The one where Jaeda turns two.

29 Jul The one where Jaeda turns two.

Jaeda’s second birthday was a smash hit of puzzle time with Daddy (any time with Daddy is referred to by her as a “Daddy Jaeda Date”), a moist and delicious quinoa flour & zucchini cake (we made some edits to the recipe, things found in the comments, if you’d like to try it yourself!), two small birthday presents, and two birthday balloons. Turns out the balloons were her favorite. Why go for the big elaborate toys when cardboard boxes and balloons are what satisfy most?!

We started actually the night before, since her actual birthday was a life group day
and a Sunday so there’s no telling when presents could be squeezed in. She Corban
opened an adorable tea set from Grandma & Grandpa Steele (which has already been
filled with water and drank from several times). She loved trying to rip the paper and
kept saying, “Wha’s dat? *gasp* Wha’s dat?? My ‘pwize! For Daeda!”

(Can I interrupt this post to ask you to look in the background?
I just did for the first time and cried.
That’s Helping Anne. Doing our dishes.
I’m really, really, really thankful for the body of Christ.
In case I hadn’t mentioned that before.) 

Then we shared some cake with our life group on her actual birthday. The cake delighted Jaeda to no end.
Everyone was there for her.
Everyone sang to her.
I have never seen her beam so brightly!

Corban provided some air assistance
(turns out, spitting doesn’t quite cut it, Jaeda). 

When she blew them out and we all cheered,
she was really pleased with herself.
(I’m SO bummed this was blurry!)

Then they both decided to air-eat the cake NOW.
(No cake was harmed by drool in the taking of this photo.)

Then James and Anne stopped over with two birthday balloons.
We clamped them to her chair the next morning for breakfast.
The whole day she just kept shouting, “My birfday! ‘Pwize! Bayoons!”

If you ask her how old she is, she’ll tell you, “Three.”
Hopefully she’ll figure out she’s two before we have
to retrain her next year when she turns three.

What a joyous occasion to have a two-year-old. What a pleasant child she is! She loves all living things (or making things living with her imagination, such as Lego people, baby dolls, and stuffed animals). She sings “Let It Go” and “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” with all the gusto she can muster. When she’s hungry, she eats everything; when she’s not, she still eats pasta. She screams bloody murder if Corban bothers her, yet secretly instigates many a problem. She loves slides and climbing and boots and squeals with delight/jumps up and down/intentionally falls down with joy whenever she’s told she gets (to do) any of those things. She loves her aforementioned Daddy Jaeda Dates, even just to the store, and will talk about their time together for the rest of the day. Even Daddy Jaeda Corban Dates are pretty stellar in her mind. She quivers under a harsh word and is quick to seek reconciliation. She loves things pretty and shiny and fast and loud. And if only we would ever get a pet, she would surely swear to care for its every moment upon her two-year-old honor. (It is said honor that forces us to say a [most likely] forever no.) This girl loves her headbands and pigtails, dirt and puddles, baths and bubbles, and if only she would but ask, I’m sure Grammie would give her a pony. We’re thankful for her joy and her high-pitched “teeeeeeny teeeeeeny” description of small items.

It’s beautiful kids like this that make being pregnant again that much more exciting. It’s new and mysterious and wonderful the first time. For the second, you have an idea of what you’re getting into, what’s waiting for you at the end, and just when you think you couldn’t possibly love any more deeply, that every corner of your heart was already claimed, that second child stakes their space and the love just doubles up. And now with this third, the first two are a little older (Jaeda will be 2 1/2 when #3 comes, phew!) and we can see a little further down the (hard, dusty, difficult, hopeful) road, and I know, just know that this love I feel for these two will just grow again and get bigger and deeper and more wonderful and I can’t even explain it but this somehow has something to do with Jaeda Turning Two.