Leah's turns 2 today

Even though I have more pictures to post from our trip to Texas, I would like to take some time to say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEAH!

I can't believe it's been two years ago today that I delivered our precious little girl at 10 a.m. (and her birthday fell on Labor Day that year - not so funny to a laboring mom). We were so excited to bring her home to our small apartment in Evanston, IL and get to know her. She is the apple of our eyes. She can be the sweetest little girl one minute and be throwing an angry or sad fit the next minute. But we love her through it all. She is very observant and can be shy but she has a great memory. It takes her a while to feel comforable around people but once she does, she will give them hugs and kisses.

She keeps us laughing at the little things she does or says and her personality traits that have come through over the past year. Here are some of the things or people she loves:

• animals and babies
• to be wherever Logan or I am in the house
• playing outside especially with the boys that live upstairs from us
• swimming even though we're still working on her putting her head under water
• her extended family though she might show favoritism towards some of them
• watching videos on youtube.com about cats, dogs, monkeys, babies or elephants
• putting on her own shoes and clothes and taking them off again
  

These are some words she can say or sign: mama, dada, bear, hat, mi-mi (cat), ra-ra (dog), Frosty, potty, poop, cra-cra (cracker), fish, more, milk, apple, cheese, water, juice, Uncle Boo (her Uncle Braden), Ke-Ke (her aunt Kelcy), girl, baby, Mo-mo (Marshall who lives upstairs), Na (Nathan who also lives upstairs), nana, papa, grandma and grandpa (she does the signs for these but we're still working on her saying them) and there are many others.

She has taken her own time to talk but just recently her vocabulary has increased, and she is putting words together. We know that she'll be talking in sentences pretty soon so I need to remember this stage when she only said a couple of words at a time. She will be a great big sister with lots of love (and jealousy) for our baby boy. Happy Birthday, Leah! We love you!

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