So, I was in a meeting last week and the conversation turned to how wonderful it was for a 29 month old child to be able to say "thank you" and "please" and I thought, my child has been doing that since she was a little over 1! Of course, I know the proper thing to do is not mention how exceptionally bright one's child is when compared to another so I silently praised Maura. Honestly, though, she is very smart. When she was about 1 1/2 years old, her pediatrician stated that she was amazed and her progress - especially considering all that she has endured in her short life - and wished that most of her 2 year old patients were where she is at. We are so blessed. God has kept His hand over our daughter for sure!
She is so fiesty - sometimes more than her Mommy can bear. I frequently state that I wish we would have named her "Prissy" because no other name would suit her better. She prances and prisses everywhere she walks (or runs). She has a mouthful of teeth and talks in predominately sentences now. She'll say, "Maura go outside now" or "Where Ashy? Maura want Ashy now" etc. She adores the words "now", "no", and "Erica"...seriously, she calls me that more than Mom on some days- especially when she wants my attention immediately.
She is infatuated with Elmo. For her birthday, I purchased the cutest invites from E-bay:
Maura seemed to really enjoy her party. Her cake was a rather large 3-D Elmo. She was so cute while I was decorating it because she kept squealing, "Elmo! Elmo!" Sadly enough, though, the cake was adorable but didn't survive the drive to the party very well. I learned the hard way that my chocolate cake is too moist to hold-up to 3D cake carving. Maura wasn't upset the least little bit by the fiasco but her Mommy was mortified!
Maura decided that for breakfast she would have chocolate cake crumbs!
Great Grandmother Nanny Shields helped entertain the birthday cake while I decorated the cake
Not quite sure who was having more fun - Nanny or Maura
Elmo - before transportation
Elmo after transportation - no one had cut him yet.
He simply fell apart but the cake was moist and yummy!
Maura's adorable outfit. She was irritated at all the pictures.
Ashton helping celebrate. Maura insisted he wear an Elmo shirt but he compromised by wearing red.
Yummy!
The kids played "Pin the nose on Elmo"
Maura was patiently waiting on her gift from Nanny Shields (her patience wore thin fast after this shot)
I can't believe Maura is now 2 years old! Just this morning, she wore a dress size 9 months to church. She is still a very tiny 19 lbs little girl. She loves to have her nails painted and bows in her hair but her favorite activity is going to see her Pa's cows. She even has some shoes she coined her "cow shoes" that she wants to wear with everything from blue jeans to Sunday dresses....the shoes are yellow workboots, so they we have to hide them on Sunday morning to prevent meltdowns. She is quite the character!
The most exciting event in our lives occurred in October when Ashton asked Jesus into his heart! Maura was sick that Sunday, so Jason had stayed home with her while I went took Ash to church. On the way home that morning, I had the radio playing and we were driving down the road when he said, "Momma, turn the radio off. We need to talk about something very serious." I asked him what he wanted to talk about and he said that he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart and he wanted to go live in Heaven one day with Jesus, Granny, and Julianna. Needless to say, the radio went off quickly! He is only 6, so while we know he is young, we also know that from the time he was born, he has been taught about Jesus and His sacrificial love for us. In November, Ashton attended a series of classes for new believers and then in January we met with our church's children director to discuss baptism. Maura and Jason were sick the morning he was scheduled to be baptized, so we had to reschedule it for Feb. 20. It was a glorious day for our family!
