The other day David woke up and the first thing he said was, “Mommy, is today my birthday?”
We talk a lot about birthdays in our house.
We already had Mary Virginia’s birthday, then Berkley Grace’s birthday, next is David’s, then Mommy’s, then Uncle Jason, then Mimi, then Caleb…that’s how the birthday conversation goes until we get back around to David’s birthday, which is the sun the rest of the birthdays revolve around.
The first year of this blog, I wrote about each of my family members on their birthdays. I thought of it as a fun way to celebrate them, and “introduce” everyone. Since then, I have (nearly) three new family members baby girls Berkley Grace, Gabby Joy, and then Abby will officially join the family at the end of this week.
In honor of Berkley Grace’s second birthday, I want to share a few reasons why, even though Uncle Nom is her favorite, I’m so glad to be her Aunt ‘manda. [The photos are from her birthday party at the beginning of the month.]
Berkley Grace is nearly always smiling, easy to laugh, and loves to cuddle. She entered the world with her own agenda; she was four days late, born on one of the hottest days I can remember. (Four days? Is that right? But it doesn’t matter because one day equals a hundred days.)
Berkley Grace is opinionated and sweet, a beautiful girl who loves to play in the dirt with the boys. She also has great hair. On a typical Wednesday, after playing in the sprinklers all morning, her hair looks about as good as mine did on my wedding day.
Berkley Grace was the third grandchild in the Krieger family, but the first girl. Suddenly, thanks to Berkley Grace, life wasn’t only about tractors and monster trucks, but also dolls and tea parties. We were all so excited about dolls and tea parties. Then a few months ago her grandparents took her to a toy store and let her pick anything she wanted. She left with a helicopter.
On her birthday, Berkley Grace got a new doll and immediately took it to Mary Virginia, since she knows how much Mary Virginia loves dolls. We all laughed watching it because it was such a sweet moment between these two cousins — and then we laughed about how Berkley Grace chooses helicopters over dolls.
When I think of Berkley Grace at two years old, that’s the moment I want to remember. She is a girl who takes one look at her new birthday toy and thinks, “This will make my friend happy, I want to share it with her.”
What a wonderful quality. That’s the sort of quality parents pray that their children will one day develop. Berkley Grace is generous and kind and adds such a wonderful dimension to our family.
Happy Birthday, sweet Berkley Grace.
Read more birthday posts (in order) here:
Jason
Mimi
Caleb
Uncle David
Tom
Gramps
Pops
Steve
Grammy
John Amos
Kristie
Ellie
Abram
Lindsay
Me
She’s adorable! And wow- I am so impressed with her sharing her doll… that is not a normal characteristic for a 2yo!
Stopping by from the link up… What beautiful pictures…. and what a great aunt you are, capturing all these memories for her!