{Tea Party}

This weekend we celebrated Miss O's birthday with a tea party!  We had some lovely friends and family come to our home to play, decorate sugar cookies (yum!) and watch O open her birthday gifts.  There were 5 precious little girls dressed up in tutu's and one very handsome little boy in a tie that came to make Miss O's birthday bash one to remember!

The table was set with a random assortment of tea cups I found at Goodwill, plus a few special tea cups my grandma, Nanny as I call her, had collected over her 90 years.  The tea set in the middle was my mom's when she was a little girl.  It was in remarkably good shape, aside from one saucer that my mom broke many, many years ago, that Nanny glued back together.

The candy buffet was so much fun to put together and included:  candy canes, jelly bellies, chocolate nonpareils, cotton candy, gummy alphabet letters, rock candy, and pop rocks!  Each party guest got to take home a bag of their choice of candy from the buffet.  By the end of the party, I know my mommy friends were thrilled to get to take home just a little more sugar for their little one!

The best part was watching all the little girls decorate their sugar cookies.  The tea cups on the table were filled with different colored sprinkles and we used squeeze bottles filled with royal icing to squeeze the icing onto the cookies.  The kids did a GREAT job with this!  And, of course, after each cookie was decorated, it was immediately eaten!  

The cake turned out better than I could have imagined!  I emailed a picture of what I wanted to Patty Cakes in Highland and this is what she came up with.  So cute!  A special thanks to my sister for transporting this work of art all the way from Highland to Lee's Summit!  And, for the record, this cake tasted as good as it looked!  Miss O wanted red cake, so inside all this yummy blue icing is a delicious red velvet cake.  I was somewhat surprised, but even after eating all those cookies and icing, everyone still wanted a piece of cake (thank goodness)!

I have always been a big fan of birthdays.  My mom always knew how to do birthdays up right!  I hope I can carry on this tradition with my own kids, making each birthday special, celebrating their lives, and just making a big deal out of the day they were born.  After all, my children are my greatest gift - why not let them know that?

{A Letter to My Baby}

Dear Miss O,

I am so excited to celebrate your birthday with you.  I just can't believe that you're 3 years old already!  Birthdays will always be a big deal around here. Your birthday is a very special day.  It is the day God blessed us with you.  There’s nothing better than celebrating the day someone you love so much entered your life.  I remember the day you were born just like it was yesterday – I think every mommy has their child’s birthday forever etched in her mind.  You were a dream of mine for a long time, and the day you came into the world was one of the happiest of my life.  You have taught me so much about the kind of person I am and the kind of mommy I want to be.  You have filled our home with so much laughter and fun.  I am so thankful for you!

 

The Divine Miss O's Birthday - 12.16.08

This year brought about some big changes for our whole family.  Your baby sister was born and that was a big adjustment for all of us, but you did such a great job.  You were so patient with Mommy as I learned how to juggle the responsibilities of two precious babies.  You were so wonderful about playing by yourself when I couldn't give you all my attention and you have always been so very gentle with B.  It warms my heart to see you stroke her hair, or hear you sing her a song.  She loves you so much and looks up to you already.  You're a great example for her to follow.  You're already a wonderful big sister!

Miss O's 2 year pictures by Captivated Photography 04.01.11

I know most parents think their children are smart, but seriously, you are extraordinary!  Your memory boggles my mind sometimes!  You are working on reading simple sight words, and you're great with patterns.  You LOVE jigsaw puzzles.  Seriously.  You ask daddy and me to play puzzles with you at least 10 times a day.  You're so good at them, in fact, that you sometimes pretend not to know where the pieces go, just to see if we're paying attention.  Your vocabulary is growing daily.  I feel like you are just like a little sponge, absorbing everything you see and hear.  It's fantastic!  It's a little scary and kind of exciting to see how proficient you are with the iPad - technology will be a big part of your education.  Colors, numbers, shapes, and the alphabet are no problem for you.  You were able to identify and tell me all the letters of the alphabet by the time you were 18 months old!  You used to tell me when you saw every stop sign - "oppy-gon (octagon), stop!”  I know it's silly, but I get a little sad when you learn how to say those cute little "-isms" the correct way.  'Oppy-gon' tuned into octagon, 'ubble-do' turned into W, 'cuggle' turned into cuddle, and 'granuja' turned into granola.  It makes me smile, just thinking about your sweet little voice saying those silly words over and over again.

'Nina' and Miss O practicing writing their letters on the iPad - 10.22.11

Your daddy and I are so proud of the lovely little girl you are becoming.  It has been so fun to see how much you have changed and how much you have learned over the past year.  I can't wait to see what this next year has in store for you as you begin preschool, adjust to your big girl bed, and master the whole potty thing (which you are rockin’ at right now, by the way – and mommy couldn’t be happier – keep up the good work!!).   

Miss O & Baby B at Bass Pro Shop after seeing Santa! - 12.15.11

The day you were born was the day my heart forever started walking outside my body.  You are nothing short of a miracle, and you are so loved!   

Happy Birthday, Baby! 

Love,

Mommy

{Half a Year}

So, my sweet Baby B is 6 months old.  That means she has blessed our lives for half a year.  I know mommies say this all the time, but really, where did that time go?
On one hand, I find it mind boggling that 6 whole months have passed.  She has gone from a tiny, delicate newborn to a sitting, rolling, squealing, laughing, grabbing, wiggling, ball of energy!
On the other hand, it seems as if she has always been here.  She completes our family and it's hard to remember what life was like without her.

Here's what B has been working on this month:

-at her 6 month well-baby check she weighed 14lbs 15oz, and was 26" long

-she is still grabbing hair and earrings with great precision

-she LOVES her jumperoo

-nothing makes B giggle like listening to her big sister sing (so cute!)

-because of a few issues, we postponed feeding her rice cereal or oatmeal - instead, she got to start eating fruits & veggies

-she LOVES pears!

-B is constantly jabbering and imitating sounds she hears

-she turns her head to sounds and voices 

  

{Snuggle Wagon}

This weekend we had visitors.
Josh's parents, Nina and Grandpa, came to stay with us for a few days.  (Both my mom and Josh's mom wanted to be called Nana, but Miss O somehow morphed that into "Nina" over the years and it stuck!).  When Josh's parents come to visit, it almost always involves working to finish the basement.  We have outgrown our house much faster than we anticipated, so there has been much work going on over the past year or so to finish the basement to give us more room (slow and steady wins the race, right?).
Well, this weekend was quite to the contrary.  We relaxed and played at home, mostly because both little monsters were running fevers, and poor Baby B was so congested she could hardly breathe!  It was a nice change of pace, to be able to spend time with Nina and Grandpa without feeling like there was work to be done on the house.
Nina even brought a turkey and my favorite party potatoes (look for the how-to under the "recipes" tab!) for dinner, since we're not sure we're going to be traveling home for Thanksgiving.  It was very thoughtful, and quite yummy!
Since Miss O wasn't feeling quite herself, she and Nina decided to put together a little bed in her wagon (yes, we have a wagon in our living room).  They piled pillows from the couch into the bottom of the wagon and gave her a big comfy pillow for a backrest.  She laid in the wagon with her blanket and baby and read books, watched Toy Story, and just relaxed.  It was the cutest thing!  When I asked her if she wanted to cuddle on the couch with mommy she answered, "No, thank you.  I'm in my snuggle wagon".  How adorable is that?

{5 Months}

My baby is growing so fast!  B turned 5 months on October 24th.  I know, I know, that was a few weeks ago, but I'm still going to post a few photos for your viewing pleasure. 

Here she is!

Here's what B has been working on this month:

• she sleeps throught the night!
• she makes all kinds of sounds; gurgles, sputters, coos
• she giggles and laughs!
• she is very attached to her mommy
• everything she touches goes straight to her mouth
• she is very alert and inquisitive when she's awake
• she recognizes herself in a mirror
• she sits with support for longer periods of time
• she rolls over and moves in all directions
• she grasps toys (and hair) with great aim



{Trick-or-Treat}

Halloween was a lot of fun this year! 
It was the first time The Divine Miss O was really able to go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood and understand what was happening. 

She wasn't really into carving pumpkins, so Daddy and I ended up doing that.  She sat in her chair for a while and made scrunchy faces at the pumpkin guts as we scooped them out and dropped them onto the table.  She told us it smelled funny and even gagged a few times (which, I thought was pretty funny!  She has an extremely sensitve gag reflex and does this quite often at the smell or texture of foods she's not very fond of).  She ended up playing with Buzz and Woody, reading books, and entertaining Baby B for the majority of the pumpkin carving experience.



Lately, Miss O has been very uncooperative when it comes to getting her photograph taken.  She always has a sad, pouty face, or she's crying when I want to get a good photo.  This evening was no exception.  She wanted nothing to do with mommy taking her picture with the pumpkins.

Baby B was much happier to humor mommy and even smiled for a photo with the jack-o-lanterns!

On Halloween evening, we had to wait for Josh to get home from basketball practice before we could go trick-or-treating, so we got a bit of a late start.  We got both girls all dressed up, and again, Miss O was averse to having her picture taken.  Go figure! 

We got off to a rough start - there was some throwing of things, some tears, and a time-out - and that was before we even rang one single door bell!  But, once we got going and she started to understand what this trick-or-treat thing was all about, she had a change of heart.  She quickly became very adept at saying "trick-or-treat" in her adorable high-pitched voice and everyone thought she was the cutest Jessie the Cowgirl they'd ever seen!  Baby B was also dressed as Jessie in her little onesie and stocking cap.  B is so easy going, she was just along for the ride that night, taking everything in. 

My parents, Nina and Papa, were visiting and I think they had just as much fun as the kiddos did!  My mom pulled Miss O in the wagon, and my dad carried Baby B around.  The weather was so nice, we ended up sitting out on our driveway handing out candy to the swarm of trick-or-treaters at our house when we were all done.  All in all, it was a good day.  Lots of fun, lots of candy, lots of memories.