My baby girl turns 3

Another year goes by and I sit here wondering, where did the time go?  How come my sweet baby girl is already turning 3 years old?  Why do I LOVE her birthday SO much (well I guess that's obvious...), is there any way that I can freeze time RIGHT NOW, so it can be this day, forever?  I guess my way of dealing with the fact that a birthday 'day' just comes and goes way too fast is to celebrate it for many days, in many different ways.  First, the party planning.  Because there simply must be a party (with the kitty jump, again, of course!).  This year was a bit different...a sign of things to come and a change...this year, we invited Marea's friends.  Maddie, Madison, Jack, Mia and Sean, Bella,  and of course her faves, Jackie and Emily.  So planning the party was like a warm up for the big day.  There was jumping, snow cones, pizza and cake, great presents like hungry hungry hippos, and my special hand made goodie bags with Marea's Mix and a ribbon stick.  I think the best part was that we celebrated it on my birthday, a Saturday.  Marea's birthday landed on Tuesday, so for the few days between the party and her actual birthday, things were still in a celebratory mode.  For me, at least. Because honestly, Marea is still a bit young to understand that one day was the party, and one day was the 'real' birthday.  But I felt the anticipation of the day to come, because I knew that I wanted to make it special.  And I think it was a success!  On Tuesday, we woke up and gave her the present from Mommy and Daddy, Bunny Treehouse.  Which we played with all morning, after we ate chocolate chip pancakes and looked at pictures from when she was born.  Then Grandma Carole came over to give Marea her gift (boogie board!) and play for a while.  Then it was off to Grandma Susan's for swimming.  Daddy came home early and we hit the pool for a swim session with the new boogie board, followed by Jackie and Emily arriving, a popsicle, a bag of cheetos, and to top it off, an ice cream cone.  On the ride home, both girls fell asleep.  Marea must of been wiped out, because she slept for 2 hours on the couch!  And now....a bath, a daddy after bath 'fly by', and finally, a little bit of a movie while cuddling with me on the couch.  But I think the BEST part of the day was cuddling with her on the couch earlier and admiring all those little parts, once again.  The feet, legs, arms, hands, face, that are all still so very tiny, so very soft and kissable, still so very mine to love.  The hand that reaches for a chunk of my hair, her sucking on that damn pacifier which I don't have the heart to take away.  And now it's time to go.  It's movie time and my girl wants to cuddle with her mama.  I get to savor it one more time before bed.  Today, tomorrow, and hopefully for many more days and birthdays.  

Saved by the Potty Seat!

In a moment of craziness, I did something bad....I laid Evie on the countertop while I filled up her bathtub.  But I kept my hand on her!  And the little gymnast still managed flip herself off the counter.  Thank goodness....Marea's cushy potty seat was there to break her fall!  Well, I also still had a bit of control since my hand was still on her.  But boy was I glad, to look over and see my adorable little darling face down on the potty seat.  Thank goodness it was bath time!

Yesterday Marea and I sat on the couch and read some books, one of which was "great day for UP'.  At the end, it says, 'Please go away, I don't want to get UP today!" and I told Marea how I felt that way sometimes.  Later in the afternoon, when I was having a moment of grumpiness, Marea repeated that line and said she was going to help me so I didn't have to get up, that she was going to tell daddy.  I felt so grateful!  Now if only it would of worked.  

Laying together

I remember when Marea was a baby thinking, wouldn't it be great if she could just lay on the couch with me in the evenings, and just cuddle and hang out quietly.  Well, those days are finally here.  It's become part of the going to bed routine, cuddle time with mama on the couch.  It usually involves an episode of little bear, which I enjoy...it's a good show.  So together we lay, Marea usually grabbing for a chunk of my hair, me getting to hold her close.  And sometimes there's some interesting conversation in there, too!

The not-so-lazy days of summer

Afternoons at grandma and grandpa's house, swimming in the pool with Jackie and Emily.  Then enjoying a popsicle.  And maybe the occasional Friday night BBQ of ribs.  It's here.  WOOHOO!  This is how we spend many days in the summer.  

Marea and her friends-duck, owl, cat and....baby sunflower

I know i've talked about Marea's Little Bear obsession, but it's just such a big part of our lives, I must mention it again.  She is OBSESSED with Little Bear.  So often I hear her making up games and she's talking with Duck, Owl, Hen, and Cat.  It's amusing to me, and it makes her happy and keeps her busy.  Yesterday, though, she thought up a new game.  We were hanging around in the yard and I found a small dead sunflower.  I picked it up, showed it to her, and threw it down, declaring it done.  But she picked it up, and it bacame 'Baby Sunflower'.  She treated it just like her baby.  Feeding it, putting it down the slide, giving it a ride on the hammock, sitting in on the chair.  It was too cute.  Who needs toys????

Evie can WALK!

So we just returned from a two week vacation in Utah, where we had LOTS of fun.  But I think Evie had the most fun, because while we were there, she took her first steps.   That's right folks, 8  1/2 months and our Miss E is walking.  Gary says she was motivated by his beer.  Which doesn't surprise me, because she's our kid.  She likes to mouth the beer bottles, it must feel good on her gums.  Gary was holding his beer, and she let go of the table she was holding on to and took 4 steps over to him. Grandma Carole, Gary and I were all there to witness it!  I thought it was a fluke, but since then she's been getting more and more brave, taking more and more steps.  And when Grandma Susan saw it, she's declared it a walk.  So it's official!  Evie can walk!  She usually takes a few steps before sitting down and crawling towards her destination.  (For now...i know how quickly this will change, and she'll never crawl again..sniff sniff!) And she is into EVERYTHING! But most importantly, she is SO DARN HAPPY!  She even claps for herself all the time.  (Mostly I think that she's just excited about knowing how to clap, so she does it all the time.  So darn cute!)  And the other latest and greatest Evie accomplishment is a new noise...da da da da!  And of course, the high pitched, 'i'm SOOOO  excited' Evie scream.  Oh and one last thing...she can say 'uh oh' when she drops something.  It doesn't sound exactly like that but she's doing it!  She will intentionally drop something and say 'ah ah'.  She's getting it!  I can't stop her!  She is changing too fast!

All this Evie growing up on us stuff is pretty exciting for Marea, because she now has a playmate.  Evie isn't the perfect playmate yet, because she likes to get into or destroy whatever Marea is doing, but Marea is enjoying her bigger little sister.  The hardest part is making sure Marea knows her limits when interacting with Marea.  She tends to be a little bit too much still.  But it's all starting to come together, and my girls are developing their own little relationship.  Just like everything else i've experienced on this parenting journey...This is going to be Good.  

Speaking of relationships-It was so great to watch Marea and her Grandma Carole out in Utah.  Marea is particularly fond of her, and just enjoys following her around, discussing whatever is going on in nature out there, and having Grandma prepare her snacks or meals.  They seem to have great conversations.  What a beautiful thing.

Other Utah fun....having Jackie and Emily out! It's so funny when the girls all get together and do their 'run in circles and scream and giggle' thing.  It's not a designated activity, and they arn't really interacting, but they are excited to be together and they love it.  Pretty soon it will get one high pitched girly scream louder.  It was so nice to see Jackie and Emily get as excited about the outdoors and nature as Marea does.  They got into watching the wildlife, hiking up to dancing rock, and playing at the sand dunes.  We also had fun at the indoor water park, the community pool, and Gary built them an awesome fort that they just loved.  It's always a little more hectic with additional kids in the mix, but they have so much fun together.  

Marea shocked us by enjoying a great BIG waterslide at the indoor water park!  The first time I took her on it we were both giggling the whole way down.  And then at the end, I forgot to hold her up so she wouldn't go under...but she didn't mind too much, and was game to go again and again.