I know its cliche … but its the truth. At the end of 2013, this baby of mine turned two. I still call her the baby because whether or not we’ll go for a third is pretty uncertain. It’s hard to believe it, really. She didn’t stay a baby very long like I’d hoped for – not nearly as long as my little brother seemed to growing up, ha! Maybe its a girl thing, or a second child thing, or just an Ellie thing, but boy is this child fiercely independent and full of personality. If I could spend a day inside her little mind, I would in a minute. I swear I’d choose her over anyone else. While the older one is predictable – I’m pretty sure her head would be filled with unicorns and rainbows and rivers of chocolate milk with marshmallow hearts and all the love in the world, I seriously have no idea what I’d find inside Ellie’s mind, but I’m pretty sure it would surprise me, make me laugh, and challenge me beyond belief. She’s already full of wit and she has me wrapped around her little finger like no tomorrow. I couldn’t imagine life with her and now I can’t imagine life without her. From the day she was born, as a baby, I’d hold her in my arms, stare into her wide eyes and ask her “what are you going to teach me today?” And thats exactly what she does each and every day. She teaches me … how to be patient, how to laugh, how to love so much it hurts and how to give up on trying to understand everything and everyone and realize that there is beauty in mystery. She is mystery to me and I’ll be trying to solve the beautiful mysterious puzzle that is Ellie Michael for the rest of my life … one clue at a time.
Sometimes I find time to photograph my kids with something other than my iPhone. This was one of those days …