Tessa at Two

Two years ago today, we welcomed you, Tessa, into our family. I can hardly believe we're already celebrating your second birthday.
  

You bring us so much joy and we can't imagine life and our family without you in it. You are funny, silly, weird, smart, and so sweet. I'm excited to watch you continue to grow and learn even more this year.

This year has been a big one for you. You learned to walk, went to daycare while mommy went back to work, moved to a new house, flew on a plane, and, biggest of all, became a big sister. You continue to amaze us with how easygoing you are and how quickly and smoothly you adapt to changes. You're cautious at first, especially around people and things that are unfamiliar, but once you warm up and are comfortable, you are the sweetest, funniest, and silliest little girl, and everyone around can't help but watch you and smile. You make so many people happy.

  Your dad and I are constantly amazed at how smart you are. You have a HUGE vocabulary and you speak in full sentences. You are very good at communicating what you want, and you usually remember your manners..."meese" and "tanks" or "tank you". You love reading stories and have many of your books memorized. You're getting pretty good at colors and shapes, and you know a few of your numbers. You love to color and play with playdough and it's so much fun watching your imagination come out. You are curious, creative, and clever and I hope I can always encourage those traits in you.

Photo credit Kathy Knelsen

You are such a sweet and loving little girl. You love your baby sister and always make sure to give her a kiss, a "nosey", and a hug before bed. You tell her "shhh" and "ok, Bylet" when she's crying. You rock her carseat when we're getting ready to go out the door and she's not happy being strapped in. I love the way you pay attention to her feelings and look out for her. I can't wait to see how your relationship grows in the coming years. And, of course, I absolutely love hearing "wub you, mommy".

Tessa, I love being your mommy. You are a gift and a blessing to us every day. You have taught me so much in two short years...about life and about myself. I hope and pray that I can always be the mama you need and deserve. I can't wait to see even more of who you become this year.

I love you forever...
Mommy

Tessa's First Birthday Party

Man, being a part-time working mama sure is cramping my style (post to come...someday!). The time I used to spend working on my blog and reading other blogs is now used for catching up on the errands and chores I don't have time for on work days. I feel so out of the blogging loop...I think I only scrolled through my Bloglovin' feed once or twice this week, so I feel like I'm missing out on so much.

These first few weeks back at work aren't necessarily going to be the new normal, though, since we had not one, but TWO birthday parties for Tessa over two weekends, so that kept me extra busy. Since both of our families live out of town, we had my family here one weekend, and my husband's family the next. It didn't work for everyone to come at the same time, and we don't have the space for everyone to be here all at once, so that's why the two parties. We planned one party, and threw it twice! :)

We decided to go with a simple, small, family-only birthday party. As much as I wanted to do a bigger, themed, Pinterest-worthy party, we just didn't have the time, nor did we want to spend the money and effort on something that Tessa won't even remember. I'll save the big theme parties for when she's a few years older! Besides, a smaller, simpler party is more our style and fits better with who we are as a family.

I kept the decorations pretty simple. I made a yarn pom-pom garland in pink and yellow to hang over the dining room window, and a simple banner using her monthly photos. I also made a little banner for her highchair and my mom picked up the balloons.

The pom-pom garland was by far the most labor-intensive part of the decor, but I started early and made a few pom-poms each day in the weeks leading up to the party, so it wasn't too bad.

 

The photo banner was just a matter of printing off 5x7's of each of her monthly photos, making the month labels and gluing them to clothespins. Easy peasy!

The highchair banner was kind of an afterthought. I wanted something to go on her chair, so at the last minute I made two extra pom-poms, my husband printed off the letters to spell "one" and I cut them out and strung them together. It wasn't the prettiest, but it worked!

I also kept the food pretty simple. We had strawberry and lemon cupcakes, fruit (strawberries, grapes, and pineapple) with my favorite Skor dip, and pretzels & dill dip for something a little salty. To drink we had lemonade.

I used framed photos of Tessa (one of her newborn shots and one of her one-year ones), and the jar I filled with hospital memorabilia as table decor, and off to one side I had the laptop set to a slideshow of her first birthday and cake smash photos. (I thought I got a picture of the whole table, but I realize now that I didn't - oops!).

No, she didn't eat the whole thing! :)

And, of course, there were presents! Tessa got spoiled by her grandparents, aunts, and uncles!

Hugs for her new owl. :)

We had two great, full weekends celebrating our sweet one-year-old with the people who love her most. We are so thankful for her and for our families for making her first birthday so special.

 

A {late} Birthday Post

Dear Tessa,

I can hardly believe that your first year has come and gone. You have grown and changed and learned so much in these 365 days, it's amazing.

I remember your birth day like it was just last week - I suppose it's a day I'll never forget. I was up most of the night with contractions, wondering if you were really coming. It didn't take long before I knew for sure and we headed to the hospital during a snowstorm to meet you. You came quickly...you almost didn't want to wait for the doctor to arrive before you made your appearance.

I remember the first few days and nights at home. You didn't want to sleep at all at night - Dad and I would take turns rocking you into the wee hours of the morning until you finally relaxed and settled to sleep, right next to us - sometimes right in bed with us. Those days and nights were long and hard, but they were still precious because we had you.

I remember our early struggles with feeding. You lost too much weight because we had trouble nursing. We tried everything, eventually feeding you some formula to get you the nutrients you needed to grow. I'm so glad we persevered and got help. Even though I was exhausted and discouraged and felt like all I did was feed and pump those first few weeks, it was worth it to see you thriving now.

Tessa, you're only one year old, but already you've taught me so much and changed me in so many ways - you have no idea, and you probably never will.

I'm amazed by you every day. I love watching you grow and learn, seeing you explore and discover your world, and getting to know you better as you get older and more of your personality shows. You are joyful, sweet, funny, smart, curious, and independent.

 

I've loved each different stage and milestone you've gone through over the past year - from holding your head up, to rolling over, to sitting up, to eating your first solid food, to crawling and babbling and dancing. Each stage brings something new and exciting and it just keeps getting better. I now know why moms always say that whatever stage their baby is currently at is their favorite stage. I know we have so much fun ahead of us, but I don't want to rush you, I just want to enjoy right now with you.

 

So thanks for this amazing year you've given us. Thanks for challenging us, teaching us, and changing us. Thanks for lighting up our days and bringing so much joy into our lives. We love you so much and can't imagine our lives without you.

Love always,

Mama

A Year-End Reflection

What an amazing, life-changing, full, and exciting year it has been for us. 2013 will always be a special year for me since it's the year I became a mother. There were so many wonderful moments throughout the year - many of which we were able to capture forever in photos. Here are some of my favorites - it was so hard to choose just one or two for each month!

First family photo

Tessa's been such a happy girl right from the beginning

So glad I allowed myself to enjoy these moments - they never happen anymore with our independent, busy little girl!

Tessa's dedication at church

First Mother's Day

Enjoying the beautiful weather and some disc golf on Father's Day

First solid food

First of many family summer trips - Victoria, BC

Soaking up the sun

My pretty little girl - growing up so fast!

Bedtime stories with Dad

I am so incredibly thankful and blessed that I was able to spend this past year at home with my daughter. As I look back over these photos - and many others - I've realized that most of my favorite moments of this past year happened right here, in our home. Most of them weren't anything grand or extraordinary - they were simple, everyday moments that may have easily slipped by unnoticed. Having a baby and watching her grow and change at warp speed has made me so much more aware of the passing of time and how precious each moment truly is. This year off allowed me to slow down and take the time to notice many of those little moments that are gone way too fast. Other than the birth of our daughter, our year has been made up of a series of simple, quiet, seemingly insignificant moments. We didn't really do anything spectacular. I can't really say that I achieved or accomplished much from the world's point of view (let's be honest - some days I was still in my pajamas at noon). But I wouldn't trade all those small, mundane, everyday moments that made up our lives in 2013 for anything. Those moments mean nothing to the vast majority of the world. But to me, they have become a part of who I am - they have shaped, tugged, stretched, and changed me in so many ways - and they are everything to me.

Yes, I'm a little sad to say goodbye to 2013. But I do feel hopeful and excited for what 2014 will hold for us and I am ready to meet the new year and all that it will bring.

Happy New Year!