Happy Birthday Sweet Bea

It's Bea's Birthday today! I can't believe it's already been a year since she was born. This year went by way faster than Henry's first year and I feel like I haven't noticed things that I did with Henry because I was so focused on him. That kind of makes me sad, but I guess that's how it goes with more than one kid.

Here's a little letter from me to my beautiful daughter....


Dear Beatrice Isabella,

You were born on August 23rd, 2008 after a night of rocking out to a Maroon 5 concert. I was trying to put myself into labor and it worked. My water broke and a few hours later you were born with no epidural while I watched the Olympic diving on TV in-between contractions. With my exercise mix on my IPOD on full volume you came flying into this world in one push. You had dark auburn hair and looked nothing like me, but your presence in my life healed my sad and worried heart from losing your brother, George, and I am so grateful that you came into our family. You were the hungriest baby in the world and I just didn't have enough milk to satisfy your hunger so the first months were filled with sleepless nights since you wouldn't take a bottle. At 5 months you had your first taste of food and didn't look back. You ate like a little piglet and immediately started sleeping through the night which helped me be a better mom, which is also when I started exercising again (yea!). You didn't ever roll over and could barely sit up at 6 months of age, crawled at 9 months(only on your feet, no knees on the ground) and finally rolled over at 9 months and a few days. You still can't walk that well although you try really hard. Your posture is like that of a ballerina and you point your toes out when you walk and your arms are always out to the sides. You are perfectly content to play on the floor for hours with toys and enjoyed anything that made a crinkly sound. You are an absolute joy to be around. You are a little shy and get really cranky when you don't get your naps, especially at church when the Young Women want to hold you and it's 2 hours past your nap time. You are known as the "coy smiler" because you always try to hide your face when people smile at you, but then you look back at them and smile over your shoulder. Your eyes have become a brilliant blue and your hair has become a beautiful golden blond. You have a fantastic tan from being outside and on two beach vacations and with your naturally red pouty lips you are often compared to Shiloh Jolie-Pitt. Basically, you're a baby knock-out! You have four teeth on the bottom and two teeth on top with a slight under bite. You love to crawl up stairs, be chased by your brother, to be higher up than someone, and to swing outside while you pound down heirloom tomatoes. You can climb up the slide all by yourself and you are really good to not try to climb down anything you're not supposed to. You will eat just about anything and prefer really flavorful, gourmet foods. Your favorite meal is pasta with fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella and your favorite snack is blueberries or raspberries. You love whole wheat pancakes with home-made jam and you can eat an adult sized portion of any food in one sitting. You adore fish and shrimp but don't care much for chicken or beef, especially if it's overcooked. You will only drink out of a cup, no bottle or sippy yet and don't drink much in general, just like me. You are VERY messy when you eat and usually manage to get food all in your hair and down your back as well as all over your face and front. You hate being fed with a fork but think it's pretty cool when I let you hold it. You love playing the drums in the music room and you often go in there by yourself to play the drums and dance to your own music. When you talk, you usually sound like you're singing and you mostly say dada, mama, nana, and you just recently started playing with your lips to make noises and making blowing noises as well. Your nick-names are Bealicious and Bealee and I usually do a rapping tune that goes, "Bea Bea Bealicious, Bea Bea Bealee" that you dance to. You have started to throw little mini tantrums when you're annoyed by throwing your body backwards from a sitting position and hitting the ground. Most of the time you don't hurt yourself, but I think you're trying to hurt yourself so you can have an excuse to cry, I can't tell yet. You sleep through the night, sometimes 14 hours straight and take two two-hour naps every day if you can. You love your little soft and fuzzy snugly blankie and when I put you to bed, you don't want anything to do with me rocking or singing you to sleep. You dive into your crib, grab your blankie, press it to you face and suck your own tongue against it and fall asleep with no crying or protesting. You are also really easy to transfer from the car. You'll fall back to sleep anytime after being woken up which is a true blessing. You enjoy exploring nature and still love eating dirt and have chewed on a few bugs and even munched on a toad that mommy caught. You love crawling over to the raspberry bushes or tomato plants and picking your own tomatoes for a snack. You even think it's funny and giggle when I put raspberries on your fingers. You love the ocean and can splash and play in the water for hours. You've been on 16 flights and on 7 road trips(counting last weeks). You love your brother most of all and every time he's around, your eyes light up and you wiggle out of my arms to join him in all his wild adventures. You adore your daddy and often give him hugs and are always excited when he comes home from work. You are loved by so many people and have so many fun cousins close to your age and I know you'll have so much fun growing up in our adventurous family. I love you so much Bea. Your fantastic spirit and personality makes our home the best place to be. Happy Birthday daughter!

Love,
Mommy