Freya's second birthday

Right after our embryo transfer, Freya turns two years old. We’re still in London so that Freya can spend her birthday with her grandparents, and this is where our previously stressful trip turns much more enjoyable. Freya, despite having only memories of seeing them through a laptop screen, instantly ADORES her grandparents. She’s so happy to be with them, her eyes are shining and her face is alight, and we her mamas rejoice when they watch her so we can sneak off and go on a date together!

I can’t believe it has been this long since this child catapulted us into parenthood. Two whole years.

It feels shorter somehow, but also as if we have always lived these lives where she is our main priority. I didn’t fully foresee how utterly exhausting it would be, raising a child day in and day out, but I didn’t know how rewarding it would be as well. I profoundly enjoy being a mother, and I occasionally get sad that part of it is already over. She is growing up so fast… Of course she is still small and needs us constantly, but still, she’s no longer a baby. She’s a whole little person, with a (strong!) personality all of her own.

She is brilliant, this insane toddler, this beautiful free spirit, who I both love to bits and occasionally want to duct tape to the wall just so she’d sit still for five minutes. *laughs*

Freya is…

13 kg, 89cm of toddler mayhem.

She’s ridiculously funny, bright and always curious about what things are, how they work and why.

She enjoys spotting the moon, airplanes, umbrellas, and steam coming out of chimneys. She’ll play devotedly with her ‘pop’ (doll), carefully feeding it, changing its nappy, and putting it to sleep. She builds a house out of our playmats and lives in it, then expects us to deliver mail to her door. She can count to ten.

She loves to cook, both watching me and pretend cooking in her own little kitchen. She will make ‘tea’ for everyone, her toys, us, everyone who visits. She’ll chop vegetables all day. She’ll eat all day too, she’s happy to try anything and everything, and ever since London she begs us to go eat in restaurants.

She hates doing the stairs by herself. Being pushed in the buggy by the wrong person. Having her toenails or hair cut. Loud noises. Wearing her rainboots when she wanted shoes. Not being understood.

She has a good vocabulary, mostly in English but she understands Dutch well too, and has just started to speak in four and five word sentences. She can carry on a conversation and express complex ideas. She can propose make believe games, she can lie (badly), and she can crack jokes.

This is two. Headstrong, inquisitive, comical, demanding, kind and temperamental.

We’re so grateful to get to be here and watch you grow up, my love <3