Scenes from Delayna's second birthday. Celebrations to come when Daddy is home.
The daily prenap ritual of milk and Cailou.
Once again in the medical supplies. The goal today, the otoscope. But seriously how can you be upset with someone who is wearing that smile. And yes, the pigtails are screwy, but they are still in and this is post nap. That is nothing short of miraculous.
The second year of Delayna's life has not been the easiest for our family. We have not always handled the challenges we've faced with the grace, faith, and hope we should. But through even the darkest of days this ray of sunshine has been able to make me smile and laugh. All of our children have been happy and fun, but she seems to have been blessed with a special ability to bring joy into a room. I hope we've done as much for her as she has for us.
At two she's been known for a dastardly deed or two. She's our first climber, the first to escape the house, the first to return to the house in the arms of a stranger, the first to shatter a shower door on top of herself and the first to pluck 80% of the keys off a keyboard not once, but three times. She has finally learned to enjoy the love Cailah showers on her and they are so fun to watch together when it is just the two of them in the morning. Today as I dropped her off, Cailah gave me a kiss and headed out the van saying "bye, bye Delayna," and Delayna started yelling "kiss, kiss." So Cailah jumped back in for a kiss and a "bye Cailah." It was hard to believe we spent months trying to get Delayna to allow Cailah near her. Then it was home to Cailou and "miwk," her prenap routine. And speaking of milk, "Miwk" makes everything better. It's even more powerful than bandaids, which like any good child she loves to get into. She's known to head to bed with several books, a blanket, water, and her baby. She's also known to stay up singing to her baby and playing with all of the above or dumping them all out of her crib and requesting that they be returned. Surprisingly she is my first baby to make it to two still in her crib. She hasn't figured out that she could probably climb out, or maybe there is some sense of self-preservation in that kid. But don't get me wrong, she's tried. For a while she was piling her blankets and everything else in the corner trying to get out, but I think she wasn't quite big enough at the time and now accepts that once in one must wait for help to get out. I think I'll leave her in a bit longer :0) She has started crying everytime it isn't her turn to say the prayer and tonight offered it whilst stuffing her face with cheesy bread. She LOVES candy and cookies and has been singing "I Want Candy" for the last week. Gotta love Halloween. Her new trick is to stuff her mouth full of food and then just let it sit there. I find myself saying "Chew Delayna Chew" several times a day. I'm not exactly sure what that's about. She loves, loves, loves to talk on the phone and even though the only intelligible things she says on the phone are hello and bye bye people still humor her and talk (thank you!). Mom said a few months ago that every time shie talks to Kristin or I on the phone we have a "oh, Delayna, what did you do" moment. She cracks me up, loves to dance, and is an excellent summersaulter. I suppose I could go on all night, but I guess the gist is, it was worth starting over with diapers, worth sleepless nights, worth nebulizers and EEG's and postpartum depression. She's a blessing and I'm glad she's here. Happy Second Birthday Delayna!
