Team Gurski: TWO!

Alivia and her birthday bodyguard.

They say time flies when you are having fun, and considering how fast the past two years have gone, I'll take that as a good sign that we've had two amazing years with Alivia in which the GOOD far outweighed the bad.

My heart was just SO FULL of every happy emotion possible yesterday as we celebrated Alivia's 2nd birthday. Not only was it a day to celebrate our amazing daughter, but it marked the 18-month mark since her heart diagnosis, which puts us just 6 months from that magic 2-year mark the doctors told us about. The first two years following a diagnosis like hers are usually quite telling about the child's longterm prognosis. And considering she's resumed normal heart function, her ventricle has shrunk and she's weaning off her meds, we are in GREAT shape!! Here's hoping the next 6 months are just as fantastic.

Living with Alivia has been such a blessing. She's a daily reminder that we were created by a good God who answers prayers and provides us with what we need. We are so lucky to be her parents.

Now that Alivia is 2, I won't be doing monthly growth updates and instead will move to quarterly updates like I try to do with Tyler. I don't have any growth stats on her right now, but her current likes and interests at age 2 are: Minnie Mouse (hence the Minnie-themed birthday party), Spot books, reading any books of any kind, tigers, puzzles and pickles still. She's able to stay dry most days, so we've graduated to pull-ups. She can talk in full sentences. And she's learned that moving a stepstool around the house can give her access to a whole new world of trouble! She also started attending FunShop one day a week with my mom, and I think she really likes it!

We had a great time celebrating her birthday while also watching the Super Bowl yesterday. Her gifts included new shoes, a Twilight Turtle just like Tyler's, clothes, a dollhouse, puzzles, stuffed animals, books, Minnie toys and other fun stuff. We're going to have a lot of fun playing this week!

A few pics from our day...