My baby is 2!

I can't believe I didn't post on Chappy's 2nd birthday!

I've become quite the slacker, apparently.

So, making up for lost time: Chaps turned two on Thursday, December 9th.

Here I am, going all cliche on you - but, I can't believe it!

Two years ago I found myself about 50 pounds overweight, deprived of sleep and the mom to a 7.9 pound baby. Wild.

So much has changed... we've moved 3 times:

Birmingham ---> beach house ---> Santa Rosa Beach ---> Montgomery

and now our "baby" is a full blown toddler/kiddo.

At two, Chappellina is absolutely amazing.

Her personality is better than I ever could've envisioned.

She's funny, sweet, did I mention funny??, smart - beautiful inside and out.

But seriously, spend five minutes with her-- she's one of the funniest kids I've had the pleasure to be around. She has this way of speaking... she uses her hands and is super animated. IF she doesn't know the word in English, she'll slip one of her own words in there to fill the gap. It's pretty funny. She's Chapplingual.

While on the topic of language, she is doing very well. Her teacher often tells me that she's surprised by how verbal she is (and that she is hilarious, and keeps her entertained).

I don't know how many words she can say... well into the hundreds, there is no way to know. She can sing about 20 songs. She knows all animals, sounds, body parts, and every day objects. They say at this point in development they learn between 10 - 20 words every day. I believe it. Especially this time of year-- Christmastime brings its own vocabulary... and she's loved learning all about Santa, Baby "Cheezes" and all of the fun "lights" and decorations.

One of Chappell's favorite games is for us to draw a shape/picture/whatever on her magnadoodle and she then guesses what it is. I must say-- she is almost ALWAYS right! I'm not the best at sketching and she can usually tell what I'm drawing. It's a fun little game that we play.

Chappell loves to:

*tickle her mommy and daddy (and you better laugh)

*sing "Big Me" by the Foo Fighters, B-I-N-G-O, 5 Little Monkeys Jumpin' on the bed, Johnny Appleseed, Twinkle Twinkle, Row Row Row Your Boat and many other random songs...

*play with her little toddler friends

*watch the Little Mermaid, Lion King & Nick Jr. - sorry if you're anti-TV (we're not - we believe in moderation)

*play with dogs and cats

*read books

*go to the park w/ friends

btw-- I'm going to have to finish this 2 year old update later... before my 2 year old destroys our house!