Happy Birthday Annabelle!

It’s so hard to believe it’s been two years since that Tuesday afternoon ride to the hospital for my scheduled c-section!

There are no words for how much we’ve enjoyed the past two years and how much we love our sweet girl.

~amw~

 

Annabelle,

For memory’s sake, here’s a few things about you at two and also a few pictures taken lately:

- You start your day usually between 8:30 and 9:30. The first words out of your mouth are “Eh-moe.” The moment you start the day, you think you need to get your Elmo fix. So we do. You watch “Eh-moe” and friends while eating your breakfast. You still love cheese grits (and I’m a disgrace to my own momma since I make you the instant ones in the little package. Grammy can’t believe I’d do such.) :)

You also love orange juice. You call it “oanch”. After breakfast you run around the house and make the biggest mess known to man. I’ve never known a child who could make a bigger mess. Pop says you get it honest. He swears I was a “piglet,” too.

- Your favorite toys right now are all of your new birthday toys! You also still love your baby dolls and stroller. You load that stroller down at least a dozen times a day and make the rounds throughout the entire house, leaving a trail behind you.

You are SO SWEET to watch with your baby dolls. You usually drag them around by their heads, (which concerns me a little..ha) but you also pretend to change their diapers, feed them, wipe their noses, and put them to bed. At least once a day, you come out of your room and tell me to “Shhhhhh” and I know you’ve just laid them down for a nap!

- You pretend to talk on anything that resembles a phone, and the first thing you always say to the “person on the other end” is “NO…”

- You are fearless when it comes to climbing and hanging off of things, and there are days when I count down the minutes until naptime so that I know you will be tucked away safe in your crib for at least 2 hours. You know how to scare the life out of your Daddy and me on a regular basis.

- You love to play outside. The “ouse” is one of your favorites, although you LOVE the big slide, now, too, since you have mastered how to slide down and land on your feet! You also love to swing in the big girl swing.

- You LOVE to be chased and tickled. When it comes time to change a diaper, or get a bath, or change clothes, you take off running and expect us to chase you all over the house. When we get you, you say, “Moe” (along with doing the sign for more) and want to do it all over again. It never gets old (for YOU)!!! :)

- You adore your grandparents. When we walk in the door at Grammy & Pop’s or Pappy & Granny’s, you are in your element. You know right where your toys are at their houses, and right where your special snacks, juice boxes, and everything else is. I never thought I’d see the day when my Dad would sit and watch Elmo, but because of you, he does. I also never knew your Pappy knew the words to Elmo’s song. He’s been out of practice since Aunt Kels was a little girl, but he’s broken it back out just for you.

Even at Grandma's FL house, you know where the play necklaces are. You have a great memory!

- You also LOVE your Uncle Adam. Any time we see a black truck or a tractor, you assume “Ah-um” is the one driving it. When we pull into our drive way, you always have to point across the field at his house and say, “Ah-um”… You also love Aunt Nen. She kept you one day last week and let you watch Elmo on her laptop, so for the whole next week when you’d point at their house, you’d say, “Ah-um, Nen” but now you’ve dropped both and just say, “elmo”… imagine that. :)

- You love to see your cousins, Elliot, Taylor & Warren and you can say all of their names. You can say the names of your Georgia cousins, too, when we point to pictures on our fridge. You can also say, “Beau.” In fact, in the most random times you’ll just yell out, “Beau”…it’s usually when we’re out shopping, so I’m not sure if you see someone who looks like Uncle Beau or what, but it’s cute.

- You know your name when asked, and “Annabelle” sounds like “ah-del.” But just this week, when I ask you what your name is, you’ve stared replying, “whitehurst” which sounds like, “i-hurs”, and it’s just precious.

- When we ask you what color something is, your answer is always blue (or “boo”). But, if I show you some M&M’s and make you point to the different colors, you know them all. You’re a smart girl, and like a reward! :) You’re like your Momma, and will do almost anything for an M&M.

- For a while, you’re favorite word was “No”… but over the past two weeks, “No” has been replaced, with “ah-uh” and it sounds so grown up.

- You aren’t big on strangers, and when they approach you or talk to you, you immediately point to me and say, “momma.” (as if to say, “you better get back or my momma is going to get you!”)

- Your best bud is of course, Allie Claire. You love her and she loves you. I love seeing you two growing up together.

- The hair I thought you’d never get is SO long now! Your bangs are super long and I always try to keep them pulled back in a pony tail or barrette. But sometimes, you take it down, and when you do and it falls in your eyes, you swipe it over out of your face and it’s one of the cutest things you do. I LOVE it. You look like such a girl when you do it.

- Speaking of hair, you still sport your hairbows on a regular basis. You even ask for them. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. The ladies at church say that you’ve gotten bigger and your hairbows have gotten smaller! ha… We’ll work on that soon, because I’ve found some BIG bows that are calling our name!!! :)

- You love to write. Forget the crayons, and give you a pen! You are an official doodler, and it’s in your genes. You come from a long line of doodlers. Great-Granny, Grammy and me are ALL doodlers! :)  You’re also pretty good about only coloring/drawing on paper. We’ve only had one “treasure map” incident. Thanks to Mr. Clean’s Magic Eraser, the trim in our foyer is now ink-less.

- You are such a girl. You love to wear dresses and look at yourself in the mirror!  Like most girls, everything is a big deal, and you are very dramatic. It’s almost comical how dramatic you can be. You can be moody and make the funniest facial expressions. You give me a daily dose of my own medicine, that’s for sure. Sometimes I feel sorry for your daddy. But believe me, he loves his girls.

- Sometimes when you laugh, your put your hand over your mouth and when you do, I just want to pinch you because it’s so cute. You also wrinkle your nose when you smile really big.

- You love to put lotion on your hands. Every night after your bath, when I am lotioning you down, you always want some on your hands.

- You & Daddy brush your teeth and take your medicine (allergy med) every night after I give you your bath and get your jammies on you. It’s your routine, and if I try to do it, you let me know, you want “Da-Da”. Yes, you still call him, “Dada”.. you can say, “Daddy,” but you still call him, “Dada.”

- You love shoes.

- You already have such an opinion on things. Sometimes you will throw a fit over the clothes I have picked out for you or the shoes. I can’t believe a two year old even thinks like that, but you do.

- You have tee-teed in the big girl potty once. It was at the beginning of November. Since then you’ve shown zero interest in doing it again. Even the elmo big girl panties aren’t enticing you. This picture pretty much sums up how you feel about potty training right now.

- You are shy, or least pretend that you are around other people.

- You are so silly sometimes! You make us laugh a lot!

- Even in the midst of the terrible twos, you are still the sweetest girl we know!

Over the past two years, you’ve proven that I can be a momma to a girl. I’ll never deny the fact that I really wasn’t sure about having a daughter, but am I ever glad we did! You make our lives brighter and certainly sweeter and I wouldn’t change one thing about you!

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!!!

~momma~