Birthday Week

Well, around here we like to celebrate Birthday WEEK instead of just birthday DAY. It started with just D & I and we've had great fun over the years celebrating for a whole week, the birthday person would get to choose where we ate for the birthday as well as the meals for the rest of the week. This is C's birthday week, yesterday our baby girl turned THREE! When she was going potty before bed last night I heard her say to D, "I'm not a baby anymore, I'm a girl." That she is. I can hardly believe three whole years have gone by. I will, of course, have MUCH blogging to do but today is going to be a busy day. We're going to see Bob & Larry at a local Bible Bookstore and then we're off to Chuck E. Cheese. (C's choice for her birthday dinner.) I do have to tell you a quick story though, as I sit listening to our big girl crack her dadda up. :) They're playing with her new play-doh and she's hilarious in there. He keeps getting the giggles at their conversation. He told her something just now and she said, "Yep, you're right." As if she was reassuring him...:) While I'm on the topic of things she says she has just started using some phrases on a very consistent basis...they include:
"I know, I know."
"Okaaaaaaaaaaay." (all drawn out and a little blue sounding)
"What's the big idea?"


Anyway, Thursday we went out to eat when my mom got in town and I decided spur of the moment to have them come over and sing for C. They brought her a scoop of ice cream and instead of singing at that restaurant they move the light over so it's shining on her and say, "HEY EVERYONE AT ROADHOUSE! C IS IN THE SPOTLIGHT TONIGHT AND SHE'S TURNING 3!!!!!!! LET'S GIVE HER A BIG YEEHAW!!!!!!!!!!!" And then they do. It was great fun, she smiled, loved her ice cream and umm, I cried! What in the world, I didn't even see it coming...but alllllllllllllllllllllll of a sudden it hit me. She's 3...I just sat there allllll teary thinking about the day we brought her home and holding her and feeling allllllllllllllllllllll blessed that we had had a healthy baby. And I sat there watching her eat her ice cream "All by herself" (which is another frequent phrase these days) and I just got all emotional about it. Tears kept coming, I kept wiping them off and fighting the lump in my throat. I'm telling ya, if we had been in the car I could've had an all-out cry! It's not even that I'm "sad" that she's three...it's just that I can't believe how fast the years have gone...and that I feel so overwhelmingly blessed to have her...and so proud of how much she has learned and done in the last 3 years. It was just a little moment of reflection for me and how much I love her and have loved our times together. We've celebrated everything from her being able to lift her head as a baby to being able to color in the lines (almost)...to learning her letters and sounds and so many more celebrations in between. She amazes us for sure and would regardless of what she can do or say...she's God's gift to us and that alone is amazing.