My Elenor is Two!

Sometimes I can't believe how fast the past two years have gone. It feels like yesterday I was in the hospital knowing I was in for a journey, and then going through it was difficult. I can still feel how the Lord really carried me through the most difficult times at the NICU and truly I felt him carrying me the entire time. I felt peace even though I also went through so many other emotions. That experience all feels like it just happened, and yet, when I look at Elenor it feels so distant. She is no longer my tiny two pounder she is over twenty pounds and is just so adorable.

Some of my favorite things about her right now is she wants to be just like her mommy. If I am eating eggs she wants eggs, if I say mmm while eating eggs so does she (it's rather adorable). She loves to talk about who's stuff is who's, Mom's cereal... Elenor's cereal, Mom's nose... Elenor's nose, Mom's car... Dad's fast car... Elenor's car seat. She loves to play with her friends, in fact every time we come home she says, 'Elenor's house, Josie's house, Natalie's house.' She is a good little friend she loves to laugh and all of the kids love making her laugh because her laugh is one of the cutest things you have ever heard. She loves dancing and jumping and singing. She loves to test Mommy's patience and then she says one thing that makes my heart just melt. She can identify Spider-man and Batman in any form and we did not teach her this, but her Daddy is very proud. She loves to brush mom's hair and snuggle with me all the time. Oh and Daddy is still her own personal amusement park ride. She loves her cousins all of them though she does have a special love for Franklin. She loves to ride her princess bike all the time and would be outside all day long if I would let her, oh and she loves the water.

Some of my favorite stories from the past few days. She LOVES Donald Duck, and Pete, and then toss in all of the other characters too, but mainly those two. So we have been watching some older Disney movies because I can't take another episode of the Clubhouse because it's so repetitive. Anyway we have been watching Mickey, Donald and Goofy as the Three Musketeers. She loves this show, there is a scene where Donald gets wrapped up in some pipes and she laughs so hard. She'll gasp and giggles and gets all excited at all the right parts. We also have been watching Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, this one has a bunch of different shorts, but one in particular Pluto runs away because Mickey yells at him and he ends up at the North Pole and the Reindeer take him in. They end up giving him a magic collar so he can go to flying practice with them. The first time she saw this she said, 'Oh Pluto need a helmet.' I about died, SO CUTE! And then she was watching it later on and was also reading a book we have about kids pretending to be superheros. She points at her book and says, 'Superhero flying... (at the TV) Pluto flying... Super Pluto (with a little giggle)' Oh how my heart melted. She loves books, oh how she loves them and I must say I purposely did that. Most of her toys are books, and I call them toys because I want her to think they are just as fun as a toy. She loves to read to herself or have us read to her. We now can give her many different books that we read to her at bedtime and she can 'read' them to us. Seriously I got giddy with that one too.

We love watching her little brain work. Kids are amazing and I must say that mine is super amazing! She is so kind and loving and just a good spirit, everyone loves her. I have had multiple friends that will babysit her even if they're busy because she is just so easy. She loves people and she loves getting to try new things, she is adventurous and curious. She LOVES babies, this girl will be an awesome big sister some day. I'm so grateful that Elenor came into my life when she did and that I was able to have the NICU experience, I know it was so hard for me and it wasn't what I wanted but it has made me a better mom. Thinking back about how I didn't get to hold my baby for two days breaks my heart but that first time I got to hold her, my world was right. I felt this overwhelming peace and couldn't hold back the tears. I will never forget that experience. I will never forget how everything was perfect for those short few minutes. Every time I held her it made me feel like I could push through another day, she gave me strength and I hope I can be a wonderful mother for her. I love my little miracle more than life itself and I would truly give anything to her. Thank you for being a wonderful blessing to me Elenor.

Love,
Mom