Kaitlyn Alyssa Turns 8!

"I want her to stay little forever! Time is passing too quickly and even though it's inevitable, I want her to slow down on the growing up! I miss that snuggly little bald baby!"

That was how I ended my post a year ago, about Kaitlyn turning 7..."I miss that snuggly little bald baby!" Little did I know there was a new little bald baby barely just starting to grow! For the record, I won't be ending this year's post with any reference to wanting ANOTHER baby...at. all. :o)

So, Kaitlyn Alyssa is turning 8 years old tomorrow! Holy cow, how fast time goes. How is she 8 years old already? How am I old enough to have an 8 year old already?! How has she grown so quickly from a baby, to a toddler, to a preschooler, to a second grader?! It blows my mind how much she's changed and matured, just in the last year. There is hardly any "little kid" left about her...she wants to talk about "teenage things" and do "teenage things" now. She has finally decided that she wants her ears pierced now, so we plan on doing that on her birthday tomorrow. Part of me wonders if she'll follow through because she has already expressed how nervous she is about it! She wants a more "teenage bedroom"...she likes to pretend she's a "teenager talking on the phone"...and yes, she has claimed my old cell phone as her own now (just to play games on). With every word that comes out of her mouth, it's sadly apparent how grown up she's getting. She's not a little baby any more...heck, she's not a little KID anymore...she's growing into a young lady. Thankfully, there are still some "kid things" she still enjoys...she still LOVES stuffed animals and really looks forward to our birthday trip to Build a Bear every year. She still gets super excited about playing in the snow...really, playing outside period. She loves playing with all the neighbor kids. She still loves to watch cartoons, even Nick Jr. which, honestly, is far too young for her as far as learning anything from it. But she still loves Peppa Pig and I'm very much OK with that.

So, here's my list of "What Kaitlyn's doing at 8 years old":

She's in 2nd grade and is doing awesome! She's reading at a late-3rd-grade level and does really well with math too! She does so well in school and, so far, it's all coming naturally...the girl aces almost all of her spelling and vocab tests with very little studying.

She has lots of school and neighbor friends, but is still pretty quiet and shy in big groups. She has a lot of friends from Brownie's, the neighborhood, etc. Some of her best friends right now are Patrick, Mackenzie, Grace (behind our house), Braedyn and Colleen.

She loves listening to music (Kidz Bop is a favorite!) and having dance parties.

She weighs about 51 lbs and is about 52" tall, I think. She is so long and lanky...she outgrows the length of her pants FAR before they fit around her tiny waist, sometime she's struggled with since she was a baby.

She's changing over from loving princess dresses (which she still loves) to being interested in fashion and wants to wear dresses all the time, wear fancy hats, scarves, etc. She likes to put her own ensembles together...sometime they look wonderful...other times, I just have to chuckle and be ok with her finding her sense of style. And don't even think about helping her do her hair because she wants to do it all herself!

She still loves Santa, the Easter Bunny and the like and is currently getting very excited for Elfie to show up near Thanksgiving! Every year Mommy breathes a sigh of relief that these things still excite her, because I know it will end far before I'm ready.

Kaitlyn is still very much into Purple Kitty, Disney Frozen, the Inside Out movie and SpongeBob. She still loves drawing pictures, doing anything crafty, etc. She still loves pretend play, like restaurant, library, etc.

This year Kaitlyn became a true big sister to Emily. Yes, she's technically a big sister to Aundrea, but they are so close in age that this is her first time really filling that BIG SIS role. Although she really wanted little baby to be a boy at first, she has learned how much fun it is to shop for baby girl items and loves Emily so much. When my water broke at home, she was asleep while I was getting ready to go to the hospital in the bathroom. When I came out of the bathroom door, there was Kaitlyn fully dressed, hair brushed, shoes on, BIG SIS shirt on, proudly waiting to go with us to the hospital. There was absolutely NO telling her no, even though it was the middle of the night! She was so excited to meet her new little sister. Kaitlyn also is the one who suggested we name her Emily! After Mommy, Daddy and Grandma M held Emily, Kaitlyn was the very next person to get to hold her. She was quite nervous about it, but did a wonderful job being very careful and gentle...and the smile on her face when Daddy put Emily in her arms was the sweetest thing I've ever seen. Kaitlyn instantly was a proud big sister!

There we have it...another year gone by and my first baby is 8 years old! I love you so so so so much, Kaitlyn Alyssa!!! You will always hold a special place in my heart that no one else has because YOU made me a Mommy...I wasn't a Mommy 'til you came along and I'm so glad that God chose me to be your Mommy! I love you, birthday girl!