2

Raegan's birthday was fantastic, if I do say so myself. ;) I can't take all the credit, it was a team effort! It was especially special because Raegan had Aunt Lindz at her birthday who no one really gets to see too much. Not to be over looked is all of the family and friends that came to help us celebrate and make it a really special day for Raegan. She truly enjoyed herself so much! I think that my favorite moment of the day was when we sang her happy birthday, and then she blew out the candle on her cupcake as if it was her 95th! she knew exactly what to do, and did it with such confidence! The look on her face when I brought over the cupcake tower was priceless. She couldn't have been happier!  And I've never seen a child her age that loves being sung the happy birthday song more than her!

We had a teddy bear picnic as our theme, with a teddy bear craft table to decorate paper picnic baskets that I made and teddy bear color sheets, as well as teddy bear party hats, teddy bear ears, a honey pot ball toss game, and a pass the teddy bear "hot potato" like game. We served sandwiches, chips, fruit, and potato salad. I think overall it was a very fun party!

I will now say what every parent says in that I can not believe she is already 2. This time last year she wasn't even walking. Now she is walking, talking, and bossing me around. It is amazing to me that the core of her temperament and personality are the same from the first day we brought her home. As our nanny would say, "she knows what she wants!" I like to say, she knows what she DOESN'T want. After all, what better word in the English dictionary (according to Raegan) than "No!". I think my favorite toddler mind game so far is the one where she asks for something and then I offer it to her, and then she says no, and then this goes on for several rounds. Love it. ;)

But seriously, she blows my mind every day with how much she knows and understands. Yesterday she brought me a crayon that was part of a Christmas gift from my mom and dad back in Illinois. My brother's dog (Yadi) chewed on the crayon when we were there visiting in December. This was four months ago, and Raegan just came to me yesterday holding up the red crayon to show me and says, "Yadi ate it." Wowsers.

She is the only person I know who can bring me to tears in one moment, and then in the very next moment say or do something that will completely melt my heart. I will say these have been the absolutely most difficult two years of my entire life, but also the most rewarding. I did not know it was humanly possible to love someone so much. I know one thing for sure, this child of mine is challenging me in ways that my life had not challenged me before. It is an all encompassing mind, body, and spirit kind of journey to also learning more about myself every step of the way. And it has only just begun....

Happy 2nd Birthday love bug!