Two

 Ava in her birthday dress Mommy made.

I'm a few days late, but Ava turned two on Sunday! We officially have no babies at our house anymore. (sniff, sniff)

Ava's two year old stats:    31" tall
                                          19.5 lbs.

              --She is in the 97th %tile for height and the 28th %tile for weight......for a 12 month old! But hey, this is progress for her and we think she's rather large in her old age! I even call her "porker" sometimes!

Year #2 was an eventful and stressful one with our little Ava, and while I do not wish to relive all the drama, we have really enjoyed watching her grow and learn. She is so different from the boys. She is 100% girl. She eats, sleeps, and breathes princess! Which would explain why absolutely everything about her birthday had Cinderella involved! Every mannerism of hers is so dainty and feminine. I told Colonel Mustard I feared she may grow up to be a pansy, and she was just going to have to learn to be tough and self sufficient under her prissy little outer-shell! (I'm such a sweet Mom!--I'm guessing something about this statement will come back to slap me in the face one day!)

I was determined that Ava would not miss out on the traditional Birthday cakes, no matter how difficult it was to achieve. It was a long and frustrating undertaking to make a cake that would hold together, and frosting that you could decorate with. In the end, I was not excited, but somewhat satisfied that I was able to make her something that looked halfway decent. Now, I can't say the same for the taste, but she doesn't know the difference and thought it was great. And it was very fulfilling to see her eat a cupcake instead of a rice cake.

We had to wait an eternity for her to open her presents because she is just too much of a little lady to rip into the package! It literally took 5-10 minutes for her to carefully open her Cinderella doll. (So funny after savage boys rip into presents with their teeth- not really, but you know, it's no fun if you don't exaggerate it!)

Happy Birthday to our sweet baby girl! You are so loved, and we feel blessed to have royalty in our family!