Miss Halle

I think it's time to write a little about Miss Halle.

Halle is one month shy of her 2nd birthday,

and is such a little character.

Sometimes I feel bad because I missed this stage with Ava.

When Ava was 1 month away from her second birthday,

I was taking care of a preemie, surviving on 1 hour of sleep between feedings,

and recovering from a life threatening pregnancy complication.

Needless to say,

I was a zombie.

So, it's like I'm really experiencing this stage for the first time.

It's so fun to see how Halle plays with Ava.

She just adores anything Ava does, and loves to mimic her.

I love hearing her play "Bahbees".

She gets the cutest, high pitched voice, and just jibber jabbers away.

Halle is extremely expressive, and has been since day one.

She can be extremely giggly and happy one minute,

and the next,

she will be moody and so intense.

It's hard to explain.

When she was about 6 months old, she decided she didn't want the binky anymore,

so she stopped taking it. It was so nice not to have to take the binky away and

The same has happened with her crib.

She has decided she doesn't like falling asleep in it,

and so she now falls asleep in the toddler bed.

I just set her in there,

and she usually comes to the door and  yells my name,

but after 5 minutes or so, she climbs into the bed and falls asleep.

It was nice not have to worry about that transition.

Halle is such a tiny little thing.

She has no meat on her bones.

You can see the outline of her biceps,

and she seriously has rock hard abs.

I'm not joking.

And her cute little legs are so skinny,

her thighs don't even touch.

And she has the cutest walk.

Halle is also extremely strong.

It's kind of freaky!

She loves to sit straight up (without the help of her arms)

when I change her diaper. (Hence, the rock hard abs.)

She also loves to pull out our kitchen drawer and swing from it.

Sometimes, it takes all my strength to pull her away from something.

She loves to be flipped and tossed into the air,

and loves to launch herself backwards when I'm holding her.

I have to be pay attention every second, or she'll flip out of my arms.

We are so glad to have her in our family.

She has been a challenge, and I feel like I've had to learn to be a parent 

again because what works with Ava doesn't work with Halle.

Hals has done things on her own time, and I just have to step away and let her be.

The love I have for her is indescribable.

I love Ava just as much as I do Halle,
but it's different with each child.
I feel like I'm a lot more patient with Halle,
and I don't know if that is because she's the second child
and I have learned to let some things go,
or if I'm a little protective of her because of her crazy beginning.
Who knows...
But I do know that she was meant to be our daughter.
I knew her before we came to this earth,
and I felt her spirit even before she was born.