(Princess) Audrey's Third Birthday

Last Wednesday Audrey turned three years old...going on thirty three, no doubt.  Her maturity and intelligence astound me.  She's also beautiful, stubborn, bossy, funny, and silly.  Dancing, singing, and reading are still her favorite past times and she loves taking care of her baby dolls and her baby brother.

I see myself in her personality more every day, which is one reason I think this has been a tough year for she and I.  On top of normal terrible twos and the stress of adding a baby, we also have a tendency to butt heads because our personalities are so similar.  We get impatient and frustrated with each other and nearly daily I have to remind her who is the mommy in our relationship.  But the flip side of that is that no one gets her like I do and along with that comes a fierce love that I have no doubt will continue to get us through the rough, who-is-more-obstinant patches.  

She is also very much her own person, of course.  Her heart is so tender that it can hardly bear to read stories where someone gets hurt.  When she says bedtime prayers, she always wants to pray for someone who has a boo-boo.  She loves rules and routine.  She is learning to be a great hostess and share things and rarely turns on the shyness anymore, especially around adults.  Her manners have really taken root and I can already tell that she has a very deep sense of right and wrong and fairness.  

As you can tell, I really couldn't be more proud of the sweet little girl she's turning into. :)

So what did we do to celebrate our little lady?  Well, on her actual birthday, I cooked her chocolate chip pancakes, she watched her current favorite show Doc McStuffins, we went to get a few things for her party and she got to pick out a balloon (two, actually, because the first went on a trip to Jupiter) and then we had her third swim lesson.  For dinner, she chose pizza as her birthday meal and followed it up with a chocolate chip cookie cake and presents (a marble race obstacle thingy, three Berenstain Bear books, and a Going Fishing game.)  It was a sweet, fun day full of small gestures and simple pleasures.

On Saturday we threw her quite the royal birthday bash.  The theme was princess and she and her little friends all dressed the part (except for Luke and her boy cousins Carson and James - poor guys were the odd men out!)  She came downstairs decked out in a long pink dress-up princess gown and everyone gushed over how gorgeous she looked.  When the other little girls arrived and walked up the royal pink carpet, we decorated foam tiaras and let them color on the giant cardboard castle that we'd set up.  Her picture slideshow ran in the background and we ate lunch (crown-shaped sandwiches, chips, and fruit wands for the kids; a sub platter, fruit, chips, and potato salad for the adults) and then I asked her whether she wanted to do cake or presents first.  Being a girl after my own heart, she chose cake.  My sister-in-law Jenny had made her the most beautiful crown-shaped cake with Audrey's name written on it.  It was a masterpiece that we almost hated to cut up!  Everyone gathered around and sang to her as she soaked it all in.  We blew out the candles as a family (she insisted she needed help) and then enjoyed cake and ice cream.  After we ate, she opened up presents fit for a princess: Craft kits, clothes, a magazine subscription, a cabbage patch doll, a hot wheels track, zoo tickets, an interactive map, a purse, money, and princess stuff galore - puzzles, a beach towel, bounce ball, and more craft activities.  She played with a few things and then thanked people for coming and helped hand out their favors (a princess-themed book and a sucker for each kid, bag of princess-molded cookies for each family).  She napped well and we spent the rest of the day breaking down decorations, cleaning up, and playing with her new toys.  It was another wonderful, memory-making bash full of our favorite people and celebrating my favorite girl.  

Happy Third Birthday, Sugar.  You are an amazing gift from God that has already taught me way more than I could ever teach you.  You are beautiful, kind, special, and smart and I continue to pray God's blessings over your life.  I love you more than you'll ever, ever know.

Thankful Thursday

I wish I had time to write an update about our recent trip, but I just can't swing it tonight.  I did finish editing and posting pictures from the week (which is one reason I can't swing it - stayed up too late working on those last night!) and they're in the gallery.  Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend to write a few memories down before they've all disappeared from my scrambled brain.


Here is this week's TT list:


1.  Good results for a family member's medical tests.  Not 100% ideal, but definitely benign, which is a huge praise.


2.  My dad, father-in-law, brothers, grandfather, grandfather-in-law, uncles-in-law, and especially David, who are all amazing, wonderful dads.  Happy Father's Day to all of you!


3.  Luke's little sighs of satisfaction.  After he's been fussing, I'll pick him up and 9 times out of 10, he immediately stops crying and lets out this little sigh that says, "Ahhh.  Mommy's got me.  All is right with the world after all."  I know I won't be able to fix things that easily for him forever, but I'll take it while I can. 


4.  Chocolate milk.  It's a rarity that I allow myself any because I see it as such a waste of calories, but man is it goooooood. 


5.  New magazines in the mail.  Even if I haven't had the time to read last month's yet.  




Please be in prayer for my grandfather.  He is really not doing well and, since he's out of state and not the most forth-coming about things, we're not getting a whole lot of answers.  

May Recap

I'm a little behind, but here is a quick recap of the month of May:


We listed our house, my dad got married, we ran (mostly) a 5K, we endured a terrible virus that hit all of us, and we celebrated Mother's Day and David's birthday.  In other words, we were bored to tears.  :)


As for the kids:  Luke is doing fantastic and becoming more and more interactive everyday.  His sweet coos are music to my ears and his big dimpled smiles light up a room.  His eating and sleeping schedule is like clockwork, which, as you can imagine, I love.  I'm still looking forward to him dropping a daytime nap and those nighttime feedings, but we'll get there.  He's eating six times a day and twice at night (once around 1:30am and again around 4:30am).  We'll be starting rice cereal or oatmeal in the next couple of weeks, which everyone over the age of forty swears by for lengthening night sleeping, but it didn't effect Audrey a bit.  Fingers crossed, though.  Maybe it'll at least help with his reflux, which is still going strong but is having NO effect on his weight gain.  He wears six months clothes and I'm guessing he's around 16 lbs now.  His rolls are getting rolls. :)


Audrey is doing great as well.  The last six months or so have been a bit trying with her behavior-wise.  I know anyone who knows her well and reads that just laughed out loud, as she really is a wonderfully behaved and super-sweet girl, but the whining and pouting and general "I'm-two-and-have-a-'tude" have worn on us for awhile now.  We tried the smiley face/frownie face dots reward system and that worked for awhile, but it began to lose its luster.  So, about three weeks ago, I decided she needed two things: more quality time with us and more spankings.  Now before you call DFCS, please understand that the child had only received about five or six her entire life.  And let me tell you, two days and a mere three spankings later, she really turned a corner.  She's still a toddler and we still expect defiance, whining, and fits.  They just don't happen nearly as often or are as bad.  And, obviously, the one on one time I've been trying hard to carve out and spend with her has helped as well.  I so enjoy her company.  


Potty training-wise she's doing great.  Sleep-wise, we've had some regression, as we always do for about a month after she's been sick.  Learning-wise, the kid continues to knock our socks off.  Her vocabulary, imagination, and critical thinking skills are astounding.  


I didn't do as well this month about keeping track of her funny little quotes, but will try better for June.  Check the gallery for pictures and check back here soon for a post about our recent beach trip.  


Coming up next month:  Turning three/birthday party, swim lessons, and God willing, at least the start of a move!