3

Last week Audrey turned three with a bang. So far she’s celebrated at school, at home and with her cousin (whom shares a birthday with her!) at my mom and dad’s house. We still have one more event planned for the birthday girl. It’s safe to say that she’s like me and LOVES her birthday….or, as she says “bir-pay”. I have lots of pictures from her different celebrations, but I wanted to be sure to post a gallery from her 3rd birthday portrait that we did.

I also want to make note of a few things:

1. We did a piñata at our little family celebration on her actual birthday. She’d seen a huge blue high-heeled shoe piñata at the grocery store and had kept talking about it being at her bir-pay. Since she was just going to attend school and have a small celebration at home that night, I followed through and got the piñata. I crammed in a few things for each of us, but what I included for Audrey was a pair of sparkle blue dress-up high heels. And BINGO. It has now been nearly a week and she’s insisted on wearing them EVERYWHERE. To the neighbors, to school, to gymnastics, to Anacortes….she teeters on them and loves them. Two things to take from this: 1: You never know what gift is going to be the gift. 2. Doing the family piñata was super fun, it wasn’t really full of anything, but taking turns just the four of us was a blast.
2. Audrey rocked the school celebration. I haven’t really touched on the fact that she started school at the start of the new year. She’s in the same classroom as Mags and it has been such a good decision. Last year we struggled to make the decision to keep Maggie where she is and everything about them being in the same room and their happiness points to us making the right decision. Anyhow, each child gets to have their own birthday celebration where they get to wear a crown, carry a tiny earth and walk around a larger sun. This is happening while the other students are singing a sweet song. The birthday girl also gets to share a photo and anecdote from each year of their life, making it super special. Since school is so new to Audrey, I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, but she proud-chickened herself around the circle without hesitation. Proud mama moment.
3. We’re not baby people anymore. It’s weird. We’re toilet trained, not napping and some days our girls can’t get enough play time together….they just roll from one activity to another, hauling piles of stuff from one end of the house to the other, chattering all the way. It’s awesome. I joke, often, with them that they’ll ALWAYS be my babies…..because in a way they will be, but having little people that can join in on the adventuring is incredible. I loved having babies, but as we shift into this stage, I’m finding I super-love it too.
4. Speaking of not having babies anymore, my BABY is now three-freakin’-years-old. She is smart,  funny, sweet, full of energy, loud, (like the loudest member in our family when we’re home….hard to believe if we’re in public), night-time snuggler, independent, confident, stylish, cute, vocal, opinionated, hilarious, strong, scared of dark rooms, always trying to keep up, observant, and full of love.

 

So much more to say, but bed time is here and Little Miss Three Year Old is ready to read a book, cuddle and fall asleep in my arms. We might not be baby people anymore, but my second baby still fits in my arms to fall asleep at night…..she’ll always be my baby.