Happy 3rd Birthday!

Happy 3rd birthday, to my sweet littlest girl, Kenzie! She is a lovely, funny, caring little soul that brightens our days -- of course, I am her mother, I may be biased, but I don't think so... :) We have been having almost a week-long celebration of her birth this year -- a party last Sunday (which I'll tell you about in further detail later), a very exciting big gift from Mommy & Daddy that she has been enjoying (as have we) all week, a fun day yesterday with a trip to the zoo (thanks, Kristin for inviting us!) and a trip to the movies ("Up" -- great movie, she sat contentedly and watched the whole thing!), another special day today, and then celebrating with Grandpa and Gramby on Sunday -- Gramby & Kenzie share the same birthday!

Three has become a "rite of passage" for our girls -- when our first daughter turned 3, we bought her a "big girl bed" and celebrated with a fun pajama party themed birthday party (you know me and a theme!). The kids that came to the party dressed in their pj's and I had our favorite bakery create a cake that looked like a bed -- throw pillow and everything -- too cute! (If my scanner was not broken, I would share a picture -- maybe some other time!) So, in keeping with this tradition, this week we said goodbye to the crib, and hello to a big girl bed for our little one. She has adjusted to it amazingly well! I've been home on vacation this week, and I've been able to get her used to napping in the bed and not the crib -- thrilled about that! We have a baby gate up in her doorway, so that she cannot get up and walk around the house at night -- that's a scary adjustment for parents -- your child who has been in a crib is now able to get out of bed and wander around on their own -- yikes! This at least still keeps her in a safe place -- not going down the stairs in the dark or anything like that! Of course, she still has gotten out of bed a couple of times after we've tucked her in -- the other night I checked on her before I went to bed, and found books, a music box, and a pair of her sunglasses in bed with her -- no idea what type of party she and her stuffed animals had planned! And then the next night, my husband went in to say goodnight after I had tucked her in, and he said he needed to find something else to put her in for pj's -- apparently she didn't want to wear what I put her in, and so she took her clothes off! Very independent, that one... But all in all, it's been a fun adventure for her and we are so proud of her for transitioning so well, so quickly!

So happy birthday to my Sweet Mackenzie -- you've only been with us for 3 years, but I truly can't imagine life without you -- I'm so blessed to have you in my life! Love always, Mommy