The Last Night my Baby is 2

Well, we put Little girl to bed tonight and as we did, we told her that the next time we saw her - she would be 3!

Could this really be true?

I vividly remember the day we got the phone call about Little Girl. A phone call that has changed my very existence to this day. We were informed that a little girl had been born and we could come meet her the following week and officially become her parents the week after that.

You don't forget becoming first time parents with only 2 weeks notice and not a stitch of baby items to your name, and you don't forget the first time someone hands you this little bundle of beauty while uttering the words, "here you are mommy."

I can't tell you what the word "mommy" meant to me when I heard it for the first time from, not just those around me, but when I finally heard Little Girl calling down the hall to me and I smiled to myself at all the joy that it brought to my heart.

Being Little Girl's mommy - it's been nothing short of a privilege.

Has it been challenging? Has she been more opinionated than I would like on certain days? Do I miss sleeping in?

Well, yes, all those things are true, but being given the gift to be her mother washes away all the rest.

Every year we have decided to write a letter to Little Girl on her birthday telling her of what she has meant to us throughout the past year. We are going to save these letters to give her on her 18th birthday to hopefully cherish and read over for years to come.

This year's letter will speak of how proud I am of her. How I love the fact that she has traveled all over the U.S. with us this past year and has been more than a trooper to take on new cities and new challenges with energy and enthusiasm and smiles. I will also tell her of my joy in watching her make friends and turn into a little person that runs and greets every little toddler she sees saying "Mommy! This is my BEST friend!" I will share with her in this letter how I still watch her continue to be the daddy's girl that she has been since the beginning of time. Watching her light up when he walks in a room or when she asks him to tell her one of his Puppin stories is priceless. Their relationship as father and daughter makes me smile from within and I know that this love will spill over into who Little Girl chooses to marry one day. She will find a keeper.

So, tonight as I head to bed, I say goodbye to the 2's and hello to the 3's.

People are already starting to tell me how little time I have until I release her into the world of school and other people besides me that will start pouring into her life. Ugh. Please don't remind me.

Let me snuggle in Lord to my Little Girl as long as I can and let this be a year of memories I will never forget with my daughter, my baby, my beautiful 3 year old.