Raleigh is Two

Raleigh turned two last month. TWO!! Its crazy how someone so little can grow up so quickly in short amount of time. It's a bittersweet thing to think about. As much as I want time to slow down and to hold on these moments so tightly, I am so so proud of ever way I see her growing. It seems like every day her vocabulary is increasing. She'll pick up on things I say so easily and the next day she's repeating my sentences like she's been talking like that for a year already.

A little over month before her big day the twins turned one so it was a quick turn around time to plan another birthday party. I found myself the week before her birthday trying to figure out how I was going to celebrate our special girl. I decided to plan it around all the things that she loves to do most right now-- go swimming and "dammy and papa's house", eat "nana's", and read books. So I threw together a little banana split bash with a small little gathering of our close friends and family. I wanted it to be bright and simple so I planned the color scheme around the brightly colored sprinkles that must always be added to ice cream. I grabbed all her favorite books from our house and used them as the main decor for the dessert table where people would make their mini banana splits. I asked people to bring a a favorite book to give to Raleigh with a hand written note from them inside. Watching her open the books was the highlight of it all for me. She opened one and didn't care about the next present to open until she looked through each and every page. It was the sweetest thing as she looked at people with a big smile saying "day-do" (thank you) for each book she received.  I put together a game for the adults to play too-- our own version of banana grams where each team had to put together all the letters to figure out what the whole phrase was--"Raleigh loves bananas, books, and swimming." We finished the party off with singing to her and swimming and I think she felt pretty loved, even if she didn't fully grasp that everyone was there to celebrate her.

It was a sweet day. I'm convinced at this point that I'll probably be crying each year another one of my kids gets older. I couldn't be more proud of the little girl she is becoming. She has a sense of humor that continues to make us laugh more and more. She loves being with her sisters and cousins the most. She gives the best hugs and gets so excited to see us after we've been away for a little bit. She still wants me to rock her and sing her to sleep and tells me "i yike dat song mama" every time. I don't want her to stop talking in this little kid voice where we have to sometimes guess what word shes trying to verbalize, it's just too cute to listen to! If only she could know in words how much my love for her swells when I look at her. I pray she knows it intuitively as she gets older, that she would know this love and feel this love so deeply that nothing could ever make her doubt or question it.

We love you Raleigh girl, more than life itself!!