It's crazy to think that when Ally turned 2, we were 2 weeks away from Cole joining our family! So when Kailtyn turned 2 on the 1st, I couldn't believe how fast my little baby is really growing up. I mean, by this time, we put Ally in a big girl bed--as in a twin bed! to get ready for brother's arrival. I can't imagine putting my tiny Kaitlyn in a huge bed! Although it is pretty sweet when I go to put the other kids to bed and she climbs in with them and snuggles right in with a "bye mommy!" expecting me to let her sleep with them. Ally is super eager for her to join her in her room too since the addition of bunk beds we put in her room, anticipating the future change. BUT, I will be milking the time she has in a crib as long as possible!
This little gal has been so much fun to have in our family. She really has a lot of personality in that little body of hers. She has been my smallest size wise around the board out of all three kids. She may be smaller but she is definitely the spunkiest. The older kids really love her unconditionally, and although she and Ally get along great, she has a soft spot for Mr. Cole. She will sometimes crawl up on his lap and lay back for him to hold her. She almost looks as big as him when she does.
She is talking a ton and says things that sound so crazy coming out of a baby's mouth. I realize I've deciphered her language and that I have to translate for those I leave her with. Nink is drink, buddy either means dino buddies, or binky, doose! is juice, baa (with a pat on the chest) is bath. Poor thing though, she gets speedy baths without even plugging up the tub. She loves them though and when I'm feeling super nice, I let her play in the bath to her hearts content. When I put her to bed, she always sounds like she's gonna scream the roof off, but then minutes and sometimes even seconds later, she's cool as a cucumber dozing off. She LOVES to play with her hair. ESPECIALLY if there is a binky in her mouth. She's created the cutest little curl in a lock of her hair, and sometimes she looks like a little pixie fairy when she gets up with the way she's pulled her hair to a point over her ears onto her cheeks. She also likes to tickle her ear with the ends of her hair. I LOVE IT. Her cousin Gavin used to tickle his ear with the fuzzy part of the corner of his blanky. He'd do it to you too if he really liked you. Kaitlyn's latest obsession is with babies and bottles. She has always loved real babies...especially my friend Autumn's baby boy. It's like she senses when he's around and then she's like a magnet to him. So this year, we got her her very own baby doll and a plain little crib from IKEA.
Oh and of course, a milk and juice bottle--the kind where the liquid magically disappears as you tip it to feed the baby.
She loves Elmo (which sounds like ewoe when she says it). (Hence the Elmo cake).
She thinks she's 5 years old and can climb on the big jungles gyms and tries to ride scooters like her big brother and sister. Of course, having older siblings has caused her to adapt and fend for herself. If something gets taken from her by another kid, she sometimes will use the last resort....a bite! We haven't had too big an issue but no one wants to have a biter! She got a mark on her card at the gym day care a few weeks back (mostly for attacking her cousin, Gavin) That one seems unprovoked though. She LOVES Gavin but surely doesn't show it right. She gives many love bonks and pinches to the poor kid. Gavin's response is hilarious...."your baby hit me!!" He won't really refer to her by her name...maybe in an effort to deny he is related to the little attacker.
Daddy serenaded her with a little birthday song on her birthday. She loves it when he plays his guitar. It's a great way to snap her out of one of her whiny moments.
Adding her to our family was easy. She snuck right in unexpectedly, and then eased right into the mix. She had an easy temperament as a baby and has been fun of energy and smiles ever since. Of course you know what age 2 brings. Those 2's can be terrible. And they are here for sure....the kids has lungs people. But we love her and our lives with her in them! Happy birthday to my little gal!
(After seeing this picture, I bought Kaitlyn her own girlie bibs....at least it wasn't the blue one of Cole's that said, "I'm not a girl!" HA!)
As I looked closer, we discovered these nasty little creatures. 
They look pretty cool--kinda remind me of the caterpillar on Alice in Wonderland, but they destroyed our plant, leaving nasty black poops all at the base of the plant. (Later, over the next few weeks, they enjoyed the rest of our tomato plants.) Dan took them out to the street and proceeded to bang them with a hammer until their green guts came out. It made me shiver. SO brutal. But those things were literally hissing at us!! I couldn't believe it. We couldn't even pry them off of the stems, we had to cut off the stems they were on to get rid of them. Next year, I will be armed and ready for those nasty green things!!
