Twnety-four Months Old

Dear Scarlett:

Today you are twenty-four months old! Today is your second birthday!

This month was a pretty fun month. We were able to take you to Gardner Village to experience all their Halloween decorations. You loved seeing all the pumpkins and witches! Dad and I went on a vacation without you for a week and Grandma Carlson came to stay with you while we were gone. You had a fun time with Grandma and you did much better than we all thought you would! You of course missed us but you also adapted really well to someone new taking care of you and were very good for Grandma. We were all very excited to see each other when we got home! We also took you to Cornbelly's before Grandma left and you enjoyed it so much more than last year! You are at such a fun age and it is so great to see you taking in all your surroundings as you experience new things. We also celebrated Halloween and you enjoyed dressing up in your Minnie Mouse costume! I can hardly believe that we'll be at your 2nd birthday party later today.

I can hardly believe that you are now 2 years old. It really does seem like only yesterday we were looking at you in your little isolette watching you grow. These two years have definitely run the gamut of emotions. We experienced such worry and concern when you born early and spent 8 weeks in the hospital. We were SO relieved when you continued to grow and remain healthy and had no complications and we could finally bring you home. We've been stressed and angry with you at times, but overall we have been extremely overjoyed with you. You have been such an amazing addition to our family. You are such a happy little girl. You make our family whole. We love that you are ours.

Throughout this year we've have some obstacles with you that we had to overcome. To this day we still struggle with your eating habits. The older you get the better you get at eating, but it's still not ideal. You are still so tiny and I doubt that when we take you in for your 2 year check-up that you'll weigh 20 pounds. You are growing, in very small increments, but you are growing. We are very grateful for that. Another obstacle was you didn't learn to walk until you were almost 19 months old. We waited a LONG time for you to walk and were SO grateful when you finally started taking steps. Now you run and walk everywhere and love it! It's almost as if you knew how to the whole time but didn't want to. The final obstacle is your bowel issues. We thought we had those under control but they've come back again. We're hoping with some new dietary things we'll get it under control again. We realize that with the crazy start that you had that we could be dealing with much worse obstacles, so we are grateful that in the grand scheme of things our obstacles are fairly easy to deal with.

Scarlett, you are such a fun toddler now. You love to color, read books, watch movies and play with babies and dolls. Your vocabulary increases all the time and it amazes me the things you know. One day while driving in the car while Grandma was in town you were whining and crying but I was ignoring you because you wouldn't tell me what you needed. You finally yelled out "Hey! Don't ignore me!". It was SO funny! I don't know where you learned that but your timing was perfect. You also have recently become interested in trying to dress yourself. You love to take your socks on and off and love to try and help put your shirts and pants on. Your favorite part of the day is when you get to zip up your jammies. You still love music and dancing. Your music taste cracks us up (Lady Gaga is a favorite!) but we love to see you get so excited by music. We think by the Spring you'll be ready for dance classes.

Scarlett, this month I have been especially grateful for you. A month to the day of my last miscarriage we found out that I was pregnant again. I immediately contacted my doctor and I was put on a pill that was supposed to help me keep the baby. When I went in for an ultrasound the baby was measuring on target but did not have a heartbeat. I had to go in for a surgery to have the baby removed. It was such a sad and stressful time. It has been especially worrisome because I was assured after the first miscarriage that my next pregnancy would be fine. With this second surprise pregnancy we tried to be hopeful that maybe this one would work out. After 3 problematic pregnancies though, I can't help but wonder if you'll ever get a sibling. That may sound overly dramatic, but every pregnancy I've had has ended with complications. No reasons have been given and no one knows if it will continue. Dad and I hope and pray that we'll be able to one day give you a sibling. Until then, we'll just enjoy our time with you, our little miracle.

Scarlett, you are such a good baby. You make us so happy. We love your laugh and happy demeanor. You are the best thing to ever happen to us. We are so proud to be your parents. Happy birthday, Scarlett! We hope you enjoy your day!

I love you little girl!

Love,
Mama