Bethany is officially 2!!

Can you believe it? I surely cannot! How does the time go by so quickly? On July 20th we celebrated the anniversary of the arrival of our precious, precocious, wild-child, blessing. Bethany was our "surprise". I often tell people that Bethany is what happens when you say to God, "I can't decide if I want to have more children or not, so I'm going to leave this up to you." It was a week's worth of flu-like symptoms before thick-headed me realized I was pregnant not sick. Of course John told us that he knew we would have a baby because he had been praying for a brother. Needless to say, the results of the ultrasound were a little disappointing to him at first. But if he thought having another sister meant having another princess like Sarah, boy was he wrong! We all were! Bethany started this life so nice and easy going. Quiet and cuddly. Cute as a button.


Then her personality began to emerge and we learned that she is very opinionated and will not hesitate to share her opinion with you by any means possible which include but are not limited to mean looks, screams, screeching, biting, hitting, kicking, throwing things, crying, and did I mention mean looks?
Now that she's two, there is no stopping her. Nothing is out of her reach. If she can't reach it or find something to climb on to reach it, she whines until one of her siblings gives in and gets it for her.

Wearing a dress is an unusual occurrence for our Bethany. We've come to a compromise. I don't fight her during the week and she doesn't fight me for church.

Bethany is an animal lover. Last year we celebrated with a doggie cake. This year we opted for a fishy cake. And since goldfish crackers are a favorite, we decorated the aquarium cake with lots of goldfish crackers. As you can see in the bottom right corner, not all of the fish survived.

What have I learned from Bethany??
Don't go in the bathroom for too long or take her with you.
Do not assume that just because they're out of reach Bethy can't get to them.
23lbs can kick and pinch and bite really hard.
Bite marks can leave bruises for a month.
Kisses and "sowwy" really does make things better.
If you complain loud enough eventually some one will give in, even if it's just to shut you up.
You never get tired of tickles and chase. Bubbles are amazing. Airplanes are loud. Birds don't come to you when you call them.
If you want to seem brave trying to catch insects or worms, but don't really want to touch them, all you have to do is put your hand out and say "Come here" in a sweet voice while stomping your feet to scare them away.
The youngest child really is spoiled and really does get away with murder. But she's so stinking cute as she does it!