lovin' life: the birthday day

happy 3rd birthday baby girl!

i would have loved to do something extra super special for baby girl's birthday today but with us getting in town late saturday night and not having sunday to prepare anything and monday night being family home evening and baby girl's bff elle out of town... it just wasn't gonna happen. we semi celebrated at the hilliers for a sunday dinner but there was no cake, and it was just a few small presents. i really don't mean to sound like i'm complaining, i only say all of that because i'm not quite sure how much a three year old comprehends birthday celebrations. like i don't think she really got the picture with our sunday shindig even if it was really really fun. all day sunday though, we kept prepping her. "how old are you?" two. "yes, and tomorrow when you wake up, it will be your birthday and you will be three!"

she did great. this morning i heard her wake up and when i went to get her i said "happy birthday baby girl!!! how old are you?!?!" "i'm three!!!" adorable. since it was too cold to go to the pool and too windy to do anything outside actually, i decided our day should consist of no crying and just doing whatever baby girl wanted to do.

want a bath?
yes. but i don't want to wash my hair.
fine by me... it's your birthday!

let's eat breakfast!
i don't want to eat breakfast, i'm not hungry.
want watermelon?
yeah! and i want yummy cheese eggs too!
excellent... i can do that for you! how many would you like?
umm, two. and i want this toast too.
well then you shall have it all... because it's your birthday!

brady slept the majority of the morning so baby girl and i got a lot of one on one time. she had a fun bath, picked out whatever she wanted to wear (poofy dress), and played in the playroom. we cleaned up the ball pit (i told her i was going to clean up all the balls and it was all "oh. i'm gonna help you!") and she did some trains, some driving in her car, some baby dolls, some hammering with her tools to fix her car, and asking me to throw the aflac duck and smash it into her face (video to come). we both had a blast. we also watched some thomas together and hung out with brady before it was nap time.

almost every inch of my house is covered in suitcases, clothes to be put away, dirty laundry, and a million other things that just materialize out of nowhere... and instead of attending to any of it, i spent the whole day focusing on baby girl. i didn't multitask and do laundry or housework while she watched tv or played in the playroom and i didn't talk on the phone, text friends, or browse the internet while she was playing. i gave her my full attention and y'know what? she was perfectly well behaved and more hilarious than ever. baby girl, sorry this was a special birthday thing and not the everyday thing i should do for you... i promise i'll do better.

this precious girl never left my side (remember the wind? we were always in the same room as each other and pretty much never more than ten feet from each other) and it was amazing. i should do this for my birthday too! anyways, she went down for nap around 2:30 and was fast asleep until almost six. you can tell she's still wiped out from our trip (she woke up at 9:45 which is late for a kid that's been hanging out on the east coast for three weeks).

check out that tan!

"mommy, can i take pictures of brady?"

"i'm a big girl baby!"

while she was napping i tossed up a few balloons and streamers and gathered some presents from around the house. really we were only intending to give her a bike and the $5 thomas umbrella i picked up a month or two ago at walmart... but it looked pretty sad and lonely on the fireplace (tradition) so we shopped the house for a few more things and baby girl was thrilled to pieces with her birthday puzzles, games, coloring pad, mickey mouse notebook, bike, and thomas stuff.

when she came down the stairs and saw all the birthday stuff, her face lit up. she immediately ran to her bike, hopped on, and started riding all over the place. she's really good at it because she rides elle's all the time. christopher convinced her to take a break to open her other presents and it was so precious seeing her unwrap everything. she would be so serious and intent and telling me every time she ripped the paper and then she'd see the toy inside and get such a huge smile on her face. she played a bit with each of her presents and then rode her bike around the house again. while she was riding, christopher asked her what her favorite thing was and we were both fully expecting her to say the bike. ummm, "i like all my thomas ones!" what?! her top pick was the thomas umbrella. she really is my mini me. when i was really little i had a kid sized snoopy umbrella and i absolutely adored it. that was actually my inspiration when i saw the thomas umbrella at walmart. so, i'm sure she probably likes/will enjoy the bike way more but i found it humorous that she told honey her favorite was the umbrella. especially since he was skeptical when i told him i bought it for her. two points for me!

then we ate grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner (because i knew she would really enjoy that and because our fridge is almost completely empty and i'm procrastinating this whole "cooking dinner" thing as long as possible) and went around the block and got our mail and hung out on the driveway while baby girl pedaled to her little heart's content. but then the sun was going down and baby girl's first crying of the day was when i made her get in the car so we could go out for gotcha. what's up with that?! she loves gotcha and it didn't matter how many times i said "we're going to get ice cream and all of your birthday stuff will still be here when you get back!" she was still distraught. i insisted though and i'm pretty sure she's forgiven me. also, she eats so slowly she didn't even finish her ice cream and the remainder of it is in our freezer. so now i know that when it takes her an hour and a half to eat breakfast, it's not because she's trying to kill me or drive me crazy, it's just because she's really my daughter and can find a way to "savor" something eighty times more slowly than everyone else present. sometimes hanging out with her is like watching home videos of myself as a kid. when we were growing up, my friend lisa always finished her food before i was even done chewing my second bite and she always asked why and how i could eat something so slowly. actually, she still does. weed, if only you were there to see abigail go three minutes straight without taking a bite and then at my promptings, merely dip her spoon in melted ice cream and just give it a quick lick before dipping it again.

and then brady was getting fussy so we all went home and honey and baby girl played with puzzles and games and stuff a little more before bedtime and she was out like a light. except that as i was saying goodnight she made mention of having another birthday tomorrow. hmmm. once elle gets back in town i'll have to plan a little friends birthday party for baby girl. and because she's been talking about it for months, it'll have to be thomas themed. anyone want to help me out with that?!