The time has come. She is T W O.

The weekend of February 14th came, we said hello and cheered and sang. Then it was done. She turned two. For real? I explicitly remember holding her as a itty bitty newborn thinking that ages one, two and three were SO far off and wondering just what did God have in store for us. Wow. Lemmie tell you, when people say God's dreams and hopes for you are far better than your own...

They ain't lyin'.

These past few years have been one heck of a ride. My own thoughts for my future when I was in college was to be one of the best soccer players and my own name made famous -heh. Didn't happen. I thought I was gonna meet a guy who was a born and bred country farm boy- I didn't. I met someone who, oh is so good for my heart and soul. He LOVES Jesus. In good ole Fremont, those guys were hard to be found. Anthony may not be country but God knew I needed someone who would furiously love and passionately lead us straight to His glorious name. I thought I was made to be a mother to a pack of boys but God showed us SO much love through our Ryann Grace.

Ryann,

When your dad and I found out we were pregnant with you, we were pleasantly surprised with an honest mixture of "scared" thrown in there. We were a few years younger then and we wondered if we were ready to be a mom and a dad to a baby. When we found out you were a girl, I smiled. I felt as though I knew all along that I was going to have a baby girl. I did think I was better equipped to mother a baby boy because I have been a tom-boy my whole life. I believed I wasn't feminine enough to raise a sweet girl with dolls and purses and jewelry. Oh goodness my little one, you have brought that feminine side outta me.

I love seeing you play with your babies, stripping them of their clothes and "walk, walk, walk" them. I love seeing you boldly, with a touch of shy expectation in your features, show your dad the dress that you chose for the day. I love that you need "lip" for your lips and perk your sweet little mouth in an awkward way for me to apply Burt's Bees, and then you promptly lick your lips and ask for more. I love how you have showed me how beautiful it is to be feminine with a strong and daring personality. You may be all girl, but you sure have no problem scaring those around you with your climbing and jumping ability.

Ryann Grace, your dad and I want each of our children to have names that meant something. Ryann is a female name for "little leader" and Grace means, well it's obvious, it's grace. Your dad wanted to be able to pray for you using your name. So we pray that God will raise you up to be a leader full of grace for His glory and fame. I love your name. I'm sure you'll go through a phase of "ugh, what were my parents thinking?" about your name. I think we all do but just so you know, I love your name.

The future you have in front of you is so beautiful. I've no idea what is in store... but my heart squeezes so hard when I think of how God is going to bless you and lead you. He has been SO faithful to your dad and I. We keep stopping each other and saying "can you believe where we've been?", "Can you believe where we're going?!" and we are so incredibly thankful for what He has done and how he has continually blessed us with you.

Ryann-I sure do love you. I'm tickled pink and delighted to be your mommy.

Happy birthday little one.

Love -your mom

xoxo

*Tricia, I thought you would enjoy being able to look at the photos that I have up on facebook of Ryann's party. http://www.facebook.com/album.phpaid=2008591&id=163700153&l=2a44d3d19d

Copy and paste that onto your browser and you should be able to see them.*

Statistics

The black font is from October 2008. The purple font is current.

My lovely, wonderful, amazing and beautiful little girl is:

My beautiful little toddler is...

✗ the happiest baby in the morning > the most cuddliest with a cup of milk in the morning.

✗ very independent > still independent yet needs someone to "hold you".

✗ a bit of a squealer when she's frustrated, (something Anthony and I are trying to let her know it isn't necessary or allowed, though understandable) > hmm she's still just as dramatic.

✗ a grape lover > and continues to be to this day. When we get a Chik-Fil-A fruit bowl, grapes are usually the first to go.

✗ a very fast crawler > oh those days went by so fast, they're long gone. She's running now!

✗ a maniac in the walker and will clip our ankles whenever she gets the chance > she will still "clip" my ankles by constantly hanging on me when I'm trying to cook in the kitchen. She will also "clip" Gunner's heels by pushing around an empty upside down red bucket. Gunner hates it.

✗ obsessed with toilet paper and will rip it into shreds (Bethany calls her a little puppy, which is very accurate!) > gee, still catch her doing this...

✗ not too sure of the sippy cup> psssshhhh, she's a pro.

✗ a “napper” around 9 am and 1pm for about an hour each time> only one nap a day now. Naps at 1pm till about 2:30.

✗ proud when she finishes her meal, I'll say “all done!” then clap and say “yay!” and she is so thrilled > she'll do this for any kind of attention.

✗ a hater of grass against her knees, she'll crawl on her hands and feet with her butt sticking straight up in the air > doesn't like her hands and feet to be "dirty, dirty, dirty"... WHHHHAT?

✗ much more of a shower girl rather than a bath girl, which I guess is better for the environment :) > LOVES the bath now.

✗ does not enjoy getting dressed or undressed > Loves getting dressed in dresses.

✗ a climber. I've lost track of her only to find her on the top of the stairs!! BABY GATE ASAP! > Still a climber. Baby gate-HAH! she'll climb right over it.

✗ a “Brown Bear Brown Bear What do You See?” book lover, she will actually bend her head down to look at the next page if I don't turn it soon enough > still loves to read.

✗ 8 months old and growing longer and heavier> 23 months, still short with a sweet little pot belly.

✗ still petite> finally in her correct size in clothing.

✗ a talker, “ba ba ba ba”> a TALKER! It's amazing and so fun!

✗ gurgler with her apple juice and will have a big smile on her face > Just recently rediscovered this fantastic feat... loves when mom does it.

✗ a daddy's girl, she lights up whenever Dad's around > still is.

✗ starting to stand without touching anything > old news... now starting to do a head stand with no help. Just kidding.

✗ able to hold the bottle with one hand and play with her feet with the other > able to hold her camelbak in her mouth while holding a doll in her left arm with a pig in her left hand and a giraffe in her right arm with a book in her right hand. People, that's serious skill there.

✗ the best smiler with four teeth...> still the best smiler with a lot more teeth, gotta count how many there are now.....

Today Ryann went to work with me for a few hours while Anthony had a memorial service to go to. In the bathroom at work there is a advertisement poster for Diacompe. A bicycle break system. Their logo is "Nothing bites like a bulldog". The poster has a bulldog with a vicious face (yet looks pretty cool like the camel on the cigarette brand) clamping it's teeth down on the rim of a bicycle tire. Ryann went to the john with me while I took care of business. The bathroom has a few other interesting posters and a mural of a person sleeping out under the stars on the wall going onto the ceiling. So she is listing all the things she notices while I'm squatting.... "ohhh, stars!" "Night, Night- SHH" then... she stares at the Diacompe poster... she points, "puppy". Then walks closer to me and says "MAD". I stopped my business and asked her to repeat... she scrunches her face and bears her teeth and said " mad. puppy mad".

Wow. what a girl!

Testing, Testing...

So much as changed since now and the last post.

So. Much.

The last post on this blog has this picture of Ryann:

This is the most recent I have of her. Unfortunately it's from the last week of december. My camera broke... so photos are on hold for now.
I'm totally dragging my feet about starting my blog again. I have a few lame but good enough (for me) reasons. However, I skimmed the old entries and have regretted not keeping up with Ryann's growth process and the different stories involving her. When the next kid comes (later folks, later), I want to be able to see the statistics between the two and be able to marvel just how uniquely and wonderfully similar they are. So because of that, I will attempt to keep on posting about sweet and strong willed Ryann Grace.

Ryann is 1.5 weeks shy of being the big 2. Really? Are you sure? My tiny itty bitty swaddle of joy is T W O?

On one hand I look at where we've been as a family since she's been born and I believe it willingly. BUT golly, two years seem to be defined into two minutes. In the quick of time my little girl is no longer a baby but a toddler with a heap of personality to keep her dad and mom pointing fingers at the other blaming for the "strong willed", "dramatic" and "entertainer" genes.

I will need to post statistics in another post. SOON. It needs to be soon.

~Till then~

~Here and there I am going to TRY to write different stories about my own childhood. I LOVE my childhood and do not want to forget it... so I figured I would post it on here for my siblings and cousins to laugh and remember with me.~ Remind me to.