My Little Girl

My baby is turning into such a little girl.

Birth Day!

As I'm writing this, she's about to turn three in just a few days' time and while I'm always sentimental, I've found myself extra reflective about this milestone. At one year, I was just celebrating that her Daddy and I made it through that first year. We celebrated a little extra at a friend's wedding in Athens that very night and reveled in the ability to sleep in the next day since we were out of town, before RUSHING to get back to her as soon as humanly possible after a yummy brunch where we tried to come up with something to talk about that wasn't about Libby.

We still struggle with conversation that does not revolve around her, of course - we're parents.

She loved the look of the cake, but never even tried a lick of frosting!

Last year, it was just such a fun birthday! Two is such a fun stage - still our baby, but finally talking more, and maybe wondering a bit about what the "terrible twos" might bring our way. Well, while we had more than one trying moment, the two's were certainly not terrible. Libby is more fun every day and while during that first year, I admit that I often felt relief just to get to the grocery store alone, even while missing her, now I feel like I never want to be away from her. What funny thing will she do or say that I will miss? She's in school now so I already miss hours of the day, two days a week, in addition to Mondays and Fridays when I'm at work all day.

Next year, we'll have to decide whether she'll go four or five days a week to school. So the Wednesday I have with her all day now, will be gone. (I'm tearing up just writing this.) I realize I have been lucky and I am lucky. I've had so much more time with her than so many moms who work full-time or multiple jobs full-time. I have the option to work and while it's often challenging, I keep at it for the extra cushion it affords us and the personal fulfillment my job brings me. But my little baby girl already feels like she's slipping away. You can obviously see it when you're with her, but now you can really tell in her pictures, too.

And now she's moving to her big girl bed! Yes, plenty of kids have been in them since they were one or two years old. We've waited because we've had the luxury. Her room was never overly "baby" and she never has climbed out of her crib, so why rush things?

We spent about 30 minutes on YouTube together on Wednesday on her "channel," revisiting her old birthday parties and other highlights from her life since the very beginning. She sat on my lap while we took some time together to just sit and watch and remember. Those are the precious moments.

I take solace in the fact that we have even more special moments to come. I've enjoyed each day with Libby better than the last, and I know that will only continue. What a bright, fun future we have to spend together, learning about the world, learning about each other, growing, changing, and shaping our lives together with Daddy's.

Happy Birthday, Miss B! You are my favorite.