Two

To my beautiful baby girl on her Second Birthday:

I always tell you at night that “I love you more than my arms can hold”, and this is true.  Even more so now that your growing body is beginning to push the boundaries of what I can easily carry for long stretches!  I think back to this day two years ago and how excited and relieved I was to finally meet you!  Of course I’m biased, but you were the most beautiful baby I had ever seen.  You were much smaller than we had expected at 6 lbs., 12 oz.; considering I was as big as a house and both your father and I were 8 lb. babies.

You were a sweet little baby, happy and content to snuggle on me or Daddy, and you quickly became accustomed to being worn in your little sling close to our hearts.  You didn’t fuss much unless you needed something – until you had gas and then you would cry inconsolably unless I was bouncing you up and down with your tummy pressed against my chest.  It didn’t work on Daddy – must have been the gigantic breastfeeding boobs!

You gave us a big scare on your fourth day in this world by stopping breathing for several moments.  Luckily I was standing right over you watching you sleep and was able to resuscitate you – twice.  We spent the next day and a half in the hospital hooked up to all sorts of monitors and an IV in your tiny little foot.  You were a bit dehydrated and also received light therapy for a mild case of jaundice.  They never were able to give us a definitive diagnosis for what happened – they guessed reflux.  Would you have revived yourself if I wasn’t standing right there?  We’ll never know, and I’m glad I was standing over you watching you sleep in awe.  I had just taken a shower while you slept and after that I didn’t shower without someone else around for many months!

You have grown into an independent, intelligent, creative, observant, devious, thoughtful and silly little monkey.  Every day you do something that amazes me.  I can’t wait to see with the next year brings us!

And since this post is titled “Two”, it seems appropriate to announce that we are expecting “Thing Two” around October 3, 2011.  Hopefully, that helps explain my frequent lapses in posting of late – I don’t get morning sickness per se (don’t hate me!) – no vomiting, but I feel gross, bloated, and inordinately tired.  I haven’t seen 10PM in a month.  I can’t wait for the 2nd trimester to begin – I think I started feeling human with Arden right around then.  Since I’m over 35, we’ll get the super-detailed 3D ultrasound around 17 weeks, so hopefully I’ll have cool photos of the baby to share at the end of April!