avery somewhere! Sooo cute!

She could win any contest for the messiest eater! Honestly, I have never seen a kid who gets so deep into the mess of her eating! Ever since she was able to feed herself, she would NOT let you come close to feeding her! This is one thing that she is stubbornly independent on! And it wouldn't bother me so much except that she more WEARS her food than eats it! Oh well, even though I hate cleaning her up after every meal, she still manages to stay adorably cute wearing all that food! I will say that Taylor, thankfully, is NOT a picky eater! She is really good about eating pretty much whatever we give her. She loves strawberries and bananas and oranges and peaches and grapes. She loves carrots and potatoes. She loves bread and cereal and spaghetti and any kind of noodle. She loves sandwiches and chicken and hot dogs. And luckily, she is not much of a sweet eater -- in fact, a lot of time, she will pass up candy if it is offered to her. She loves her milk, but also drinks a lot of water. Taylor finally started drinking out of sippy cups a few months ago! We were going NUTS with her and the bottle and it dripping all over the place as she carried it around the house! So, one weekend Chris said that's it, and it only took a day or so and she was totally over the bottle! It was a pretty easy transition. We had tried it many times before, but I think this time she was just ready and we really talked up how she was a BIG girl like Kaiya. It worked and now she is a cup girl!Taylor really loves books, just like her sister. She carries them around and blabbers on and on about the story. It is really cute.Taylor also really loves bubbles! In fact, she is kind of obsessed with them currently! She must ask me 800 times a day for bubbles! Pretty easy fun, I guess!Taylor is our little dare devil. Unlike her much more timid and cautious older sister, Taylor has no fear. This is sometimes not a great thing! She is also our child that has perpetual bumps and bruises all over because she is not scared of climbing or jumping or trying anything! She requires a lot more of our watchful eyes because she would jump off a bridge if she had the chance! It's also really fun, though, because her adventurous and curious nature helps her to experience the best of what life has to offer! And it really helps her big sister be more brave, which is a good thing!

Taylor stands on her tip toes all the time. No really, ALL the time! She walks around on her tip toes, she stands on them, she dances on them, everything! The funny thing is, I did the EXACT same thing growing up and still do! Didn't know something like that could be hereditary! As a result, Taylor is constantly falling over! It is the funniest thing in the world! She will be standing there, and literally just fall over because she's lost her balance on her tip toes! Or when she is walking, she totally loses her footing all the time because she is on her tip toes! Sooo funny!She has the biggest, bluest eyes and I get lost in them! They sparkle with all the excitement of life!She still has beautiful curls in that strawberry mane of hers, which I also love! But those cute curls are usually covered in food because she loves to run her dirty hands through her hair while she's eating!She has a very loud voice. Sometimes baby sister Avery does NOT like that when she's trying to sleep! And that voice can also be a little startling when that's what wakes me up in the morning!

Taylor loves watching Mickey Mouse while mom fixes her hair in the morning. It's the only way I can keep her sitting still for 5 seconds. Her favorite character is Toodles! She about jumps out of her seat when they call on Toodles! So funny!

Tay also loves letters and thanks to her love of the Leapfrog Letter movie that my friend, Jamie, suggested to me a few years ago, she already knows most of her letter sounds! She walks around the house singing, "B says buh, every letter makes a sound, B says buh" and all her other letters. That is usually what we sing together while grocery shopping and it keeps her occupied so well! When she sings the alphabet, my favorite part is when she gets to L, M, N, O, P. She says, "L, lo, lo, lo PEEEE!" She also can count to 10. She's a smart little cookie!She is still in the crib and is such an amazing sleeper! The minute her head hits the mattress at about 8:30, she rolls onto her side and is out for the night, without a peep! She will usually sleep until 7 or so. She also is a GREAT napper -- usually about 3 hour naps! She definitely needs the sleep with all her constant activity! But she is also a light sleeper -- thank goodness for the sound machine in her room! We are planning on making the move to a big bed AND into Kaiya's room that they will share in the next few months. I'm scared it will disrupt everything, but Avery needs a crib! We'll see how that goes!She loves baths and any chance to be in the water! She loves to dump water over her head and get on her tummy and splash around! This summer will be fun at the pool!She loves Chase. She has really discovered him these past 6 months or so and loves to be around him and tell him what to do!

Kaiya is her absolute best friend in the world. She longs for Kaiya's attention and does not ever go anywhere without Kaiya. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that they hold hands EVERYWHERE we go. People are constantly stopping and pointing and smiling because it might just be the cutest thing you have ever seen. And they do it all on their own. They just love to hold hands and be together. They also fight a ton, but it never lasts long!
She has chubby hands and feet. They are so cute! But it makes finding shoes for her a little difficult!

Taylor is so busy that she sometimes doesn't have time for hugs and kisses. But she is also quite an affectionate little sweetheart. She will sometimes just come up and put her arms around my neck and say, "Awww Mommy!" She loves to crawl into our laps and snuggle up while she is drinking her milk at night. She is always soooo excited to greet us when we walk in the door and holds her arms out so we will pick her up and hug her! I cherish each hug, kiss, cuddle and snuggle from her. They are sooo sweet!

She makes the funniest faces and has a face that is constantly full of expression! Mean face, happy face, surprised -- she's got them all down! She loves to sit or stand behind me when I'm on the computer (in fact, she's here right now) and just wrap her arms around my neck or play with my hair.

She loves to dance! It's more of a frolic and prancing, but it is all her and so cute! She loves music and singing too! Her favorite songs right now are Popcorn Popping, Sunbeams, and a special song that daddy sang as a kid (I believe from the muppets). When she gets to a word or a part she knows, she literally screams it with excitement!

She is so, so, so good in nursery. From day one, she has NEVER once cried or cared about us leaving her there. Her nursery leaders were commenting to me last Sunday that she is the most joyful child they have ever seen and is just always happy to be there! In contrast to most of the other kids who are screaming their heads off! What a relief that is for us! She also is like clockwork and poops at the EXACT same time every Sunday during the 3rd hour of church. The nursery leaders think that is pretty hilarious too!

She loves little Avery and is very interested in her. She loves to give her bottles and binkies and get down real close to her and make faces! When she first sees Avery in the morning, she screams, "Hiiii Avery!!"

Tay loves to be outside. Loves walks, loves taking rides in the jeep with Kai, loves learning to ride the scooter, loves to throw balls and run free! She really loves the park and has no fear about climbing and sliding and swinging on anything! She also really loves to play in our bark in our flower beds and throw it all over the place -- mom doesn't love that so much! The other day I was weeding and had a big pile of weeds that she proceeded to spread all over the yard while I wasn't looking! Little stinker! She loves nothing more than to just be in the grass, barefooted, and carefree!Taylor, Tay-Tay, Tay-Jayne, Monkey, my sweet girl! I love you so much, I think I might burst! I have never met a girl like you! You warm up my days and light up our lives with your bright and happy spirit! You are so easy-going and easy to please! You teach me every day that life is made to be enjoyed, explored, experienced! You are the happiest person I've ever met and your smile is so contagious! I can't believe it's only been two years since you came into life and changed our lives forever. It feels like life couldn't have existed without you before then! You have given our family so many priceless gifts. You gave me the gift of pregnancy for the first time. That will always be so, so special to me and I look back on that experience with such happiness! You gave Kaiya a sister for the first time and a best friend for life. You look just like your daddy and have such a special bond with him. You brought a sunshine and a light to our lives that nobody else could have done! I hope you always know how special that light is that you have, how it warms people, how it invites and includes people in your life, how it spreads happiness around wherever you go, how it blesses our family each and every day!Two years should not be enough for all that you have experienced, all that you have shared with us, all the smiles you have spread! I am so grateful to be your mother. You make me feel so, so lucky and I could not adore you any more than I do. You keep me on my toes every day, but I love to watch you enjoy life so much! I'm so happy to be sharing this big 2nd birthday with you and look forward to the coming year of new adventures and all the joy I know you will continue to bring into our lives! Keep smiling, my little sunshine! We love you so, so, so much!Happy Birthday, Ladybug!! Happy Birthday to you!