January 3rd: 2 Years Old!!!
Where, oh where did the time go?? I feel like it was but a moment ago that Rich and I were just two kids in med school hanging out in the library! HA! How in the world are we married with a two year old and another on the way!?!? I guess we must be grownups now? Hmm....
Oh my Blakely girl!! How have you gotten so big on your mommy?? I could not love another little girl as much as I love you (though I know I will when Katy Ellis arrives!!). You are the sweetest, funniest, cuddliest little thing. You love animals and other kids. You have never met a stranger. You walk up to kids twice your age and say "Hi, I Blakely!" and try to give them a hug! You are so friendly and outgoing... traits I know you inherited straight from your Gigi!! You are so much fun and so imaginative. You love to play "tea party" and often we have tuna fish and baked beans with our tea! HA! You always make sure ALL of your babies and animals are well fed... you will take the baby food around spoon feeding all of your friends! You love, love to play dress up or "Queen!" Mainly you like for Mommy and Daddy to put on your tiaras and feather boas! (We look so good.) You love to sing! ANYTHING can be a microphone... a stick, a hot dog, a play chicken leg or the sink's spray nozzle. Your favorite song is "Twinkle, twinkle" and you rock out anytime we sing it for you... which you request often ("TINKLE!").
We love you littlest girlfriend, and Mommy and Daddy are so proud of the special young lady you are becoming. We have truly loved every minute of being your parents!! We cannot wait to see how you grow and change over the coming years!! Love you, love you, love you little bug! Happy Birthday!!
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| We celebrated Blakely's 2nd Birthday at Gigi and PopPop's house. Blakely was given a TON of gifts for Christmas, and I could hardly believe the spread that showed up on her birthday!! She has to have every toy possible for her age. What more could a girl ask for? |
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| Blakely received a cradle from GrandAnnie and GrandPop.... did I mention that Mr. Bill made it for Richard when before he was born? Crazy. Such a super thoughtful gift and Blakely absolutely love to sit and play in it. She will curl up with her books and her babies and read for an hour. Thank you so much for this special gift, GrandAnnie and GrandPop! |
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| Two kids enjoying for Birthday party downtime in the cradle. |
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| Blakely got this sweet baby from Grandma Pinkie!! It giggles when you hug it, and so does Blakely. Thank you Grandma Pinkie!! |
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| Birthday girl! This is literally the best shot I could get of the adorable birthday shirt Gigi made for Blakely. We are so blessed to have an amazingly talented Gigi who loves for her littles to look cute!! Thank you Gigi!! |
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| Gigi and the littles. |
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| Blakely's favorite birthday gift by far was her dress up box! Gigi had stocked a little trunk with tiaras, dresses, bracelets, boas, hats, hand bags and shoes! This little princess has LOVED getting all dressed up and playing "queen!" She literally will ask to play "queen"first thing every morning!! |
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| Even Banks likes getting in on the dress up action! Ha! |
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| My pretty little princess girl!! |
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| We celebrated Blakely's birthday with the family of New Years day with traditional pork, collards, bean and mac n' cheese. Blakely absolutely loved the beans! Could hardly believe it! |
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| GrandAnnie made Blakely this BEAUTIFUL strawberry cake!! So delicious! Thank you GrandAnnie for working so hard to give Blakely a special cake. |
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| Still in shock that this girl can blow out candles! Super impressed. |
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| This is not an attractive picture, but Blakely LOVED her cake!! Couldn't eat it fast enough. Between Christmas and birthday she learned to love cake... so much so that now when she sees a 9x13 she'll say "cake, please!" |
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| For Blakely's actual Birthday, we took her to the mall to play and go to Build-a-bear for the first time! |
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| Blakely and Banks love the playground at the mall... always a good outing for Mommies and Babies!! |
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| Uncle Ryan and Olivia gave Banks and Blakely gift certificates to Build-a-bear for Christmas, and we thought this would be a great day to use their money. We let the kids pick out WHATEVER animal they wanted to build. I was concerned that they might choose a really ugly rainbow bear or worse yet the ''One Direction" bear!! Thankfully, they both selected this adorable little brown and white doggy. The crazy part is how much this dog looks like Uncle Ryan's dog Noah!!! |
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| Both picked out the same puppy to bring home with them! |
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| They were absolutely mesmerized by the machine that filled the stuffed animals with stuffing!! |
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| Blakely watching her puppy get stuffed. |
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| Blakely loved pressing the pedal to fill her puppy with stuffing... I was really surprised by how much of this process she seemed to understand and enjoy. Smart girl. |
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| She even picked out a heart for her puppy, gave it a kiss and then put it inside her puppy! |
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| Turning over her puppy's heart. |
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| Birthday girl with her new puppy dog!! |
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| This center was literally Blakely's favorite spot! She would have washed and groomed her puppy all day long!! She would press the pedal and brush her dog over and over again! |
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| Blakely even got to pick out her own clothes for her puppy!! She put her in a Tu-Tu and since it was Blakely's second birthday, we named her puppy "Two-two!" She loved the name, and now calls all dogs "Two!" |
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| My girlie-girl loves a good purse! She danced for about 5-10 minutes with these two little purses... why did mommy bothering helping you make a puppy when this $4 purse has made you SO, SO happy? |
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| Such a fun day with our kiddos!! Thank you Uncle Ryan for such a fun gift!! |
