Look Who's Two!

A tribute to my girl, Rylee.

One of the most amazing things to me is how deeply our children affect our lives. Our sweet Rylee turns two today. Where does the time go? I cannot believe that she's only been a part of our lives for two short years. How did we ever live without her? She has been such a gift to our family. The other day, it really hit me how different our family would be without her. She is our little sunshine and always puts a smile on our face.

I had an instant and immediate love for Rylee. Even before she was born, I was so grateful to know that I would have a daughter (they are rare in the Taylor family). She was and is a precious addition to our family. She is more than I could have ever imagined.

She was such an easy baby, happy toddler and has always had such a good disposition about her. She's feisty and can hold her own, but she is also very compassionate and nurturing. She is the mother hen to her brothers, her daddy's little sweetheart and holds a very special place in my heart. We have had quite the journey together.

Rylee has always had an independent spirit. She's brave & shows courage everyday. She walked at just before 10 months, has always been a good eater and is friendly to most people. She's a little pack rat and clean freak. She likes to have a paper towel next to her while she eats to wipe up any messes, she always wipes her nose on a tissue and always piles up a bunch of crap into corners, hallways and entries and feels like she's picking up. One time she went and picked up any and everything off the floor in Jace's & our bedroom, piled it all up into her crib and then came and got me to show me her cleaning job. She was so proud of herself.

I love the little wide-eyed surprise look she always does. She is full of expression & is so cute to watch. I love it when she wiggles her hips when she dances. I love how she acts after getting all dolled up in the mornings- she feels cute & goes and prances around to her brothers and dad to show them what a princess she is. We always say, "Woo, woo..look at you, you're a fancy lady." or "How do you like me now boys, how do you like me now?" as she admires herself in the mirror or prances around to the boys. I love how loving she is- always has to give hugs and kisses before Jus leaves for work or before she goes to bed at night. I love how she plays on her phones and gets a paper and acts like she's having some business call. I love it when she says, "MOM" every morning when she wakes up- if I don't come after awhile, she'll start on "Dad", "Mom, Dad". I love it when she plays babies or loads a bunch of purses up on her arm and walks around playing store or house or whatever. I could go on and on.

I was going to list all that she's accomplished milestone wise so far, but then I thought, what really trumps fighting cancer? On many levels, she's just on a different playing field. We're looking forward to a lot in her second year though. Now that the intense part of her treatments are done, we hope that her language will take off some more, we hope to have her hair thicken back up, we look forward to having her finally go to nursery, have her counts higher more consistently so that we don't have to be such germaphobes and she can do all that any other 2 year old enjoys doing. We plan to potty train, make the move out of the crib, take the pink bink away and see our baby girl blossom this year. I think it will be a good year!

Thank you for all the love you've given to our girl that we love so much.