For my mom and dad...

So in preparation for my trip to Brazil I thought I would sit down and write out everything I could think of about our day, anything about everything, just to help my parents out with the nine days they will be staying with the kids. I got panicky the other night when putting Maverick to sleep. As I went to place him in his crib in his usual sleep spot and position, I realized that there are so many things that I don't even think about mentioning to my Mom and Dad and our life that they just wouldn't know unless I told them. Mav's favorite sleep spot would be one of them. The obvious stuff is obvious. Of course my Mom knows the usual bedtimes, favorite foods, and popular stories. She has a list of friends and how to get in touch with them. But it's all the little things that will come up, and even if I leave a list a mile long, it will be those little things that will be where my Mom and Dad are just going to have to figure it out and improvise. I love that my Mom is so in tune with my kids that in many ways she can come into this house and fill my shoes, so to speak. I am so grateful that the obvious stuff is obvious with us, and I don't need to leave a list of how to comfort my kids if she is crying or whatever. My kids know and adore my parents, and I wouldn't have been able to feel confident going on this trip leaving them with anyone else. But I still thought it would be helpful, Mom and Dad, for me to write down everything and anything I could think of about a usual day for us for you to look over and refer back to. And then I figured, why no blog about it? This will probably be good to look back in the years to come. I dod something like this last year titled "A Day In The Life..." with the intention of doing that every so often to remind myself of what a typical day was like at that age and stage so I guess that is really what this is. Hope it helps!

-The day starts right now usually with Tula waking up, maybe around 7ish. If you can get to her fast enough, before she yells too much, you will get a few sweet minutes alone with her before Mav hears the commotion. And vice versa. If he wakes up first and you race in to get him, you will get some of the biggest and brightest smiles. But as soon as Tula hears him she is up and at em too. Don't worry about them waking each other. You think they are both happy to see you until you show them to each other first thing in the morning. That is pure joy! Tula squeals and goes running towards Mav. Mav flaps his arms with excitement. This may be their happiest time of day together. We usually go into Tula's room, open up the blinds, and they play with books for awhile. I change Mav's bum and we ask Tula right away when she gets up if she has to pee. If her sheets are clean, she will most likely go running for the potty when she wakes up, or have no problem going if you ask her.

- Breakfast seems to be getting later and later. Tula and I used to eat right away, but she doesn't seem in that big of a hurry, she likes her book time in the morning, so it's usually Mav who reminds me to go and make breakfast. About half an hour after waking, we all pile downstairs. I usually dress Tula before going downstairs and Mav stays in his jammies till after morning nap. These kids would eat scrambled eggs with ham and cheese every morning for breakfast if I let them. I usually make 5 eggs for the 3 of us with 2 slices of ham and we split it all up. We probably eat this 3 or 4 mornings a week. Tula goes in the wooden restaurant highchair at the table and Mav goes in the white one, but I pull him up to the table as well. Tula wants her milk right away, but she will let you know that so I don't worry about that. Most of the things she knows she wants, she knows how to communicate to you. Makes life so much easier! Anyways, yogurt, oatmeal and cheerios and milk are all safe breakfast foods that they both eat.

- After breakfast is playtime with the downstairs toys. This will last a good half hour, they are really starting to play together and interact so much more. Tula will usually go over to the bucket of their little toys (this is their favorite thing to play with) and dump it out and pass a couple select toys to Mav for him to play with. They play at their little kitchen and love to go and hide and play together in the spare room. Watch the bathroom though, I have to leave the door open for Tula but Mav will go in and play with the toilet water so it is a pain. Lately I have been just shutting the door and Tula is getting really good at asking when she has to go pee.

Around 9:30ish is Mav's first nap. It's not really a set time, but I think you will just know when cause it really seems like out of nowhere he just gets miserable. As soon as he gets cranky I take him up, and Tula will either continue to play, or if she gets mad that I am going upstairs with Mav I ask her if she wants to come up and watch tv. She loves tv right now and will jump at the chance if I tell her she can watch a bit. She knows to not knock or bang on the door now when Mommy is putting Mav down, so she will sit there for 10 or 15 min and just watch and wait. Mav goes down for the am nap easily. He usually barely nurses, just needs a quiet place and some quiet time. He doesn't usually fall asleep in my arms anymore, in fact I know he is ready for me to put him in his crib when he starts to get really restless and moving around. I place him on his back closer to the top of the crib and closer to the wall, and he usually rolls over immediately to his belly and kind of hides his face in the corner and goes right to bed. Sometimes when you walk out of the door, for whatever reason, he will fuss, but only for a minute and then he is out. His morning nap is the big one, usually about 1.5 hours. This is your chance to get stuff done! If there are two of you, it should be a piece of cake. Tula would love to get out of the house at this time, usually we are stuck to the house because of Mav's naptime but its a very happy and playful time for her so she would love to go anywhere you take her. Sometimes she will ask me "out, park, car?" and I have to remind her that Mav is upstairs sleeping and we can't leave. Sometimes I let Tula watch a little more tv and I will do what I need to at my computer or on the phone. Most times she hangs with me and wants to help with whatever i am doing. Something in the kitchen, in my room, making the bed, whatever. This is Tula's time though.

- Lunch time around noon. Mav should be up soon. I forgot to mention, and this is important, that you want to make sure you get Mav down for his morning nap on time or else he sleeps too late and is not ready for his second nap by the time she is ready to go down. This sucks because then you won't get a "break" at all in the day, if you aren't able to nap them in the afternoon at the same time. So, lunch. Tula often eats a plate with ham, cucumber and cheese cut up. Or and apple. Oh, loves yogurt. And loves it when I make a can of chicken noodle soup. Maverick usually just gets a yogurt for lunch, maybe some of Tula's apple or somehting cut up afterwards for him to pick at.

- After lunch is the time to get out of the house for us. He is up and happy and she still has a little juice left in her before her nap. You can't go too far or she will fall asleep in the car on the way home and then won't transfer well into her crib and wake up and then you are screwed because now you get no naptime break plus you have a cranky toddler. Keep her awake till you get home and take her upstairs, make sure she goes pee before naptime and shut the blinds so she knows its time for sleep.

-Anytime after 2 is Tula's naptime, and Mav's second. And I still haven't found a formula on how to do this easily yet. Tula usually gets "five minutes" of tv while I put Mav down and he goes to be then I go get her and we read ONE (only one!) book and then it's time for snuggle. Lately, we have been reading longer books. She probably won't let you pick up anything but a Curious George book. In fact, when you are walking down the hall towards her room for naptime she will start saying "George, George" just to let you know what she wants to read. Sometimes, if she is really tired and you read read gently, she will actually fall asleep while reading the book. She will usually transfer into her bed no problem from her rocking chair, but you already knew that, right Mom?

- BREAK TIME! You now have a good hour or two, if you have down things right and got them down at relatively the same time, to do whatever you desire. This usually involves getting dinner ready. Or chatting on the phone. Or sometimes even a nap. It's quiet time, whatever you do!

- Tula usually wakes from her nap miserable. I have no idea why. Just be prepared. I mean, I guess it is hit or miss, but when she is grumpy, she can be a bear. If she made it through naptime without wetting the bed, this is great but she gets mad if I ask her if she has to go pee. It's annoying. So I usually just take her downstairs and ask her about her Elmo potty and that helps, then she goes no problem. I think this is a rough time of day for her cause she sort of slept through afternoon snack and its almost dinnertime. She used to nap earlier and get up and have a snack around 3ish but because I really try and keep them napping together in the afternoons that is no longer the case. So when she wakes, and although dinnertime is near, I do let her have a little snack. Usually its around 4:30-5 and I am not ready for dinner but not close enough to tell her no snack. It's getting a little too hot, but she still loves to take her snack outside.

- Mav gets up around the same time from afternoon nap, and although he wakes a little happier, he also is loking for a snack or at least a big drink when he gets downstairs. This is often a time they like to play outside. In the afternoon, our house provides a lot of shade to our backyard so they can play a lot more comfortably out there. Mav loves it when you fill the blue water table for him to splash around in and Tula love it if she can have some water in the sink of her house. You have to keep an eye on them out there but usually I can go into the kitchen and work on dinner a bit while they play together in the yard.

- Dinnertime. Hmmmmm. Mav loves just about anything, especially any sort of meat. They both will eat mac and cheese every night (for every meal) for that matter. Good luck with dinnertime!

- After dinner the kids are usually happy to play more while John and I clean the kitchen, we do that quick and then try and either get on the floor with them or go outside. If we get done dinner and cleanup early enough we will do something fun like go to the park or for a walk. Tula loves this. Tula loves to have something for Daddy when he gets home. Most of the time, we do something like make an iced tea or whatever but I guess you probably won't know when he is coming home so you can't do that. She loves to have something to show or tell him as soon as he walks through the door. Mav lights up too when Daddy gets home. I look forward to you guys spending a week with John and being able to see what an incredible Daddy he is to our kids, and how much they both adore him. no that you didn't know already, but it will be fun for you to see again!

-Bedtime. Tula has a shower every night and Mav has a bath. How we usually do it is that John takes both the kids up and I stay downstairs and make his lunch at this time. He puts Tula in the shower for her playtime and gives Mav his bath, then calls me to come get Mav and put him down while he washes Tula. By the time Mav is down Tula is out and lately she wants me to put her to bed so I have been. Similar to naptime. One story, ten lights out and snuggle for a few minutes. We pray. I ask her who we pray to, she says "Jesus". When I am done praying, she says "Amen". It is one of the sweetest, most beautiful parts of my day.

- Tula is potty training and doing great throughout the daytime, we haven't had an accident in a long time and she will tell you if she has to pee or poop. Nightimes, she will no longer wear a diaper but she still has accidents and needs a little help. My first hint, she sleeps with no bottoms at all on now. That way, when we do the midnight potty runs, there are no pants or panties to take on or off. You have to go in and wake her and take her potty right around midnight. And not after. I have went in at 12:30 a few times and she has had a mistake. She is is used to 12 so I would stick with that. Then, if you can try and wake up once more through the night and take her, she will be fine and you shouldn't have any accidents. If you don't do that second trip, chances are good she will have an accident so beware. She likes to go on the big potty with the stool under her feet and sometimes, for the nighttimes ones I have to actually get down and hug her while she goes, I think she is just so tired and out of it half the time she seems to be falling asleep on the potty, if you are holding her it helps her to just relax and pee quicker. She will ask to snuggle on her way back to her bedroom, I don't let her walk at all cause I am trying to keep her as asleep as possible. Just tell her you will rub her back and pretty much as soon as you get her back in her bed she is out of it.

- Mav is just starting to sleep through the night. He has done it a couple times, and I believe this is nothing less than a complete answer to prayer, as this was one of my biggest worries in leaving him. All he knows is me or JOhn in the middle of the night. And all John is good for is bringing him to me. He nurses briefly, just for comfort, and is back asleep. I guess, if he were to wake you could try a bottle or have one sitting there in case. Maybe a paci? Whatever works, I don't care what you have to do. I am still hoping and praying he will just sleep though every night for us but I guess we will have to see. Just take care of my baby boy. The poor guy will be very sad if Mommy isn't there in the middle of the night to rescue him I think.

I love being able to leave and know that my kids are being left with some of the only other people in the world that love them as much as I do. What a special thing it is to have grandparents. To see your own parents with your own children is such an incredible feeling. I love how much my kids love my parents and as nervous and anxious as I am to leave them, I am excited for all the fun GG and Papa bonding time they are going to get. Thank you , Mom and Dad, for doing this for me. I know you are looking forward to it as well, but this is a huge gift and sacrifice you are doing for me and I just cannot even begin to tell you how thankful I am. I love you guys, and I hope you have a fabulous week with my three favorite people in the whole wide world!

So this is new....

This was our conversation before naptime today. Let me lay out the scene for you. Tula is standing ON TOP of her table, ball in hand, being a goofball for Mav. It's 2:30 and getting close to being "past naptime" which, in mommy-land, is the worst thing that can happen to your day. It goes like this:

me: "Tula, get down from the table. NOW. Tables are NOT for standing. And just so you know, you have five more minutes till naptime."

Tula: "Me no want. No nap. I ball. Play ball."

...and gets down from the table to walk away, like as if the conversation was over. I pretty much just stood there with my jaw on the floor. This did not just happen to me. I got "told" by my two year old.

Move over, Martha!

There's a new domestic goddess in town! Tula and I spent the morning crafting it up and making birthday cards for the twins next door and their party tomorrow. Tula loved it, of course, because she got to play with "stee-kaws", which are pretty much her favorite thing in the universe right now. Another cool idea from GG, who brought Tula enough stickers to make it through toddlerhood last time she came for a visit. Her dexterity amazes me, watching her little fingers pick and peel and strategically place the stickers. She loves the finished project to, give her a piece of paper and a pencil crayon and a couple stickers and Tula will whip up her own little masterpiece.

I loved this activity today for so many reasons:

*such a fun way to spend a morning together, side by side, me making my version of the card and her doing her part
*I learned that I kind of need a creative outlet every now and then too. Who knew?
*totally saved me a trip to the card store, and like 8 bucks. Is anyone else appalled at Hallmark's prices as of late?
*the excitement Tula gets when we talk about the party and giving our cards to the girls. Please Lord, let their reactions not crush my child. She is seriously pumped to show her artwork off.
*did I mention that I didn't have to load up two kids and shop for a card for 10 minutes. Now that is priceless.

Do not be surprised if the next card you get from us is one of Tula's (and my!) masterpieces. More love than you would ever know went into making those cards. Hope you enjoy=)

Weight Update

Tula: 22 lbs 14 oz, 34" tall, head circ 18.25"
Mav: 21 lbs 11 oz, 29.5" tall, head circ 18"

Tula and her stories...

Mav John is learning to walk with his push-toy!

23 months old!

Well baby girl I can hardly believe that at this time next month you will be my two year old. What has the time went? I can actually say, where have the YEARS went? Every day flies by, and although there are times in the middle of the day that feel like it will never end, I can't tell you the last time I laid my head down on the pillow and didn't feel like the day just raced by. You keep my so busy throughout the day, and you are lucky your brother still naps so much and is so chill to be put down because you really require a lot of time and energy right now. Most of our longest conversations are me trying to translate what you are trying to tell me and we sometimes have long, extensive conversations like this that are either successful, or totally frustrating for both us us. For sure, the biggest frustration at this age is communication for you. You know what you want, how you are feeling, what you don't like, etc. but you just don't know how to express it. Today, you wanted to phone "Papa" and brought me the phone and kept saying "Papa, home?" I called the house and he wasn't home and you were devastated. So I called his cell and he answered and I put you on the phone. You hardly got one word out. Maybe "hello" and then looked at me with your saddest face and cried "Papa" and pointed to the door. All the while he is on the phone listening. I knew what you were trying to tell me. You missed Papa, you wanted him to come here, you were sad, all that kind of stuff. But it was obvious it was all just kind of new and confusing to you. It seems you are starting to learn a bit about emotions and feelings and it's all bug tough stuff to figure out. And, like every Mommy, I wish I could take all your sadness and worries away, but I can't. So I picked you up and hugged you after we hung up the phone and snuggled a bit. You were just sad. I asked you if you missed Papa, and you said yes. I asked you if you were sad, and you said yes. And we just sort of sat there for a minute taking it all in and letting you sort it out. Of course after a couple minutes of that, it was back to playtime and brother and whatever else we were doing. Your feelings seem to change or go as easily as they come. But it was a good reminder and lesson for me today. Right now, everything you are feeling is multiplied by one thousand with the newness of the emotions and the inability to communicate them effectively. It actually makes me sad just to think about how tough that must be for you. But it teaches me to live in the moment with you, and I love watching all this new big stuff mold you into the little girl you are becoming all too quickly, right before my very eyes.

I can't talk any more about communication without sharing some of our current and favorite Tula- "isms". There are so many, you seem to have a word for everything. Sometimes, it is a perfect match for the real world. Other times, we have absolutely NO IDEA what you are trying to say. Most of the time, you have your own word that is close enough to what you are trying to say that we can figure you out. Here is a few:

"bess"= Bless you. And your timing is perfect. The other day I sneezed in my room and you were in yours and you came into my room, stood in the doorway and said "Bess, Mama"

"pees" and "tee-kaw"= please and thank you. You are becoming very well mannered, and are starting to use them with me sometimes even if I don't prompt you to do so.

"lock"= shock. You hate being shocked. It happens lots on the trampoline, so much so that you usually won't even let me get close to you on there. Oh yeah, and pushing the costco cart it happens to. If I shock you once in the cart you will be afraid to touch me the whole time and keep asking "Lock, Mama?" It never fails, just when I think there can be no more shocks and I assure you no and I touch you, I will shock you again and you will be mad that I shocked you, and lied. I don't even blame you, I am done trying to guess when I will or won't shock you. Does any readers have some explantion or idea of how to "unelectrify" myself so I won't shock her? I can't figure it out.

"beep beep"= excuse me. I love this. If you are pushing your doll in her stroller and I get in the way you give me a "beep beep" to move. I have no idea where it came from but I think it is hilarious.

"oleeo"=oil. This was cute. The other day I decided to let you "cook" with me like Grandma lets you cook and we made banana bread for Daddy. You were telling me all of the ingredients. Most of them were easy ones that I knew you would know. Milk, egg, etc. But I know I never taught you about oil and I think you learned that from your GG who had just been staying with us for the past week and you had done lots of cooking with. You were so proud to tell me about the "oleeo", as if you knew I would be totally surprised, and I was. It made you seem like such a big girl, that you knew something that I did not teach you. I think that was the first time I ever heard something come out of your mouth like that that I knew you had learned somewhere else. My big girl.

"ahhhhh!!! bug!!!!!= your reaction to anytime you see any sort of a bug, in our house or outside. You don't like them one bit, and love watching Daddy run around the first floor with a fly swatter killing them all. What you don't realize is that it is YOUR constant in and out of the door that lets them all in. I tell you to shut the screen door approximately 1200 times per day.

"ahhhh- min"=amen. This is so precious to me. When we pray before dinner you will bow your little head. Sometimes I peek at you and you are always peeking at your Daddy to see what he is doing, but your head is down and sometimes hands folded. And at bedtime, when I put you to bed we pray after book. You will always say your "amen" after I do. Daddy has been working lots lately and the past couple days you haven't seen much of him. Last night, when we thanked Jesus for everyone special and listed them by name, then said "amen" you said "more Dada" and you were telling me you wanted to pray for (or talk about) him more. So we thanked Jesus for Dady, his hat, his job, his truck, everything we could think of. You seemed satisfies with that and said your "amen" and it was off to bed.

"way"= away. When you want to put something in the garbage it's always "way?"

"nuggle"=snuggle. My all time favorite. Who could resist when you ask me to "nuggle". Throughout the day it doesn't happen very often, you will come up fom time to time to give me a hug and then you want to sit on my lap and "nuggle", or you ask to hold you brother and snuggle him. I usually let you do it, cause you ask so sweetly, but Mav is not yet a fan of your snuggles and it doesn't go well. But at bedtime, when I put you down, you always remind me AS SOON as the book is done by asking me "nuggle?" It is one of my favorite things you could ever say to me.

If there is ever something that you are trying to tell me and I don't understand, I love how you will come over and take me by the hand and pull me to whatever you are talking about and point. Honestly, I just love when you come up and hold my hand.

"bonk" If you ever hurt yourself, even if you are one the other side of the house, you have to come find me to say "bonk, >insert body part here<" and hold it out so I can give it a kiss. It makes me feel so special when you come find me just to get your "all better" kiss and then march out of the room as if nothing happened to continue what you were doing.

You are getting very good at understanding about what happened in a day or what is going to happen the next. For example, this month when GG came to visit, I told you the day before and you couldn't stop talking about it from the moment you woke up that day about GG coming to see you. The other day we went to your friend Tatum birthday party in the morning and had a block party that night. And at the end of the day, you and I were having a shower together and talking. Normally, i would take this time just to tell you what we did throughout the day and ask you if you remember this or that, but this time I asked you, "What did we do this morning?" and you replied "Happyyyyyyy Birthdayyyyy!" and then asked "And what about tonight, what did we do?" and your response..."Party!!!!!" You cracked me up with your enthusiasm, you loved telling me this story and I look forward to actually being able to hear your version of the days events instead of me just reiterating them all to you at the end of a day.

You are growing up in so many other ways. You seem to be outgrowing your baby board books that you and daddy have always read and loved and practically have memorized. It's on to the longer ones. You actually will sit through a whole Robert Munsch book and seem to like that, at naptime, to relax while Mommy reads you something a little bit longer. You used to not be able to sit still, you would try and flip the pages, etc. But you don't do that now, and when you do it just means your not into the book and then we go to bed. Also, this month Daddy was reading you Pokey Little Puppy one night and he stopped half way because it was too long and told you you guys would finish the next day. All though bathtime and afterwards you were saying "puppy" reminding us that was the book you needed to read. You are not forgetful at all!

One of the most exciting things happening for me this month is that you are almost totally potty trained. You have been doing so well at it, you are blowing any expectations that I had out of the water. Although there were a few accidents in the beginning, they are becoming less and less. WE actually have never had a pee one. I started putting you in panties to go out of the house about 3 weeks ago and we have never had an accident out and about running errands. Only when we are with friends and you get caught playing, you had a "number two" accident playing with your friends the other day and that has been it. Tonight, when I took you to the church nursery for two hours, I told the ladies you were wearing big girl panties and to try and take you pee. They said they tried after about an hour and you didn't go, they took you back to the nursery and you played for awhile then came and found them and told them "pee-pee" and they took you pee and you went on the potty. They were super impressed and of course I was the proud Mommy. True to your roots, you have always hated any part of you being wet or dirty, so it makes sense that you would be just as anxious as we are to have you out of diapers. The most accident we have had are you pooping on the floor at home, not sure what is up with that but they have stopped for now so hoping those are forever gone because those are VERY annoying to clean up. You will always go pee on your potty, and you love the "elmo" soft seat that GG got you that goes on Mommy's potty. Of course I love it too cause no more mess to clean, drain, wash. Poop then flush. What a fabulous concept. Last week you started taking your diapers off on your own after we had put you in your crib for the night and didn't have any accidents for the first few nights. I found, once I stopped putting a diaper on you for bedtime and put panties it's like you would forget and so you would pee. After a few nights of that, we are now putting you to bed with nothing on from the waist down and I am going into your room once or twice a night to wake you up and take you pee. I have to say you are the most adorable little girl ever at this time. Your hair is all tousled and your face is all scrunched up and you sort of sit on the potty hunched over, pants around the ankles, head in your hands usually. You look so so cute. You have a big pee and then I just put you back in your bed and you have been going right back down so hopefully that will work, and help you figure out the whole diaperless nighttimes. Cleaning up nighttime accidents isn't the end of the world right now anyways, you were peeing through your diaper every night anyways so I felt like I was always washing your sheets anyways. You are doing great with this new "formula" so we will see what happens, but throughout the daytime, you are a potty trained little girl, and it is a treat being down to only changing one set of diapers throughout the day.

You have decided this month that because you are Mav's big sister you are the boss of him. And you are quite bossy. "No, no, no" you love to tell him. Oh, and I I have to tell him no, you are right there behind me copying. Of course, you can boss Mav around but no one else is allowed to do anything with him, you are very protective of your brother. But I am seeing that even with your friends, you have become quite the little boss. If one of them is doing something you don't think they should, you love to tell them "no, no" in this mother hen sort of tone. I guess that's what happens when you are 2 and have been a big sister for almost half of your life. So you are dubbed the bossy big sister, and I have a feeling that that isn't going to change for a while.

With being a big sister and the "big girl" you have a new love for babies right now. Of course Maverick is your favorite. When he cries you want to "nuggle" him or try and nurse him, you will even take you shirt off and try and pick him up, or take it off and find a chair to sit in and say "lap, Mama" and slap your knees. But beside your brother, you are in love with any babies, and you especially love the new and tiny ones. Baby Grace is your favorite, and the other day while we were having a meeting for the brazil trip her Mommy left her with you and GG downstairs while we were upstairs and you had the time of your life. You wanted to give her a bottle, and you know to burp her and you love to just hold her or rock her in her carseat. Even with your dolls, it is incredible to watch you with them and how nurturing you can be. You tuck them in for "nigh nights" in their bed in your room every night and make sure that you put the blanket on last and gently and then you give the cradle a little rock. You love to put your babies in a stroller and take them for a walk around the house, and you think it is especially fun when we let you take a baby out for the day in the car and to wherever we are going. It is so fun for me to see you loving on your dolls, it reminds me of a quote I read once to "watch how she treats her dolls, she learned it from you" or soemthing like that. To see you so gentle with babies and dolls makes me proud to know you learned it from a Mommy who pours everything I have into loving you and raising you up right.

Tula, I love you so much. This month I will embark on a great big journey to Brazil and leave you for the first time for a whopping nine days. I don't know how I am going to do it, but I know you will be fine. GG and Papa are going to come and stay with you and Mav and Daddy will be home every night to read to you and tuck you in. I know you will wonder where I am and you and your brother will be my heartbeat while I am away. I was going to say you will be in my heart but that doesn't even make sense anymore. Now that I am a Mommy you are my heart! I will miss you so much, but I look forward to seeing the world through the eyes of other children than my own, to see what is truly important for me to teach you, and see what is truly important for me to learn and know in this one life. I will come home on the very day of your second birthday. I will come home to a two year old...ahhh!! So I am going to soak up these last couple weeks we have together while you are still my "sort of" baby and (try to) enjoy every second I have with you. I look forward to coming home and celebrating your big day with you, baby girl.

Tula, I have said it before and I will say it again. You are sweet perfection to me. You teach me to slow down more and live life fuller and better every day. I feel honored that God chose me to be your Mommy. Happy 23 months, to Mama's great big girl!