Happy 2nd Birthday Mowgli

"Only an Aunt can give hugs like a mother, keep secrets like a sister and love like a friend." -- Anonymous

My favorite niece Ellie celebrated her 2nd Birthday this past week. I can't help reminiscing about the first time I saw her squishy, slimly, little face. I won't go into details about the exact first moments, but it was like watching an angel be born. Watching her take her very first breath and blinking open her eyes for the first time is a moment I will never forget.



My dad, Addi and I drove to Colorado Springs to celebrate her birthday. In four days we traveled 32 hours, drove over 2,000 miles, trick and treated at Boo in the Zoo, fed crackers to giraffes and partied with Ellie and her friends at her Dora and Boots costume birthday party. It was a quick trip and a long time in the car, but seeing Ellie's smile made it all worth it.

We pulled into Sara's house around 10:30 p.m on Thursday. Ellie was groggy and cuddly for a little bit. Once Auntie mentioned we had her birthday presents she said, "Open my present, please, Auntie." Of course!! She opened a couple presents and then we played a bit before going to bed.

Papa gave Ellie a baby accessory set. She LOVED it. She was very sleepy!



The next morning Ellie came into Addi and I's room and literally ran to me, threw her arms around my neck, and said, "Hi, Auntie. Wake cousin up?" Seriously, her voice is so sweet and I love it so much when she says "Auntie". The second sentence out of her mouth was, "Open more presents?!!" We spent the day playing with her toys, hot tubing and getting ready for trick and treating at Boo at the Zoo.

Addison played hard all day without a nap and the 20 minute drive to the Zoo put her to sleep. She was not into trick or treating and was very tired. She was afraid of the giraffe's long tongues and wouldn't feed them. Ellie, on the other hand, was totally into all of it. She was so adorable! She would say, "trick or treat" and hold up her pumpkin bucket and go back to the same table 2 or 3 times. She ended up getting 3 times the amount of candy as Addi!

Ellie chose a Dora and Boots birthday party. The main party attraction was the Dora bouncy house that Sara rented. They dropped it off at noon and picked it up at seven at night. We got several hours with the bouncy house all to ourselves, which means, Sara and I got to bounce!! We had a great time.

Happy Birthday Dear Ellie!

Sara got the girls a four-wheeler for their birthdays. They had so much fun racing each other!

Addi loved Ellie's roller skates!

Over the past couple years Ellie has earned several nicknames from me. She almost immediately seemed to earn the nickname "Mowgli". After she crawled and before she walked, she used to "walk" around on her hands and feet, both flat to the ground, sort of like a bear cub and completely like Mowgli, from 'Jungle Book'. Though now she walks around less like a man-cub and more like a human she will always be "Mowgli" to me. I also call her "Ellie-Belly", "Boo" (she reminds Sara and I of Boo from 'Monsters, Inc.')and "Crash-2". Addison is "Crash" and Ellie, because of her crazy legs (tibial-torsion), was crowned "Crash-2".

I got Ellie a bug vacuum for her birthday. She might be my linguist/biologist! The girls and I searched for bugs and then gently sucked them into a viewing container and then looked at them. It was very fun!