Happy Birthday Eliza!

On November 18th, 2008 at 4:46 pm, I gave birth to my second child, Eliza Connie Nowling. She was named after her great, great grandmother as well as her grandmother. She weighed in at 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 20 inches long.
I LOVE this picture. It's pretty cool to have my name be Angela, because more often than not, the last A doesn't fit on the name tag so I get little Angel babies. How appropriate!
I was fortunate to have a friend that wanted the experience of taking newborn pictures at the hospital as well as at my home when she was two weeks old. Thanks, Mindy! It's been fun to look through them all again and remember exactly how I felt. I wanted to post all the pictures, but alas I'll resist.
This is still her favorite blanket. It might have started at this very age.
Was she really this small?!?!
The first year flew by and before I knew it, my little girl turned 1!
Again, I was pretty fortunate to have a different friend take her one year old pictures because she wanted the practice (are you noticing a pattern? I'm now accepting volunteers for aspiring photographers to take Eliza's pictures. :) only teasing).
Thanks Kelly. I know Eliza wasn't a happy camper this day, but I adore these.
She wasn't quite walking by herself yet so I love how she's prancing in this picture.

Then the next thing I know, my little girl isn't so little anymore.
(Picture by Mindy Black, June 2010---and I did pay for this photo session)
Here's a few things she's doing:
*Babbling and talking up a storm. We were a little worried about her language development. She didn't get the language talent that her sister was born with, but in the last month her language skills have amazed me. One thing I've learned about her, she understands everything that is going on around her. She just chooses when to respond. She knows tons of words, but will say them off and on. She has a big sister that loves lots of attention and Eliza is more ok with being in the background for the most part. It's a hard balance to find with these two.
*She loves to read books as well as to sing. She recently surprised us with her ability to "baby sing". She knows the words and the tones to the songs, but mostly it's babbling, but you can hear that she's trying.
*She is the most amazing sleeper. I taught her early on to fall asleep on her own and she's done it ever since. She loves to take naps (except when she's teething). I will say "are you ready to go to sleep?" and she'll yell out "yeah" and run into her room. She has the same sleep position (on her tummy with her bum in the air) that she's had since she was big enough to roll over. She takes long naps. I absolutely love that Eliza loves to sleep because she's a girl after my own heart.
*She is tough! She is a toddler and often falls. She usually gets right up and keeps going. Though lately, she's been known to lie on the ground until someone notices her and then will start crying.
*She extremely sensitive to others feelings, especially her sister. If Brooklyn is upset or crying, Eliza will stop whatever she's doing to check out the scene. If it's something she feels is bad enough, she will join her sister in crying. She has done this since she was a matter of a few months old. She also tries to join her in the time-out corner.
*She loves hats. If I'm wearing a hat, I know full-well that she will have to wear a hat as well. She also loves bows and will say "bow" every time I fix her hair.
*She loves to play with my ITouch. She has it all figured out and will go from application to music to whatever she wants. I know, it's a great little expensive toy for a two year old to enjoy.
*She has the best cheesy grin in the entire world. It usually causes her eyes to scrunch up and disappear!
*She has the talent of making facial expressions. She reads facial expressions and is able to copy them exactly. This can be very entertaining at times.
*She's petite. Many people wonder if she's barely 1. Though lately, we've gotten lots of people telling us how she looks older now.
*She used to say "yeah" to everything, but in the last few weeks has started to say "no" to absolutely everything. Let the 2's begin!
I'm not quite sure where the last two years have gone. It's been fun to look through all these old pictures. In some ways, it feels like yesterday, but it other ways, I can hardly remember what life was like with only one child. I love this little big girl!