I'm picturing October 9, 2014 right now... I took Eden to the fair that day - to see the parade and ride rides and eat curly fries... And to just soak up as much time with her that I could before her sister arrived. We went home that afternoon, and I can see myself... putting a few last minute things into my hospital bag and placing it by the backdoor... hot-glueing an I and a L and a A to the wreath my mom had made for the hospital door... walking around the house picking everything up so that it would be clean and organized for when we came back home - with a baby!
I just went back and read my blog post about the day Ila was born, and I wrote this about that night, two years ago:
"My mom came up on the 9th. She asked me that day if I was going to miss my belly. I laughed and was like, "Heck no!" I was thinking how nice it would be to be able to easily put on my shoes again. That it would no longer be difficult to strap Eden into her car seat. That once it was gone, I would be able to sleep comfortably at night again. Later that night, as I was tucking Eden into bed, she kissed my tummy just like she had every single night for months. Every single night she would kiss my tummy and then say, "Night-night, Ila. I love you, Ila." When it hit me that that was the last time she would ever do that, I started bawling. Through my tears, I told her that the next time she saw me, Ila would no longer be in my tummy, and she would finally get to hold her. Later that night, I laid in bed feeling Ila's little kicks. I remembered laying in that exact spot a few years earlier feeling Eden's little kicks for the last time. I stayed awake for the longest time, just feeling her move, knowing that it was the last time I would ever lay in my bed and have it be just us - just me and her. I realized I would miss my belly after all."
That night seems like yesterday and a million years ago at the same time.
Today we all celebrated our girl with a sweet little party at Dewberry Farm.
And I will hopefully blog all about today really soon. But since she's turning 2 in just a few short hours, I should really post her pictures from 21, 22, and 23 months.
When I sat down to post these pictures a few minutes ago, I had planned to write all about how much she's growing and all the learning and developing she's done since my last post about her. But that will have to wait... Because now, all I feel like doing is look at her baby pictures and read my blog posts from the month she was born.
Oh, Ila! Why did you have to grow up so fast on me?
21 months
22 months
23 months
