June is right around the corner and brings two big milestones this year.....

   Our sweet Charli-girl turns 3, although I'm not sure how that can possibly be true, and somewhere right around that same time we will welcome our first son into the world.  Wow.  Could the arrival of June get any sweeter?!

   Birthdays make me so nostalgic and wistful, as they do every mama.  I actually have very fond memories of Charlotte's birth.  In spite of being induced at 41 weeks (because the fluid levels in my placenta were getting too low), everything still went incredibly smoothly and without intervention or drugs or complications, and I was still able to have the natural birth I had hoped for.

   Charlotte's birth showed me that there really is nothing to fear about the hospital.  I found everyone so easy to work with and on board with my birth plan and was free to move around and get in the water and do pretty much whatever.  As before, Randy was the perfect labor partner and stuck by my side through it all.  Both moms were there too which was definitely an interesting experience:), but it was pretty special in its own unique way.

   I will always feel like I missed out a little bit on Charlotte's first year....having an 18-month-old and a baby is not for the faint of heart!  Sometimes I look back on it and find it to all be a bit of a blur.  I was worried about neglecting my toddler with the arrival of a baby and so now of course I wonder if I neglected the baby.  Or both.  But such is hindsight!  It doesn't always fight fair.

   But oh, how fun the twos were.  She isn't perfect of course, she is human after all, but I just never bought into the whole "Terrible Twos" thing.  2.5 is still one of my favorite stages EVER.  They are  blossoming into their personality and character and talking and learning and discovering so fast, and they're still so small it seems hardly possible they aren't your baby anymore.  I love that stage.

   And so while I am so sad to let her time in the Twos come to an end, I am so excited for what Three will hold.  She will become a Big Sis, and will be an amazing one at that.  She is already ALL about baby brother and gives him big sloppy kisses each time she gets a chance and remarks on how BIG he is growing! Yes Charlotte, I know we're getting huge.  Trust me.

   My second-born has had many of the typical second-born character traits.  She is my brave one, and I fear sometimes I expect too much out of her because of that.  Jocelyn and her are truly kindred spirits as I'd always hoped they'd be.  They love fiercely and can fight fiercely, but they always have each other's back in the end.  I can't wait to watch their friendship grow and I am determined to guard it throughout the years.

   I worry a little that her birthday will be a little overlooked this year because of the baby, but knowing my luck I will be overdue and have plenty of time to throw a birthday party, like it or not!  In any case, I am so looking forward to both of those milestones, and for obvious reasons, June can HARDLY come soon enough.

Read about her first birthday and second birthday here.