Lorelai's 3rd Birthday Letter from Mommy

Lorelai,


My sweet girl, it is SO HARD to believe that you are three years old!  Every time that I think that time is moving quickly, it just seems to get faster and faster.  I can honestly say that each year spent with you gets better and better.  Ever year I write that we had an amazing year.  And every year I think the next can't quite possibly be as good.  But it always is!  This year was no exception.  One of my favorite parts about this year was just getting to know you so much better.  You have really become your own little person.  I am absolutely head over heels in love with your personality.  You are soooo incredibly funny.  You keep us in stitches all the time.  You LOVE to make people laugh and you love to laugh right along with them.  


Another thing that I've been struck by this year is how sweet your heart is.  You have really let that shine through this year - but most especially right here in the last couple of months.  You are very caring towards others, attentive, and sweet.  I LOVE that I've been seeing these personality traits come out in you.


You have also become more independent here in the last month or so.  You have really started to do more things on your own.  You'll go play in your room without asking anyone to come keep you occupied, you'll go to the bathroom on your own (as long as a light is on!), you have opinions on  your hair and clothes, etc.  I love seeing you become more comfortable with who you are and to see you as such an independent little girl.


You do have SO MANY different aspects of your personality.  You are funny, sweet, and independent, but you are also strong-willed, silly, caring, stubborn, observant, creative, have a strong imagination and are loving.  I'm surprised almost every day at the things that you notice around you.  You soak up everything that is going on like a little sponge and we never know what little detail you're going to remember later.  You have a memory like an elephant!


You also have a VERY active imagination!  You create crazy stories ALL the time - sometimes even about Mommy and Daddy!  The other day, you told Grammy that, "Mommy hit Daddy in the face!" - which was entirely untrue!  You tell us all the time about things that have happened to you - only for us to find out later that you have made everything up.  I'm glad that you're starting to be so creative, even if it does mean that Mommy has to make sure that people know that EVERYTHING  you say isn't true.  :)


I will tell you this, sweet girl.  Being your mommy is the absolute greatest gift that I have ever been given.  I love you more than I thought that I could ever love another person.  You are my best girl, my mini-me, and my best friend.  This best friend isn't how the world sees it, though.  I'm not here to make you feel good all the time.  To make you happy beyond anything.  I'm here to love you unconditionally, but also teach you how to be a productive member of our world.  I'm here to show you discipline, show you how to love Jesus, and show you how to have boundaries.  But I'm also here to show you how to have fun, how to be silly, how to do "girl things", and how be a lady.  This is how you are my best friend.  


I love you completely to the moon and back.  You are more than I ever could have asked for.  I can not WAIT to see what this next year has in store for us.

I love you, sweet girl.
Mommy

3 Year Doctor's Appointment

We had LL's three year old well-visit on February 6 - just one day after her birthday.  Here are her stats!

Here is some other information about her visit:

• We saw a PA that we had never seen before, and I wasn't crazy impressed.  We also had to wait over an hour past our appointment time before we saw anybody.  Not cool.
• The PA did NOT measure her hemangioma, even though I told her that Dr. Blache did.  This irritated me.  She also seemed to not listen to our concerns about it and how it doesn't seem to be shrinking at all.  She said, "I can see where it used to be and how it has already gotten smaller".....okay....but I really don't take that answer because she's never seen it before!  How does she know it isn't the same size as last year without measuring it?!  
• We did talk the PA into giving us a referral to a dermatologist to have them look at it, but we have since cancelled the appointment.  I've been doing a good bit of research online and I really don't think that they're going to do anything about it there, either.  Her's is purely a cosmetic issue as it isn't hurting her at all, so they're more than likely not going to recommend anything.  And all of the treatments that I read about (laser surgery, laser treatment, shots INSIDE of it, etc) are just not options that we would pick for her.  I'd like for it to go away, but I'm not going to hurt her for that to happen.  I guess we'll give it a few more years.  
• They took her blood just like they did last year.  And, again, her hemoglobin was on the low side of normal.  Again, they said it was related to her milk intake.  Matt and I have talked about it extensively, and we're just not going to worry about it.  We're not going to limit her milk intake more than we are now.  She doesn't drink a crazy amount now and, I'm sorry, if my child wants milk (over juice or anything else "bad"), I'm going to give it to her.  It's not like we're giving her soda.  It's milk.
• When they pricked her finger, LL screamed like a crazy person. She since refers to it as the time when, "The lady cut my finger off".

That was pretty much it for the appointment.  No shots at all!  They did say that her 4 year appointment will be a big one.  They'll prick her finger again AND give her a good amount of shots.  Yay!  Something fun to look forward to!  At least we have a year to prepare - haha.  I am so thankful that we have such a healthy little girl who is growing and developing so well!  We are blessed for sure!

21 Weeks Pregnant!

Baby Growth: This week, Baby C learns a very important lesson: how to have sleep/wake cycles. These cycles will be much like they are when he is born. Right now, his skin is still very translucent. His brain is also beginning another period of rapid growth. His weight gain should slow just a little bit as brain function and heart function become the main thing that his body is focusing on in the next few weeks. He also has a lot of little “details” now – toenails, eyelashes, and eyebrows! He is about 11 inches long right now and *should* weight between 12-13 oz. Ummm….not my little guy. Did you read my post yesterday? He’s huge. He was weighing in at a whopping 1 lb 1 oz yesterday. That’s 4-5 oz OVER what an average baby is right now!

My Symptoms: Oh my lordy – my back is KILLING me. It’s no wonder with him being so big, but it is hurting for sure! If I have to stand up for any length of time, it hurts like a crazy person when I move. Not cool! I also still have the same dumb cold from last week so I have not been feeling well at all. This past weekend was a 4 day weekend for me and I spent most of it (and LL, too!) feeling like crap. It’s not anything specific – just overall feel terrible. Sometimes headache. Stuffy/runny nose. Sometimes a cough. Sometimes body aches. It’s really weird. And miserable. It’s all from this crazy weather! One day it’s 40 and the next day it’s 80! My appetite hasn’t been great this week, but I totally think that’s because I haven’t felt well. My constipation has been better this week. It’s still not back to normal or anything, but I’ve been going more regularly, so that’s helped me feel a lot better. I also feel like my belly has moved UP some?? All of a sudden I can button all of my pants again and my belly sure isn’t getting any smaller. Is it possible that it’s shifted up?


Weight:  I didn't weigh myself this morning, so we'll just have to go by what I weighed in on Monday which was +1.5 lbs.  That puts me at a total of +3 lbs.  


Belly Pictures:  I ended up staying home sick today and slept literally all day.  But before that, I actually got up and got ready and tried to go to work.  Then, I just felt so terrible that I couldn't do it.  It's this dumb crud that I've had for a week.  But I attempted a picture this morning.  It's pretty horrible, but here it is.

Alright - right now I'm officially WAY bigger than I was at this point with LL!

Gender: He’s still a boy!! We made sure to ask them to check at our appointment in Macon on Monday – and he’s FOR SURE a boy! Yay!


Maternity Clothes: Still the same. Mostly regular with a few maternity thrown in here and there.


Movement: He has picked up in this department FOR SURE! He is getting super strong and I can even SEE some of his kicks now. He is a very active baby and even when he’s asleep, I can usually get him to wake up for just a second and give me a kick or two. I think I’m in for some STRONG kicks down the road, especially if he’s going to be so big! I LOVE this part of pregnancy and I really want to remember this feeling for forever!


Sleep: Terrible. Except for the last two nights, every night I’ve been sleeping terribly. I’m ready for my good sleeping to come back for good! We all know I’ll need it before he gets here!


What I Miss: Not feeling bad. I’m sick of this crud that I have. I also miss sleeping good.


What I’m Looking Forward To: We’ve started cleaning out his nursery! We still have a long way to go, but at least we’ve started. I’m excited to start getting some baby stuff in there and to make it look like a nursery. I’ve been nesting like CRAZY, so I’m ready to get in there and make it cute! I’m also looking forward to the next 3-4 weeks. We are SUPER busy, but it’s all with really fun stuff, so I’m really looking forward to it. Seriously, we only have ONE free weekend right now between now and April 14, but it’s all way fun stuff! At least if we’re busy, it’ll be stuff we enjoy!


Cravings: Sushi. Gah. It’s so bad. I want some so bad that I’d probably take someone down for it. How am I going to make it another 19 weeks? I’ve also been wanting a glass of milk before bed. And I ALWAYS want a cheeseburger. At almost any given point of the day. But I really want them home-made. Maybe I should put that on the menu this week….


Best Moment of the Week: Hands down our appointment on Monday. Just knowing that he is doing great is just the best news in the world. There’s been some drama on facebook about this whole situation with Baby C and my appointment and me being happy that we got good news, but I am *determined* not to let Satan use that to take the attention away from our good appointment. I am so thankful to have a God that allows me to pray for whatever I wish. There is nothing too small to pray about and I know that if it’s important to me, it is also important to my God. And I’m not going to let anyone try and tell me otherwise. I love the fact that I have a Savior that I can talk to like I talk to my best friend – I can tell him ANYTHING, how I really feel about things, and it doesn’t matter how big or small these things are. And He knows my heart and knows where I’m coming from. That is ALL that matters and I’m keeping my focus on that. If it is going to get misconstrued that my intentions are anything other than that – I can’t control that. My Jesus loves me and cares about my every feeling. Isn’t that what Fathers/Best Friends are for? I know that Matt loves to hear LL talk about anything – no matter how insignificant, silly, or not in agreement with it someone else might be. And my Jesus is no different.


It also really warmed my heart to hear LL talk about her “baby brother”. We’ve been trying to tell her for WEEKS that this baby is a boy, but she’s been pretty insistent that he is a SHE! I think she’s finally starting to grasp that we’re serious that he is a “he” and that we probably won’t change our minds about that – haha. She’s really not into touching my belly much, and that’s okay. She will talk to him and occasionally give him a kiss – so I’m just content with her doing what she’s comfortable with.


My Concerns or Questions: I still have several things to talk to Marie about (that I listed a few weeks ago), but I’ll see her next week so I should be able to cross it off of my list then! I also need to confirm with her that it’ll be fine for me to fly to California over spring break. I’ll be 26/27 weeks, so it shouldn’t be a problem, but I do want to check and make sure. Other than those things – I’m doing pretty good right now!


Goals for the Week: Finish cleaning out the nursery! I also need to call and schedule our 3D/4D ultrasound because we’ll probably get that done within the next month or so. I’d like to get it done before I go to California. Can I have another goal of getting rid of this cold? I’m so over it!

Update on Baby C

If you remember from this post, I told you all about some concerns that we had with Baby C from our 18 week ultrasound.  If you haven't read that post, it's kind of a necessity to know what's going on here.  Yesterday was our big level 2 ultrasound in Macon where we could really see what is going on with Baby C.


We ended up getting there an hour early.  We left town SUPER early to make sure we had enough time, and we ended up getting done with lunch early, too, so we just headed straight there.  We got there about 12:30, but our appointment wasn't until 1:30.  We knew we had to actually get there at 1:00 to fill out paperwork, so we weren't actually there too too early.


They ended up getting us back about 1:15.  They took my blood pressure and weight (at that late in the afternoon AND with all of my clothes/shoes on, it still showed I have only gained 4 lbs!) and actually let me go to the bathroom!  For any pregnant woman who has had to hold her pee for an ultrasound, you know how crazy uncomfortable that can be.


The nurse then took us back to the ultrasound room and they pretty quickly started on the ultrasound.  Everyone there was SO NICE and it just made the process so much more enjoyable.  It's a pretty scary thing to be there in the first place, so it was nice to have such a sweet staff.  


The girl spent about 30 minutes looking around in there at every single part of Baby C.  One of the first things that she asked was if we knew the gender.  I told her that it was a boy, but that we wanted to check and just make sure one more time!  Sure enough, still DEFINITELY a boy.

{Yep - for SURE still a boy!}

She spent a lot of time looking at his entire body.  I mean, she was so detailed with EVERYTHING.  We saw his little feet, all of his organs, his face, and his head.  She especially spent a lot of time on his little hands and they were SO cute.  It was really funny because he kept kicking/punching her wand.  He must not have liked it or thought it was a game because no matter where she moved it, he found it and bonked it.  :)  She also spent a lot of time looking at his heart and each little chamber.  It was so neat to see it so close up and to know that it was working hard.  It was beating away at 147 bpm!

{a foot}

I didn't really ask her a lot of questions while she was working because I knew that she was looking at a lot of really important things.  I just wanted her to be able to focus on what she was doing and I would ask questions to the doctor.  One of the questions that I did ask her was if she knew how big he was.  At 18 weeks, he was 10 oz (when the average size of babies at that age is around 7 oz.)  Are you ready for this?!?!  As of yesterday, he is 1 lb 1 oz!  Do you know how much an average baby is?  About 12/13 oz!  That means he's like 5-6 oz OVER normal!  This baby is HUGE!


I did notice in the ultrasound (because she was labeling things) that the cysts were, in fact, still there.  Matt and I had talked about this at length and knew that the reality was that after only 2.5 weeks, there was a really good chance that they would still be there.  This had really prepared me mentally and I didn't freak out really at all when I saw this.

{an adorable profile with some fingers at the top}

After she was done, she took us to another room to wait for Dr. Boddy.  (Isn't that creepy?  It reminds me of Clue.  Dr. Boddy, in the library, with the candlestick - haha).  Anyway, he came in and was SUPER nice.  Immediately, he said, "I'm  just going to tell you first thing - there's nothing wrong with your baby".  Let me tell you - that was an awesome thing to hear.


He explained these cysts in detail to us.  Basically, they develop deep down in the middle of the brain where the brain creates spinal fluid.  It's responsible for creating it and holding it there until it's needed.  Any part of your body that creates/secretes fluid is susceptible to cysts.  Skin (pimples are really cysts of your sweat glands), breasts, pancreas, etc.  This part of the body is no different.  

{another shot of his feet}

Then, he started talking to us about Trisomy 18 .  This is one of the major concerns with Choriod Plexus Cysts.  Basically, he said that all babies with Trisomy 18 (it's a VERY devastating version of Trisomy) have these cysts, but not all babies with these cysts have Trisomy 18.  He talked about all of the physical characteristics of Trisomy 18 that they look for in the ultrasound.  Baby C had  NONE of these characteristics!  He said that he has NEVER missed a diagnosis of Trisomy 18 in all of the years that he's been working.  


At Southern OB, they told us that Dr. Boddy would look for Downs Syndrome and Trisomy 18, but they put the heavy emphasis on DS.  When I asked him about Downs, he looked at me and said, "What about it?  Why are you worried about that?"  I told him that that is what my doctor said was a concern when they see these cysts.  He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "No - your baby does not have Downs".  He then went on to explain that about 5 years ago, they thought their might be an association between babies that had these cysts and babies who have Downs Syndrome.  He explained that since then, they've really not linked the two like they originally thought in the past.  Trisomy 18 was the real concern here.  He did say that the ultrasound showed absolutely no indication that Baby C had DS and that, in the past 5 years, he's only missed one case of DS.  And that in that five years, he's seen 25,000 patients. 

{Another cute profile.  He has a Mullican nose - for sure!}

Then he went on to mention Baby C's size.  Oh boy.  I told him that I was really confused as to how he was so big when I've only gained about 3 lbs (as of this morning)!  He said that babies will get what they need and that he's doing just fine (obviously).  He said that this happens sometimes where the mother doesn't gain much (or quickly - whichever) but the baby will still be big.  He said that my dry weight (what I would weigh right now if I wasn't pregnant) is probably much less than it was when I started.  He said that if I've gained 3 lbs and you take off Baby C, all of the extra blood, the amniotic fluid, the placenta, etc, that it all would equal way more than 3 lbs right now.  Matt asked him if he had any guesses as to how big Baby C will be at birth.  He said that it's hard to tell this early, but that if he had to guess, he'd guess between 9-10 lbs.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  Are you kidding me???  That's HUGE!!!!  I'm gonna need an epidural with this one, for sure!  ;)


All in all, we left with WONDERFUL news.  Baby C looks GREAT.  Huge, but great!  He's healthy, everything in there looks good, and we don't need to worry about anything chromosomal going on.  Honestly, with the exception of going and there being no cysts in there, this is the best news that we could have gotten.  


Thank you SO MUCH for all of your prayers for Baby C!  We definitely felt them and needed them!  Now, if you'd like to start praying that he's not the size of a toddler at birth, that might be helpful, too.  ;)

Gender Guess/Giveaway Winner!

Thank you so much to everyone who played along with our gender pool!!  I thought it was fun to see your guesses and to see who ended up being right!  No one voted after our "reveal day", so I didn't have to take anyone out - which is good!


There were 23 votes total - 8 votes for girl and 15 votes for a boy!  I took out all of the votes for a girl (and Matt's vote - haha.  I didn't think it'd be fair if he won my giveaway) and let random.org do the rest!

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:6Powered by RANDOM.ORG

The winner is Katherine Brown!  You have a choice of either a $20 gift card to target, OR a $20 gift certificate to Lorelai's Closet towards anything you want - including a custom outfit!  I'll be emailing you soon to let you know what to do depending on what you pick.  Congrats!


I'll be doing some more giveaways closer to when the baby is born.  One for the best guess for day/time/pounds/length, etc.  And one to give you a chance to guess Baby C's name (including hints to help you!).  


Thanks so much for playing everyone!

Gender Announcement

The whole reason that we kept our ultrasound a secret is because we wanted to surprise everyone after the fact.  We talked about doing it at LL's birthday party, but to be honest, I was a little hesitant at first.  I wanted to do it at a time when all of our friends and family were gathered together (and - duh - her party was pretty much our only chance for that), but I really didn't want to take away from her day at all.  I mean, this was her birthday, everyone was there to celebrate her, and I didn't want to take that away from her.  


After lots of talking, Matt and I finally came up with a plan that we thought would work out fine.  We decided to blow up a blue balloon with helium and wrap it up as one of her presents.  Then, at the end of the party (after she had already gotten all of the attention on her for most of the time!) we'd have her open her present.  Since it was filled with helium, when she opened it, it would just float out and surprise everyone.  


We decided to go ahead and tell my sister our plan because we knew that we would want someone to video tape the whole thing.  So she totally knew everything (even about the upcoming ultrasound) weeks in advance.  :)


It all turned out completely perfect!  Here are some pics and the video from our announcement:

20 Weeks Pregnant!

Woah! Halfway there! To tell you that this pregnancy is flying by would be a gross understatement!

Baby Growth: Baby C is about 10 inches long from his head to his feet (a new way to measure! No more rump measurements!) which is about the length of a carrot or banana. He also should weigh about 10.5 oz, but considering that he weighed 10 oz at my ultrasound 2 weeks ago, he’s probably more than this by now! He’s been able to hiccup for about 4 weeks now, but it’s becoming more common and I may even start to feel it soon. Right now, Baby C is averaging about 18 hours per day of sleep and 6 hours per day of awake time.

This picture still measures crown to rump - which is why the length is different than what I posted above.  

My Symptoms: My energy is about the same as last week. I’m not going to bed at 7 or anything, but I’m usually in bed between 9 and 10 and I’m asleep not too shortly after that. I did not get any new bras last weekend, so it is still on my to-do list for sure. And while I’m not leaking or anything, I have noticed that I’ve started to produce coloustrum (sp??). Not much, but it’s there. This week my appetite has picked up like CRAZY. I literally feel hungry for a good portion of the day. My constipation has also been TERRIBLE this week. I hate it. It’s totally getting worse. I really need to still google if it’s okay to take a stool softener and if that’ll even help.

I’ve also been dealing with some random cold/allergy mess? I don’t feel terrible, but my throat is hurting a little (not bad) and I’ve got a random cough. My nose has also been so stopped up at night. I’m chalking it up to the crazy weather we’re having and hoping that it’ll clear up soon.

Weight: Not bad. I’ve gained another half a pound. But considering that I’m STILL dealing with constipation (and probably will for the duration), I figured that I might as well start factoring that in with my weight. All of my pregnancy stuff says that I should have gained between 8-12 lbs right now, so considering that I’m sitting at a whopping 1.5lb weight gain, I don’t think that’s too bad.

Belly Pictures:

Gender: It’s a boy! As silly as it sounds, we’re going to have our tech check again to make sure at our level 2 ultrasound next week. Matt and I both left my ultrasound 2 weeks ago not feeling like this is 100% a boy. There were just a few shots that really looked like girl to us. So we’re going to ask her to look just to make sure.


Maternity Clothes: Same still. Mostly regular clothes with some maternity thrown in. Is it crazy that I’m back to being able to button my regular pants? For awhile there I was using a hair tie, but I think my belly has shifted upwards some and now I can button them again!


Movement: It is getting so much stronger! I’m able to feel about ½ of the movements outside of my belly now! Matt has even felt him move a couple of times and I’m totally loving it. Baby C is also starting to become very active. This is my absolute favorite part of pregnancy and I’m enjoying every minute of it!


Sleep: Well, after two weeks of awesome, it’s gone back to pretty bad. I’m not sleeping terrible, but I’m for sure not sleeping well. I’m also having to get up to pee in the middle of the night again (well, usually about 3 am) and then it seems like it takes me forever to fall back asleep. Totally not cool.


What I Miss: I’m still doing pretty well in this area! Loving this stage of pregnancy for sure!


What I’m Looking Forward To: A long weekend this weekend! Especially, a long weekend with not a lot of plans. I have Friday and Monday off for a “Winter Break”. We also have my level 2 ultrasound on Monday. While I’m a tad nervous about it, I’m also mega excited to get to see our little guy again.


Cravings: SUSHI!! Like a crazy person!! It is driving me INSANE! And, no, I haven’t had any at all. Even the cooked kind.


Best Moment of the Week: Matt getting to feel Baby C kicking. He’s been looking forward to it so much and I’m excited that he finally can feel it. I also had a sweet moment with LL Monday night. We always pray with her right before bed. We pray, and then she prays. Lately, her prayers have been mega short, “Thank you for this day, I love you, Amen”. We just kind of have left it alone and known that she would go back to praying a little longer and more normal (haha) eventually. We’ve never gotten onto her about it because we never want to discipline her concerning her prayer life. We def don’t want a negative association with it, for sure! Well, Monday night she held me really tight and prayed for forever. She just spent a long time thanking God for EVERYTHING! I loved it. And the baby was on the list, so that really warmed my heart. Speaking of LL, she has been SO SWEET this entire week. Like, her normal sweetness times about 50. She has been such a pleasant girl at home, and so loving and kind. I have been soaking up every single minute of it!


My Concerns or Questions: Anxious for my ultrasound next week to see if we’ll (hopefully) get some more answers. I haven’t heard anything from Southern OB about my bloodwork (which is a good thing! They only call if something is wrong!) so I’m assuming that that is one more great sign that Baby C is going to be perfectly fine! It would be wonderful if his cysts were gone by our appointment on Monday! And I STILL have to talk to Marie about the other things I’ve had on my list for forever. I see her at the beginning of March, so I’ll have a TON to talk to her about then, I’m sure.


Goals for the Week: Start cleaning out the office/nursery! I spent allllll last weekend cleaning house like a crazy person, so now I’m ready to tackle that room! Nesting has hit FOR SURE!

Lorelai's 3rd Birthday: A Day All About Her!

It was no joke that the day of LL's party was CUH-RAY-ZEE.  We were all running around like chickens and we barely got to spend any time with anyone - let alone LL.


Her actual birthday fell on a Sunday and this poses a little bit of a predicament for us.  Between church, getting home for lunch, and nap, we don't get to see a lot of LL on Sundays.  Before church we're busy trying to get ready, and by the time she wakes up from nap, we only have an hour or two before we're trying to do dinner and stuff.  This was NOT how I wanted to spend her birthday.  I wanted us to spend her birthday with HER!  Celebrating her and doing all the things she loves to do!  So we did something that we've seriously never done (unless we're out of town).....we skipped church.  When Matt was working as a minister, obviously this was never even an option.  When he started working for Aflac, we joined Crosspointe pretty shortly after and have loved going that we've never missed (again - except for being out of town).  Although it felt pretty weird - we had the BEST day and I'm so happy that we spent the entire day together!


Here's what we did to celebrate:


First up on the agenda?  Going to the doughnut store!  LL LOVES doughnuts (and usually gets one at church on Sundays anyway - haha), so we went by Daylight Doughnuts and let her pick any one that she wanted.  She wanted one with sprinkles, but they were all out (??) so she settled for some holes.  I even asked her if she wanted to splurge and get chocolate milk, but she said "No - just white milk".  So funny!

After breakfast, we called to let Laura, Gino and Ben know that we were headed to the park if they wanted to come.  LL could spend all day at the park if we let her, so I knew she would be so happy.  And best of all - there was no one at the park!  It was soo empty.  I guess that's normal for a Sunday morning?  Let me also mention - LL completely picked out her outfit and hairstyle all on her own.  This day really was all about her.  :)

She had a blast at the park and even learned to climb the rock wall all by herself!  I took some videos, but I have to explain something funny about this first one.  I videoed her and then kept the camera rolling to get Ben.  When you hear me start freaking out and the camera goes crazy - I looked up and LL was at the top of the BIGGEST slide there swinging like a monkey!  Totally dangerous and totally not okay!  So that's why I act like a crazy person for a little bit.  :)

After the park, we headed to PetsMart.  One of her gifts from me and Matt was a 2 gallon fish tank for her room.  We bought the tank, but wanted to let her pick out the fish.  We said absolutely nothing about which fish she should pick and let her do it completely on her own.  We ended up with an orange gold fish (that she named Marlin) and a black goldfish (that she named Nemo).  She picked them out and named them completely on her own!

After picking out the fish, we headed home for lunch and nap.  After nap, she picked out another outfit and another hairstyle and we headed out to dinner.  We met Grammy, Pop, Oma, Opa, and Ben at The Wooden Nickel for dinner.  As a treat, Matt took her to play TONS of games (which we normally wouldn't do).  After dinner we headed over to Brusters for some ice cream.  

It was a WONDERFUL day and we had so much fun celebrating out little girl!

LL's 3rd Birthday: The Party

Lorelai's party started at 10:30 in the morning.  I had my kids sale that night (yes - I planned her party around the kids sale) so morning time was really the only time that worked.  I was a little nervous as I've never had one of her parties in the morning before - but it really turned out great!  Everyone was gone just in time for her to settle down a little and then she was EXHAUSTED for her nap.  


There was a really great turn-out for her party.  Out of everyone that was invited - I think there were only 3 families that didn't come.  Not bad!  We really did have a WONDERFUL time and I want to take some time to thank everyone who came!  LL STILL talks about her party and how much fun it was and it makes me so happy to see so many people we love celebrating our little girl.  


Here are some a lot of pics from the party!  Thanks again to Gino who took AH-MAZING pictures for me so that I didn't have to, and to Emily to managed to snap some with both a toddler and a baby to look after!

While all of the adults scrambled around Saturday morning to get everything finished for the party - LL and Ben chilled on the couch and watched a movie.  :)

Here's her party outfit!  Grammy and I brainstormed together to create our own outfit.  NOTHING I found online would work.  Either it wasn't very cute - or I knew there was no way that LL would wear it.  I'm SO HAPPY with how the finished product turned out!

Taking a 5 minute break for the first time all day.

Party time!

I was so happy that Ashley and Preston came!

Kye was super chill - as always.

Coley was the ONLY other girl at the party that was LL's age.  I can't wait until Brittlynn is old enough to play so that LL will have another girlfriend! (ALL of LL's friends are boys!)  I loved that Coley wanted to dress up, too, and she looked so cute!

These two girls have so much fun together!

The party favors were a hit!

Singing to the birthday girl.  She LOVED it!

Present time!

This was the ONLY family picture that we got that day!  LL was not  in the mood for a picture before the party started.  Luckily, Emily snapped this one for us.  She's not smiling, but at least she's looking!

As guests started to leave we headed outside where there was a lot of chalk set up.  The kids enjoyed drawing with that and running around to burn some of that sugar off!

The party was SUCH a hit!  After everyone left, we put LL down for a nap, and I truly realized how exhausted I was.  Matt fixed me a plate of food, and I totally zoned out in this chair for awhile.  Enjoying the balloons, of course.  :)  

It was a WONDERFUL day and I'm so happy that LL enjoyed it so much!  She had a blast and really understood everything that was going on!  Hopefully I can think of something before next year to top this party.  :)