so...remember when kaye was born? i sure do.
it was october 30th and i was 11 days overdue. the day before the doctor had told me i was going to have a baby the next day. that's just how it was going to go. 

i broke out into the nervous sweats and laughed...a lot. because that's what i do when i feel uncomfortable. i'm completely awkward like that.

october 30th was the day i became a mom. i met my feisty turtle and she dug her heels in. no seriously...she's been stubborn and emotional and a little bit crazy-eyed from the moment we met her.

babies are supposed to be all sleepy and cuddly that first day or two. not our kaye. from the moment she met us it was if she said, "mom...dad...listen. just so you know - i'm highly emotional, and a little bit crazy. but i can also be very sweet...so just hang in there."

that first year was maybe the hardest year of my life. kaye was not an easy baby. or maybe i was just a really bad mom? she was obsessed with being held. i'm talking...100% of the time. she grew a few months and got those first teeth at three months. nursing nightmare. she grew a few months more and quickly realized that if i was not within two feet of her at any given moment...i was going to have a screaming baby. i quickly learned to do most things one-handed. 

a few months more...we had a walker. friends - a walker at nine months and one week is dangerous.
a few months more and our gal turned one. i genuinely felt like i deserved a medal or something.

soon i became pregnant with sawyer and knew this was the absolute best thing for kaye. kaye needed a little friend. kaye was still highly emotional, very clingy, super stubborn...and the love of our lives. farmer and i knew we would be having another girl...we just did. this second little girl would also be born in october making our two best gals two years apart...exactly.

kaye didn't do the terrible twos. kaye did the horrific one and a half. i was that mom that reeeeallly didn't want to take her kid anywhere. there was no telling where her emotions were going to be. one minute totally happy - the next completely inconsolable. she still despised her car seat and would throw the most epic tantrums. i'm talking 40 minutes or more of screaming, kicking insanity. all of this while i was becoming more and more pregnant. all i could think was - what have we done.

okay okay okay okay - there were obviously moments of pure joy and glimmers of hope and honestly...it's so easy to remember that the happy moments far outweighed the hard moments. but i swear...there's a purpose for recapping how difficult those first years were...
before sawyer was born we threw our turtle a second birthday party.

then sawyer was born and kaye became a big sister.
call it maturity...call it a miracle. kaye was born to be a big sister. it was exactly when kaye turned the corner. (it could also be the fact that she started talking in full sentences - eliminating what i'm sure had to be unbearably frustrating...not being able to talk.)

kaye was showing signs of being the absolute sweetest.

i breathed a huge sigh of relief.

during that third year (around 2 years and four months) kaye potty trained. life was good. i had an infant that slept about 20 hours a day and i was only changing one kid's diaper.

ask me what else happened that year and i'll look at you blankly. it was a total blur. 
but i do know we threw the girls one big birthday party...and all of a sudden i had a three and a one year old.

having a three and one year old has bee the absolute best. sawyer is the sassiest little beast and kaye is the sweetest little gal with some amazing manners. 

yes yes yes - we have rough times. there was a period here lately where the girls were fighting...a lot. about everything. mostly toys or wanting to be held or sawyer hitting / biting / pinching. 

if i had a nickel for every time kaye came to me with tears in her eyes saying, "bitty _____ me!"
kaye loves being a big sister. she loves the responsibility. she loves helping / entertaining / and making bitty laugh. she likes showing sawyer how to do everything. she leads by example...but is also super bossy. she bosses bitty who would give kaye the finger if she knew how. kaye also bosses me...and her dad...and anyone else who will listen.
kaye is quick to be compassionate. she comes up with the sweeeetest stories. for example...at a party we met a boy who was not very nice. in fact...he threw a cornhole bag at kaye's face and she cried. well...kaye asked me last night if we could invite him to her birthday party because, "that will make him happy and then he'll be a nice boy."

she gets her good and generous heart from our farmer.

kaye tells me i'm beautiful. she cheers bitty on. she tells our farmer they're best friends. the nature of kaye is indescribable. she's just. so. sweet / kind / thoughtful / generous / empathetic...and...

crazy. yes. we still have a lunatic on our hands. kaye is still emotional and definitely flies off the handle at times. we butt heads. we argue. we definitely don't see eye to eye. she is a perfectionist which causes major frustration and tears probably once a day. 
but this year leading up to her fourth birthday - i probably ask myself at least once a day what i did to deserve such an amazing daughter. kaye truly is so unbelievably special. 

kaye is athletic / loves riding her bike / art projects / baking / and sometimes she just wants to go for a run. she is helpful and so funny. she loves telling jokes and making funny faces to make someone smile or laugh. kaye loooooves babies and will exclaim, "he/she is so cuuuuuuuute!"
kaye has recently decided she likes broccoli, but she would probably live on toast and crackers if we'd allow it. #carbs4life

kaye's very most favorite activity as of late is "pretending." but she pronounces it attend.

let's attend you're a horsey and i'm a horsey and...

let's attend you didn't want to go to sleep and...

let's attend i'm a princess and...

let's attend...let's attend...let's attend...

i'm a little burned out on attending. 

kaye is still wild. did i already mention she's wild? she really loves jumping off of things. she loves climbing. as tom-boyish as kaye is...
oooo...kaye is the girliest of girls. she wears dresses every day. last night she told me she wants to put sparkles on everything at her birthday party. everything. kaye has taken to putting little stickers on her earlobes to act as earrings. kaye often speaks of marrying her handsome prince...also known as brody, amy's oldest boy. no, seriously - kaye wants to marry brody and he's going to dance with her and give her true loves kiss. her words, not mine. 

i wonder what this coming year will bring...with my two and four year old. but with a gal like kaye i have absolutely no worries.