It's so weird to think of now, but two years ago, we were still eagerly awaiting the birth of our first child (hopefully there will be more).

This was taken on 2 October 2004, just five days before Grace was born:

I had a very uneventful pregnancy; my nurse-midwife called me "boring," which is a good thing in pregnancy. The only excitement we had was waiting for Miss Gracie to finally make her appearance. Ultimately I had to be induced late on Wednesday, 6 October 2004, and Grace made her debut at 7:09pm on 7 October.

For those of you who have known me since I was childless, you know what happened next -- having Grace be born but never crying, the bowel movement she had while I was in labor which concerned the nurse-midwife, having to be delivered by an actual honest-to-God obstetrician (who was of a much lower rank than my nurse-midwife, but ended up in charge), the emergency airlift to Seattle Children's Hospital, my discharge from the hospital barely 12 hours after giving birth so I could go be with Grace, etc. I've been told that those of us who have boring pregnancies usually end up having an exciting delivery to make up for it.

For those of you who are new to me, if you're interested, you can read all about it in an entry I wrote nearly 2 weeks later. Apparently at this point, I was suffering from mild to moderate post-partum depression (Tom Cruise has no idea what he's talking about, stupid man), which I wasn't even aware of until after I made the decision to switch Gracie over to formula because she'd lost well over a pound in the first two weeks of her life. My friends were apparently quite worried about me, which makes me even more determined to make sure I don't give birth again without Kurt being home, or at least being close to my family or to Caroline.

It's amazing how quickly two years have flown by. Now Grace is a ball of energy, entertaining me and keeping me out of trouble. Her favorite thing to do right now is to put together these two puzzles she has, one of numbers and the other of shapes. She loves to tell me stories in her own language. Her favorite song on the radio is "Pon de Replay" by Rihanna. She never fails to stop what she's doing to jam to that song when it's on. She can walk, she can "talk," she can get her clothes and diaper off unassisted (and sometimes back on again), she is learning her body parts, and she knows that she doesn't like NOT getting her way. It's amazing how quickly she's gone from just a newborn blob to a walking, talking little girl with a very forceful personality.

And I'm lovin' every moment!