Lorelai is 2!

   

How in the heck has it been two years since our sweet little girls came into this world? Even though Lorelai has come so far and is thriving it's sometimes hard to fathom how we've gotten here.



This second year has been by far easier than the first. Once we got her on reflux meds it seems like our lives just got slightly easier. We still have several doctor appointments but we didn't seem to be fighting her as much with eating and she actually started to GAIN WEIGHT!!!

This second year has been a blessing. She is thriving with medications and feeding therapy. She is as feisty as she is sweet. She is super opinionated, independent and a little mean at times. She knows what she wants and she stops at nothing to get it.

This year instead of going somewhere alone, we rented and airbnb in Chicago and went to spend time with my mom and sister. It was super cold and I hated that we couldn't be outside comfortably but we enjoyed our time with family and seeing the museum of science and industry. We had a good time and we are grateful for the time we spent with family...and we let our family in on our newest addition which I think was a huge blessing. We told my mom on her birthday which I think helped shine a little light on a somewhat dark day for her which I was happy to provide her with some happiness on her day!

Morning bottle! happy birthday to our 2 year old!!

a little morning nap on the way to the museum.

        

They had this exhibit with a kitchen and it had dog bowls. She actually
loves dog food and was infatuated with the play dog bowls and food.

Playing in the water area they had at the museum. 

so the museum has this exhibit of babies preseved in each week of pregnancy
this is a 26 week babe....my how far we've come. 

Here's a little big about Lorelai at age 2.

• she started walking in August and has been trying to run ever since to keep up with her brothers
• She talks up a storm and is more vocal than the boys ever were at this age
• she says several words but her first word was 'mama' :)
• She has gotten a few teeth (6 total) 2 top teeth and 4 bottom ones.
• She is eating more and more, but still prefers her bottles. 
• we offer 3 meals a day and then will still give her 4-6 bottles a day fortified with heavy cream. --girl likes her milk! 
• we are working on a sippy cup but she is unimpressed and per her Neo's orders we are to give her the bottle, we can fix her teeth later but not her brain. 
• She LOVES books. She is always coming up to us asking us to read. I've been trying to be better about reading to her, and she truly enjoys it. I want to get more good books for them! 
• She is a very happy and smiley kid. She loves to be around people and especially family. She is always quick to smile and come give mama kisses. 
• I will ask her to come give me a kiss from across the room and she will come in running with the most adorable kiss face ever. 
• She's still our champion sleeper. She goes down around 8:30-9 and will sleep until about 9 the next day. 
• However she has started waking up at random times between midnight and 5am and playing in her crib for 2 hours. She runs back and forth, talks to someone and laughs hysterically. Adam and I think she's playing with Laynie. 
• She would still like to nap twice a day and sometimes she does, but we are trying to get her on a more toddlersih schedule of napping once a day in the afternoon. Most days it works but only if after her early morning play session she goes back to sleep for a few hours. 
• her afternoon nap is usually about 2-4 hours!!! 
• She is not a fan of TV and will honestly not watch it. Slowly she has become more and more interested but for the most part if she does watch tv it's for under 2 min. 
• She loves to do any and everything her brothers do and is constantly trying to keep up. 
• She is a little mean and has been known to just push or shove other  kids for no reason...we're working on this!!
• She's becoming more and more independent and wants to do things herself. 
• She hates to have her hair brushed! It's BAD! screams bloody murder when we try to brush it, but it's slowly getting long enough for me to pull back into a pony tail, but Lincoln still LOVES to put in a headband bow. 
• She loves to take showers and play in the water or she loves to be in the bathtub! 
• She's wearing 12 month clothes but is starting to fit into more 18 months...watch out world she's getting big!!

Lorelai is such a joy to us and we can't help but look at her and be grateful. She is the perfect addition to our family and we are so proud of her spunk and fight, even if it may drive us little crazy at times. Every time she challenges us with her feisty personality we just can't help but be grateful. She's feisty yes, but because of the feistiness she's here and triving and some days we have to remember that more than others, but she is also so sweet, loves to get and give hugs and kisses and she loves her mama and dada! Though she still prefers mama shes warming up to her dad! 

Lastly I do have her 2 yr stats. 

• She's 22lbs
• that's the 3rd percentile or 5th percentile adjusted
• She 31 inches 
• which is also 3rd percentile or 5th percentile adjusted

Just for reference; Lincoln was 23lbs and 31.5 inches at 1 year old.....but hey growth is growth and she grew almost 7 lbs this year and I can't quite remember how long she was but she's sure grown in length too. 

Lorelai you're a joy, you're our miracle and we couldn't be more proud of the little girl you're turning into. Please continue to thrive with feeding, grow strong and be the light of our lives. We love you so much baby girl! Happy 2nd Birthday!!!

Some pictures from our weekend of celebrating the birthday trifecta. 

When your Daughters, mom and sisters' birthdays are a day a part, you eat lots of cake

Happy Birthday baby girl!

Blowing out the candles. 

My sweet family

Since we weren't at home I had to do our photoshoot at Stace and Ian's.

Perfect little 2 year old

Love her

Adam had gotten me flowers for Valentines day and she loved them.
So he decided to get her and Laynie flowers for their birthday.
 Pink ones for Lola and Purple for Laynie. 

No Birthday celebration would be complete without acknowledging and celebrating the girl who changed our lives for the better. Her life may have been short but the impact she has had on all of us has been everlasting. I'm a changed person because of her. I live each day as best I can and strive to walk a rightous path full of love, and kindness so that someday I will hold her in my arms again and never let her go. We did our annual balloon release and some of us wrote notes to her on the balloons. The boys really enjoy this tradition and we do too.          

Love you sweet Laynie. 

And of course we had to celebrate my mom and sister. I still can't believe that the 3 of them have birthdays so close.

Lola loves to blow out candles. 

The birthday trifecta! March 3, 4 and 5th!

We decided to have a birthday party this year for the girls and invite more than just immediate family. Last year my heart just wasn't in it. It was hard enough to celebrate Lorelai let alone be with anyone other than the 5 of us. But this year I was feeling much more celebratory. We'd been having such a mild winter and early spring so I had hoped to celebrate her birthday at a park but of course the ONE day I chose it was FREEZING out, so we moved the party to my parents. 

It was a great day celebrating BOTH our girls. Everyone doted on our miracle and then we did another balloon release to celebrate Laynie's birthday too. I'm unsure if we will always do this or if it will be something we eventually stop, but for me, for right now I can't have a birthday party without acknowledging Laynie. Its her birthday too.

"Family is not always about blood, sometimes its about who is there
to hold your hand and support you when you need it most."

Lorelai's 2 year pictures had to be pushed back a month due to my work schedule and spring break schedule of our photographer. However She did get us squeezed in for a few pregnancy annoucement pictures.

Chafin Family of 7!

We got her pictures done in April and they are perfect. Just like her!!! 

Love this girl

Big Siblings

sweet babes

Love these 5

My sweet Family

This is my favorite picture, probably ever. When you lose a child you always wonder what life would be like with that child. you wonder what that child would be like. It's hard, every day is a struggle. When we lost Laynie I of course mourned her, but we mourned so much more than that. We mourned the relationship that was and what could have been between each of her siblings and especially Lorelai. I have to say that when I first saw this picture I was taken aback because the bear she is holding is our Laynie Bear. It's a bear that was made for us that represents our girl. This picture represents what I believe Lorelai and Laynie's relationship would be like.  So with this last picture. Happy Birthday to our beautiful Girls. We love you dearly and we are so grateful to you both!!!