Dear Ruby 

Happy second birthday my dear. We had such a fun day celebrating you. We had all of your favorites;  Ice cream, frosting, Chapstick, candles, tissue paper, cousins and grandparents. There was a lot of laughter and happiness today. 

Ruby, you are so full of personality. You command the room. Everyone laughs at you and loves to watch you. You say the funniest things and you constantly surprise us with what is coming out of that little head of yours.

 You are feisty! You are getting into your terrible twos and are very independent. You like to "do it myself" and are constantly treading the line between safety and fun exploration. 

You are incredibly smart. You talk way above the average two year old level and sometimes I forget that you are only a small child. You reason well and will figure out things to your advantage, such as saying "mommy's turn" when I ask you to help me do something. How smart that you figured out that a talk about sharing can translate into your mom doing your chores. You have a great memory and remember even small details.  There are many times that your dad and I will stop short at something you say. We can't really believe that this small little girl is so aware of her surroundings.  

You are a little dare devil. You have no fear. You jumped into the pool the other day fresh out of the shower and with your clothes on. After I jumped in after you, you seemed to not care at all that you were in danger. You will climb as high as I will let you. You love to sit on top of the piano and kiss the brass mom and baby giraffe. You will touch a bee the moment I have told you not to and that they can hurt you. You will run straight into a busy road and laugh the whole time, all the while saying, "cars hurt you mommy". You scare me. 

You have a very sweet side. You love to cuddle. I hear "mommy cuddle" many many times a day. Its getting much harder with a large belly and that is frustrating you to no end.  You love to give kisses and hugs and you make the cutest noises to go along with them. You love to be fair and if you give one person in the room a hug you have to make the rounds and give every single person a hug, even if you don't know them very well.  You hate to see people sad. If someone is crying you have to comfort them. Even a child you don't know at the park. You are always concerned that someone is not happy. 

You love animals. You ask every single day to go to the zoo. You love your stuffed animals, especially Lulu and Second Lulu, with second Lulu being the absolute favorite. You get so excited to see any dog and always say "Pet. have to ask to pet"  you love to cuddle them and seem very upset when they don't want to love you back. You love cubbie so much. I have to pull you off of her at least once or twice a day. She is so patient with you but even she has her limit of how many times she is body slammed or her tail is pulled. 

You love to kiss my belly and get frustrated when I wont let you kiss my bare tummy in public. You talk to baby brother and always want to hug him. I hope this excitement translates to when he is actually here because you are so use to getting so much attention having a sibling might be quite the reality check . 

Ruby, you have saved me these past two years. You have brought so much joy into our home. I honestly do not know where we would be without you. We would be in a very dark place. After losing your sister you were the thing that kept us going. You made life worth living again. I will never be able to explain it to you my baby, but you kept my heart beating when it just wanted to crumble.  

You my dear are one of a kind, so full of life and beauty. You have kept me on my toes and warmed my heart.  One day, after a particularly trying normal toddler day, I kept sending pictures of you to your dad. One of you coloring the walls with a marker, one spilling the cereal all over the floor, one of you screaming and I realized as I sent one picture after another that you are exactly what I prayed for. When your sister was sick I would tell everyone. I just want a naughty, feisty, independent, loving, sweet, normal baby. I want someone who will tell me "no" and talk back but also be able to tell me "love you Mommy" and have their sweet pudgy arms wrapped around my neck all on their own. I realized on that hard day that you were the embodiment of all my wishes. Heavenly Father had listened to it all and given me exactly what I wished for. You were a dream come true. I remember bursting into tears of gratitude (something that made you rush to my side and give hugs all the while saying 'mommy sad") and thanking my Heavenly Father that he would grant me this wish of my heart, to have a baby just like you.  I am so lucky to have you Ruby. You make your dad and I very happy. We know just how blessed we are that we have you and I promise we don't take you for granted. 

Happy birthday my precious gem. We love you with all our hearts. You are a miracle baby and a miracle child. You are amazing 

love you 

mamma