Two.

TWO YEARS.

Um, what?! How has it already been two years?! It absolutely blows my mind that 730 days ago, after a 27 hour labor, Bexley Ann Magers entered this world. Since then, she’s been one of the liveliest, smartest, and sweetest little girls I’ve ever known. She has always been very headstrong and even before she could talk she would communicate with us in some way to let us know what she wanted. She has her diva moments, but we try and keep those moments to a minimum as much as possible. She’s still enjoying being the only baby in the house, and in the family for that matter! As the first and only grandchild on both sides of the family so far, she gets most of the attention most of the time, though is still great when her cousins or friends are over! She’s so very loved from all of her grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and friends and we couldn’t be more grateful for that.

Speaking of the only baby (no, we’re not expecting again!) but Nanny Sage and I have been watching our neighbor’s infant Beckett and she loves him to pieces! We were a bit concerned about abruptly bringing another little one into the house (it was a bit of a last minute decision, so we weren’t able to prep Bex on “baby etiquette”) but she has done surprisingly well! I have been so proud of her helping with him from getting diapers to trying to soothe him with the woobie (pacifier) when he’s upset! When he gets fussy, she walks over, puts her hands out like she wants to pick him up, scrunches up her nose, and says “‘ome here baby, it’s ok! I hold you!” and it’s the cutest thing in the world.

Thinking back on how much she’s grown brings tears to my eyes. Brandon and I will sit at night watching her play, and just stop in amazement at how perfect she is for us. I wish I could remember every little funny thing she says or does, or recall every time she has amazed us with her intelligence. Here’s what is sticking out at the moment:

• She still has firey-red hair that has FINALLY started to grow. She even has a hair or two long enough to touch her eyes! I refuse to trim it though. We have been able to utilize those hair bows we’ve had since she was born with a whale-tail pony or (my personal favorite) pigtails! She still rocks those headbands though!
• She’s a tall little girl and uses her height to her advantage. She has started monkeying around, climbing on chairs and things to reach those items just a little too high for her.
• She’s now successfully counting to 20, as long as we can keep her attention long enough. The ABC’s are spotty on her own but she can sing them (though l-m-n-o-p are a bit blurred) if we help her a bit. She’s recognizing certain numbers and letters of text, and are working on spelling her name. She’ll tell us B, X, L, and Y. Not sure what she has against E’s.
• She LOVES sleep. She always has. Bedtime is typically around 8:30, though we do have more late nights in the summer, and she’ll sleep in usually until about 9:30!! This night owl momma sure does appreciate being able to sleep in a bit!
• She loves going to the “pike” (park) and swimmin’! Since moving into Paxton, we’ve been able to enjoy the park more with her and she loves it! She’s a brave little thing on the tall slides and I love the co-swings so I get to swing with her! We also walk around and notice allllll of the flowers in the grass or nearby. She’s also such a water baby. She loves anything from washing her hands (“wash a hands mommy!”) to swimming at the pool to taking baths!
• She’s become a champ at mimicking voices, movie lines, and songs. She sings most every day (and usually pretty close to on-key!) and can quote most of the lines from her favorite movies (Frozen, SING, Moana, Beauty and the Beast, and more!) She even sings along to songs outside of our “Bexley’s Tunes” playlist with me in the car. Songs include (but are not limited to: Strip the Down – Liam Payne, Perm – Bruno Mars, and I’m the One – DJ Khaled + Justin Bieber!
• Some of our favorite Bexley phrases: “Who’s that guy?!” – to anyone and everyone she sees. “That’s adorable!” “Oh my gosh!” – typically followed by hands clasped over her mouth. She’s always been great about “pretty please” (which is more like “pwey pwease”) and “thank you” but is now followed by whoever’s name she’s talking to. We sometimes get more of a “dank you mommydaddy” – but it’s there! She’s putting together all sorts of phrases. She always follows up a sneeze (hers or others’) with “bless you!” and Sage is finally no longer “Sage” or “nanny” but rather “nanny Sage” ha! If you ask her a question and she doesn’t know the answer she says “I do not know!”
• In addition to helping with baby Beckett, she loves helping around the house! We love to vacuum, unload the dishwasher, and “fold” laundry. She also has a thing with making sure doors are closed completely and she picks up really well without losing focus! One day, I was doing some work in our living room which is between the kitchen and her room. Her room was rather messy that day, as she decided it would be fun to empty her pouch of disposable baby placemats all over her floor along with her basket of stuffed animals. Before having the time to pick her room up, I noticed her going back and forth from the kitchen to the living room repeatedly so I watched to see what she was up to. She’d come out of her room with a handful of the unfolded placemats, take them into the kitchen, and throw them in the garbage can. After watching her do this twice I followed her into her room to ask her what she was up to. “I pickin’ up mommy!” She answered and when I went into her room, the floor was spotless, and all of her animals were in the basket. I just hope she keeps this up into high school!!!
• She loves using her crib as a trampoline! Haha!
• For her birthday we got her a play kitchen, which after her birthday party Sunday I was too anxious to wait until today to give her, so we set it up that night. She LOVES “cooookin'” – which entails taking her play pot and spoon and vigorously banging them together, all while holding them over the stove.
• To get her to smile at the camera we say “Show us your teeth!” and we get the biggest funniest grin ever.
• She’s recently discovered how to give raspberries (or as my family calls them, zerberts) and she finds it HILARIOUS. Alright, so do we.

Christmas! Easter! From our family photo session with Tiffany Rae in Arkansas!  Our water baby playing in the rain!
One of my favorite onesies… ever. ? FINALLY! The whale-tail!  Don’t mind the diaper! Too excited to play with her birthday toys!  We held her party at the local beach house, so she got to play in the water and put her toes in the sand!