Happy Birthday to Hope!

Yep. Today's the day. Our little girl turned 2 today. We had such an awesome day with her. The day started by me making banana pancakes for breakfast. She loved them! Then Hope and I went to my piano student's house for a weekly lesson. They gave her the cutest pair of jeans and shirt. So sweet. Then we stopped at the hospital to give Dr. Hallman a little birthday cake (a tradition with us since he helped bring Hope into this world...well, kinda). He wasn't there:( We got home and shortly after we got home our friends Matt, Amy and Heidi came to visit. It was so good to see them again. Hope had a hard time sharing her toys with Heidi at first (Heidi is 18 months old). But she got the hang of it after a while (THANK GOD). Our friend Dawn came over to celebrate, too. We had lunch and then while Hope was napping, Dawn, Amy, Heidi and I headed to Woodbury to go to the Carter's store. Of course I saw some cute things there and had to buy them for Hope. We got back home and had the DQ ice cream cake that Mark had picked up. YUMMY!!! It had Cookie Monster on it. Hope LOVED it!! After our friends left we got ready for our last swimming lesson. We had a great time playing with all the water toys. When lessons were done we handed out cookies to the kids in Hope's class so they could celebrate her birthday with us. Oh...Grammy and Papa surprised us and showed up at Hope's lesson. She was so excited! After the lesson we ate our picnic supper at the park and played on the playground. Hope had such a great time. She's going down the slides all by herself now...just like a big girl. We ended our day by watching Mark ref some college girls basketball games. Oh...and the River Falls Police Department gave ME a gift for Hope's birthday: a warning and not a ticket for speeding. YIKES!!! Now those of you who know me KNOW I tend to have a little bit of a heavy foot, but I can honestly say that I always watch my speed in town. I guess I wasn't watching today, but I truly thought I was. I didn't even shake or anything when he pulled me over because I thought it was a mistake on his part. Anyway, the officer was VERY nice to me. I told him that even if he had given me a ticket I would have said the same thing. He was just really a nice guy. After he handed me the warning I said, "Here's the funny thing about this. I'm on my way to the high school to watch my husband ref some basketball games. Tonight his reffing partner is Jeff Linehan." He just smiled. You see, Jeff Linehan is the head of the River Falls Police Department. hehehe

So it was a good day for MANY reasons today. I've decided that of all the days of the year, July 19 is my very favorite day. We just have such a wonderful time making Hope's birthday as special as we can. We must have done a good job because as she was falling asleep tonight she was saying things like, "My birthday" and "Cookie Monster." Her party is on Saturday and that will be a fun time. LOW KEY this year compared to the huge 1st birthday party she had.

Now the reflective part: I can't believe that two years ago right now I was so tired that I wanted to sleep, but couldn't because the adrenaline was pumping. I was also excited, waiting for the first time the nurse would bring Hope into my room so I could nurse her. I wanted to hold her all night long, but I knew I desperately needed to get some sleep. Two years later it's the same thing: I so want to hold her all night long (which is probably why she still sleeps in bed with us), but I know I have to get some sleep. I thought that July 19, 2005 was the day that God blessed us the most. Little did I know that that was just the beginning of the blessings with our daughter. She is such a joy, such a blessing. You Moms out there know how your heart just swells with love, joy, pride, etc, and then your eyes swell with tears of those same feelings. We have an amazing little girl. It's hard to believe how much she's grown in two years: from the 5 lb, 10oz baby (4 lbs, 13oz when she came home from the hospital) who slipped out of me like a little seal to this little girl who is speaking in complete sentences and who is quickly losing even her "toddler-ness." Please don't let her grow up too fast, Lord. She's the only one we'll ever have. Thank you, God, for this precious gift that you've given to us. Help us be the best parents we can be. Help us be able to provide Hope with all that she needs to be a happy little girl. Please keep her safe as she grows. Amen!

Now it's time to crawl up next to my baby (she'll always be my baby), and go to sleep. Mark will probably post his thoughts about today sometime tomorrow. And we'll post pictures from today, too.