KAYDENCE'S 2ND BIRTHDAY

Kaydence's birthday fell on Father's day this year.  We ended up celebrating Jimmy's day the Sunday before and then had a tiny get-together for Kaydence on the real date.  She  really loved the whole idea of it all.....her very own birthday.  The poor girl's older sister (we won't name names) is often stealing her lime light and her toys, so for her to be the center of  attention and to get new toys that even Brooke knows she shouldn't dare touch was super exciting.  

This birthday was hard on me.  It means I can't call her a baby anymore even though she still feels like my little baby.  I honestly feel a bit of a loss over it.  My heart just aches with this odd void.  Kaydence was the sweetest, cuddliest, calmest, happiest, most easy going baby that there ever was.  I LOVED her babyhood and I really really cherished it.  I smelled her hair and rubbed her cheeks as she slept an unnatural amount of times.  I know I will have other babies and of course I love and will love all my kids the same, but I don't think I'll ever have a baby like sweet Kaydence again.  I feel loss not only because her age tells me she's not a baby anymore, but because her attitude the last couple months has...um....multiplied by one hundred fold (and that's probably an understatement).  Ha!  She's really coming into herself and learning to assert  herself.  I'm truly glad she is turning into a normal toddler that screams 'no' and throws ridiculous, unstoppable tantrums over silly things.  I was getting worried that she would grow up to be the same laidback person she was as a baby and get taken advantage of by people in her life.  I should have known that it would end sooner or later though; I'm definitely not the type of woman that gives off the "please walk all over me" vibe....I highly doubt one of my girls would turn out that way either :)

Anyway, some things I will miss about Kaydence's second year:

• Her showing off her expert animal sound-making skills
• Her loving and copying things from the "BABIES" documentary.  She would get upset unless I excessively swaddled her dolls like one of the babies in the movie.
• Her blowing on all her food even if it was cold, or her refusing to eat until we took her pacifier from her hand
• How she used to give Brooke a stare-down warning before she'd finally attack her
• She went through a brief stage in which she would pick her toe fuzz and eat it....gross but somehow cute
• The way she growls "I love you too" in response to our earnest "I love you's" every.single.time.
• How she sings her ABC's and counts in the cutest little girl voice imaginable...it's like she knows she's quite possibly on the 'world's top ten cutest things of all time list' or something

End of story.... it is not possible for us to love Kaydence any more than we do!!