Four and a Half

Summer is flying by, despite it feeling more like Winter here in "sunny" California. One month ago yesterday, our oldest baby girl had a half birthday. She was disappointed to find out her half birthday did not come with cake, candles and presents, but she's still pretty stoked about telling people she is 4 1/2. I think I convinced her our trip to Kauai later this month was her and Lorelei's half birthday present. That has to count for something?

A few things about you at four and half:

You love, love, love watching movies.

You adore playing at the beach, even when you are shivering from the fog and wind.

You enjoy building things at school. Your teachers tell us you spend lots of time building intricate towers. Today you built Disneyland.

You are becoming quite a good swimmer.

You love to play dress up more than anything else. Even if it's just trying on your own clothes.

You want to know why raccoons don't turn into butterflies.

You tell me stories of when you were "big", as if you lived an entire lifetime before you became a part of ours.

You are a wonderfully sweet big sister.

You want to be a mommy when you grow up and either a baby teacher or a baby doctor.

You ask a lot of questions about how you were born and how "Baby Jesus" made us.

You still sneak into our bed at night, and although I may not have quite as many good nights of sleep, I know that one day (too soon) I will yearn for a night of snuggling with my little girl.

You are growing up way to fast, in fact in all these photos I can envision you as a teenager. So for now we will simply enjoy your four-and-a-halfness!