Natalie Grace- TWO

Our sweet Natalie is TWO today!

Golly this girl is fun. 

Her smile and giggle makes my heart want to explode.

Everything she does is all-in. She loves hard. She feels hard. She plays hard. And she sleeps hard.

She is a mama's girl but is CRAZY about her daddy for all of the fun things he does like airplane rides onto our bed, milkshakes in the morning, and scooter rides through the house. Watching her face light up when he walks in the door is one of my favorite parts of the day. And when she gets dressed up for church and stands in front of him to show off her outfit and shoes and bow, I do my best to keep from melting into the floor.

She is a go-getter who knows what she wants, but is still very aware of sharing with others for her age. She loves trying to do things all by herself and is learning more every day how to use her words to explain what she wants.

She loves her "Bubba" and Emily (who she calls "Nan-ny") and will run over to each of them at different times throughout the day to give them big hugs. She loves to play with Ryan and misses him when he is at school. She'll say, "I want Bubba... coo (school)." 

She is such a little mama to Emily. She loves changing her diapers, helping with her bottles, feeding her breakfast, and getting her dressed in the mornings. She's also been great about bringing her toys to play with when we're all playing on the floor together, and she loves buckling her in her seat when we're getting ready to leave the house.

She LOVES to be outside. She will help me gather clothes for everyone and starts passing out socks and shoes for Ryan and Emily when I say we're going outside. And when the garage door opens, she runs at a 45-degree angle, bouncing side to side to figure out what she wants to play with first.

Her favorite things are babies (bay-bay), balls, her pacis (bye-byes), blocks, paints, markers ("daw" - draw),  cutting paper with scissors (she is SO proud every time she makes a cut), her baby stroller, shopping cart, and her baby's highchair.

It is not uncommon for her to strip down completely at home, which is maybe partly why she's already had great success with using the potty. 😂

She loves to be out and about, and on more than one occasion has told me "no" when I've pulled back into our neighborhood after dropping Ryan off at school. Then she usually follows that with, "play place!" like, "Mom, why would we play at home when we could play somewhere else with OTHER PEOPLE?!" She is our social girl and we love it.

She loves to pose for pictures (I'll take it for as long as it lasts!) and says, "keeeeys!" for "cheese."

When she recognizes a new outfit in her closet (like this dress she wore for Valentine's Day), she brings it to me and says, "Oooooh! Okay! Okay!" And the way she looks at herself in the mirror when she's tried on something new is the most precious thing ever. I hope she always looks at herself that way.

Natalie Grace, we love you! We can't imagine our lives without you! Here's to another year of fun, sweetness, and memories.