Aubrey started talking much later than the boys, and one of her first words was kitty. In fact, I do believe she said it before “mom”. For her 2nd birthday, she got her very own barn kitty. His name was Harley and he was black and white. He lived approximately 8 weeks. And I swear that was about 3 months ago. And today she is FOUR. She frequently narrates a play by play and her mouth never stops. Her voice is high pitched and sweet as sugar. Unless she’s yelling at her sister – then the pitch goes up an octave or so, and she ditches the sweetness altogether.
Aubrey today, 4 years old. She side-eyes ALL.THE.TIME
Aubrey and Harley on her 2nd birthday
Our first girl and our second rainbow baby, she made a surprise entrance into the world 3 ½ weeks early. It’s still up for debate whether my water broke or I wet my pants (honestly probably the latter), and I was induced the following day. Six pounds six ounces of pure joy. She needed a short adjustment stay at the special care unit but has been considerably less dramatic ever since.
Her days are filled with lots of play – particularly with babies, and the baby game. Which consists of me being the daddy, her the mommy, and Tenley and her babies as the actual babies. She’s a great helper, big sister, and the best room cleaner of all. And when she’s finished, she says, “Mom, come look. You’ll be so pwoud of me”. When she makes her bed, she creates a pillow train and my heart melts a little every time. Her bedhead is second to none and sometimes I throw her into bed just like my dad used to do to me. And always when we say our prayers, she says “thank you for yous blessings”. She frequently makes pronouns plural and I’m more than a little sad she’ll probably be corrected when she starts preschool in the fall. Ninety percent of the time, she insists on wearing her cousin’s hand-me-downs and she gets slightly offended when you can’t tell her outfit matches because both the tops and bottoms contain various shades of the same color.
Her 3rd birthday marked the milestone at which she could have honey, and now it’s the single-most way she refers to time. As in, everything in her life has either happened before or after she could have honey. She will not hesitate when you ask what she wants to be when she grows up: always a doctor. And the world stops on a dime at the first note of “Dirt On My Boots” and Lord help you if you don’t turn it up immediately.
One of our middles, her daddy says she’s resilient and funny and sweet. She’s the best of all of us. Happy birthday baby girl, may you always spread joy and face the world with your contagious laugh and kind heart.
