Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

How has it already been 2 years from this moment?? As I get older the time seems to pass more quickly every year.

Yesterday we celebrated Vanessa's birthday all day (with a little break in the afternoon for a much needed nap) We had Iain's family and some little friends join us at Little feet in the morning. Then we had a BBQ that evening with my family. It was an exhausting but fun filled day! Vanessa was loving the attention but more then anything she was loving the cakes!! She is so MY daughter - when asked if she wanted to open presents she pointed to the cake and said "No! cake peease." She really could not wait and I can totally relate to that.

(Vanessa at 1 year old)

Over the last 2 years we have enjoyed her so much. She was such an easy baby - never fussing unless hungry or tired. Sleeping so well, nursing well, eating well and just being content to watch Ty play to finally being able to joining him and loving every minute. In the last couple of months she has had a bit of a rough patch with some pretty dramatic temper tantrums over very small things but we've learned that all she wants is to do things BY HERSELF. That means no coming near her or trying to help when she is i.e. trying to get into her car seat, put on her shoes, brush her teeth... Once we figured that out, life has been much more pleasant and she has been so much happier.

She has really surprised us with how much she knows already. Because she not talking as much as Ty as at this age it really shocked us when she could identify all the letters in the alphabet already. She can count to 10 (with a bit of assistance) and knows a lot of her colours and shapes. She is talking more everyday and definitely lets us know what she wants. She has learned that when we don't understand what she is trying to say she will take us by the hand and say "come see, I show you".

(Vanessa at 2 years old- last week)

In 2 short months my babygirl will be a big sister. I think she will do really well as she is already used to sharing my attention- and really prefers to do things on her own anyway. She seems to like other babies so far so I'm confident that she is going to be a wonderful big sister.
We are still waiting to move her into her big girl room- (the curtains were delayed but should be arriving any day now...) I also would like to get her toilet trained in the next couple of months so it's going to be a busy time for her but she loves a challenge so it should be fun. I can not wait to see what the next year will bring with this fiesty, bright and sweet little girl!