Happy Birthday, Isabella!

Dear sweet Isabella,

Happy birthday, darling!  It's so hard to believe you're 2 years old.  This has been a wonderful year.  You constantly surprise and amaze me.  I absolutely adore watching you learn new things and exert your independence (even if we don't always agree that you're ready for the new things you're learning.)  You are such a beautiful, sweet, loving little girl.  You melt my heart when you smile or call for me or come running with a hug after a long day.  You live every moment.  You have the biggest smiles, the happiest laugh, the largest hugs, not to mention the most dramatic meltdowns and the loudest cries. But I love that for that moment in time you truly feel every emotion to the fullest.  You are my little angel, even when you're not.  And I hope that one day, you'll be one of my best friends, like my mom was to me.

Some of my favorite things right now...

You're latest favorite phrase is, "Bye bye, see you tomorrow! (which comes out "see you tomano.")  You love to give Rocky ("Ro-ee") treats and big hugs.  And when he makes a noise or walks by your room in the morning, you make the cutest face where your mouth forms a little "o" and you inhale excitedly, exclaiming "oh, it's Ro-ee" as you point to him.  I also love how you hold your hands up in question, "Where daddy?" and we talk about how he's playing basketball and he can't wait to see you later.

You've learned to brush your teeth this year and you love to show your daddy what a good job you did afterwards.  You run to him with a big, toothy grin to see what he thinks, and of course, he says you did the best job ever.  You also love to get dressed up (for anything) but especially for church.  When you put on your pretty dress and shoes, you go show your daddy with a sweet, shy expression and beam at him when he tells you how pretty you look.  And I loved watching you put on your crown and say, "Look, daddy, princess."  You have certainly become "daddy's little girl" this year, and I think it's so sweet and special.  He absolutely adores you, but I think you've figured that out.  Just the other day, you wanted to play a game on his phone and he was trying to use it.  So, you cuddled up to him and stroked his face giving him little hugs and kisses and said, "Itsy spider" in your sweet, irresistible voice.  You were playing your game pretty soon after that, too.

I love that you love to look at pictures and you recognize people in them.  Your favorites are pointing out mommy and daddy and Bella (as you call yourself), but you know Mimi, Grandma and PawPaw, and your cousins, Sophia ("Phia"), Ellie, and Everleigh ("E---lee".)  You've also recently wanted to see your picture after we take it, which is really cute.  We showed you a video of yourself pretending to be a frog, hopping around on all fours saying, "Bibbit, bibbit"  and you just smiled at yourself.

This year, you've loved eating yogurt, bananas ("nanas"), blueberries, ("buberries") and you've even begged for more eggplant, asparagus, and zucchini ("my kini").  You actually really like lettuce too.  We're pretty lucky that you like such a variety.  It's not usually hard to find something you love to eat.  You like to say, "uh oh cheerios" when you drop something.  You hate wearing a bib now, because you're a big girl.  You'll try most foods, but I think you're favorite is ice cream.  You point to it right away in any picture where ice cream is present and you choose it over cake or chocolate.  I think you take after your daddy in that way too.  He's been known to say that ice cream is the reason he works out.

We took you to Disney World this year for our first big vacation together.  How much fun you were.   You fell absolutely in love with Winnie the Pooh, and I really don't know why.  Until that trip I had no idea you knew he existed, but from that trip on we heard about "Pooh," "Tida," and "Pig" constantly.  Our house has quickly become inundated with Pooh paraphernalia and our DVR is full of "My friends Tigger and Pooh" episodes, which you request ("I Pooh") when you walk in the door in the afternoon.  We can't wait to take you back to see Pooh and Mickey ("Mi-ee Mouse") again next year.

You explore life without fear.  It doesn't bother you, actually it excites you to climb to the highest point in the room, slide down the biggest slide, or jump into the swimming pool.  You amaze me with your bravery and readiness for the next adventure.  Big dogs don't scare you a bit.  You run to give them hugs.  You do fall a good bit though; I'm hoping you get past this and didn't get my non-athletic genes.  Your daddy has high hopes for you to play several sports with him.  You had your first golf lesson at 18 months.  You were so funny.  You very quickly let him know that he couldn't take your golf club back to show you anything.  It was your club right away.  So, he got out his own club and showed you how to putt.  You learned the object (to get the ball in the hole) right away, but the method that seemed easiest was to pick up the ball and put it in the hole using your hands.  Seemed right to me, but your dad desperately tried to show you that you had to hit it into the hole.  His ball would come back to him after going into the cup and you'd say, "uh oh" and pick it up and put it back.  Pretty fun to watch but there haven't been any more lessons recently.  I was quite proud that you learned the object of the game so quickly.

Of course, one of the biggest events this year, is expecting your little brother, Cole.  You love to give my tummy hugs and kisses and say "hi, Cowe" into my belly button. When we ask you where he is you always pull up my shirt and point to my belly.  I know you're going to be such a sweet big sister.  We read about "the new baby" every night and you put your baby doll to bed with a blanket and teddy bear and a little pat on her back.  You give her bottles, push her in the stroller all over the house, and spent quite a while the other evening trying to get her diaper on just right.  I can't wait to see you and your little brother together.

You are so special to your dad and me.  Just when I think I couldn't love you more you expand my heart all the larger.  You teach me so many new things, and you help me slow down and enjoy things I've missed for years.  I look at butterflies and flowers, and even water with different eyes.  I can't wait to see what this next year holds for us, my precious girl.

I love you to the moon... and back!
Love,
your mommy