3 Year Doc Visit

She’s been stepping on the standing scale for a little while now, but this was her first time to be measured FOR REAL, as in no more annoying paper measurements on the table. Dr. Berkowitz says that’s 100% why she jumped from being 95% for height to like 60%. I have her stat sheet SOMEWHERE…hmmm…that update will have to wait for another day. She’s up from nap now! Agh!

As always, I left the appointment feeling great about B’s development and growth. Plus, Dr. B always makes me feel better about her eating habits. He also assured me that she wasn’t having too much milk, and that I could even bump up her take to 16-24oz per day. Wahoo!

We always have a developmental questionnaire to complete which is my favorite part of the visit. There are questions for B with labeling of pictures (what is that? what sound does it make? can you find the cat?), and mostly questions for me (can people who aren’t around her normally understand more than 50% of what she says), with some action questions (lay this paper on the floor – can your child two-foot jump over it lengthwise? turn it widthwise and same question). It tells you to stop answering questions after you’ve gotten 3 “no’s”, and that if something hasn’t been attempted yet (as in, attempted to put on her own pants/shirt) to answer “no”. Well friends, this was our first time to answer YES to EVERYTHING. Both sides of the page! Wahoo!Proud Mommy moment . Hahaha. Of course, I expected gasps of amazement from the entire staff and multiple gold stars, possibly a parade in our honor. Hmmm…no such reaction, but Dr. B did say she was right on track, developmentally, and about 4-6 months ahead. Thank you, pre-school!

Our First Birthday Interview

I’m so happy I kept my promise to myself and followed through with Bridget’s 1st birthday interview on her big day. It’s an adorable tradition to begin at age 3 (now that she’s ready to really answer questions) and I can’t wait to look back on this moment years from now and smile (well, cry…let’s be real!). Jonathan and I are already getting a kick out of watching it and its only been 2 weeks!

It’s a two parter because one of my question incited a bail on Bridget’s part…you’ll see why. But we resumed with a quick wrap-up in part 2 of the interview.

Part 1:

 

Part 2 (the finale!):

 

I nabbed my question ideas from some other blogs + ideas of my own. Great tradition to start! Thanks, Jill and the rest of the blogosphere for the idea!

Bridget’s 1st Chacos!

Before we headed out to Arbor Hills for a delightful Sunday hike (the weather was gorgeous the weekend after B’s birthday!), Daddy had one more gift to give our birthday princess…

She opened it and said, “these are just like Daddy’s!!!”. Perfect! If you know Jonathan, you probably know his sandal tan. It is one that has been honed to perfection through 8 years of decidicated Chaco wearing, day in and day out, all seasons through. It’s pretty hilarious.

Imagine my excitement when I saw a toddler pair on REI’s website for 60% off! Apparently her size is the smallest they offer, and she’s got plenty of room to grow so they’ll likely last us into the Summer (though we all know that’s never a guarantee!). I’m trying to get better about putting her in “quality” shoes to protect her feet from future problems, but spending a ton on good shoes that she could very well grow out of in a month is SO TOUGH. But I know this is a good shoe company, and 60% off certainly makes it worth it. I was so excited to tell Jonathan!

*ADDITIONAL SURPRISES*

She was pleased as punch to discover the fun Dora seat cover we put on the old car seat in Daddy’s car. Yay for celebrating our birthday for a FULL WEEK!

Our whole family got to share in the Chaco pic as we enjoyed some peaceful moments by our “secret” pond. Too bad they don’t make a doggy pair for our PenPen!

September 7th!

The big 3rd birthday started with Mommy’s first day as the Co-op parent at preschool. So fun! I did my best to bring a “healthy” cupcake for the celebration, and apparently the applesauce cupcakes were a hit. A preschool classroom is just about the happiest place on Earth!!!

After school we headed home for “rest” time, which usually means no nap. Of course, any day that I have something planned at 4pm she always decides to finally fall asleep at about 3:30. This day was no different, and she was not too pleased to be woken up for a birthday pic (I’m gonna save age comparison pics for another post).

Luckily for her, there was a surprise up next and no matter how much she tried to deny it, she was intrigued and curious to see what Mommy had planned…I didn’t tell her anything, but when we pulled up to the location she said, “look! let’s go to that pink place!”…mission accomplished!

I could go on and on about the joys of Let’s Pretend Tea Parties, but I am trying to be quick in getting this post up. Long story, SHE LOVED IT! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:

(getting dressed up!)

(tea time with a cupcake!)

(having her “make-up” done)

(Mommy got to play, too!)

(a few more minutes of fun – she loved sharing the hour with another birthday girl)

(what happened when Mommy said “its time to leave” – good suggestion – book the last appointment of the day so you’re FORCED to leave!)

Though she would have been happy moving into the tea party place, she was comforted by the fact that we were leaving and heading straight up to Frisco to see Daddy at a school event:

Then she and I headed home while Daddy finished up. She had a few more presents from family to open up:

And we saved our birthday song and final cupcake until Daddy was home to share with us. What a special day!

I’m so thankful to live in an age where I have more than just memories in my min. I’m so thankful for this sweet video!

 

A Little Kick in the Ass…

Excuse the language, but friends, that’s what it was.

So, I’m a busy lady. Blah, blah, blah. What’s new? Who isn’t?!

Most days it feels like I’m juggling paper-thin glass balls, just hoping nothing distracts me causing my hilariously clumsey life balls to come crashing down. Here are the main categories in which I’d classify our collective Adamo family life:

1. Parenthood (including Bridget’s schedule of school/daycare/socials)

2. Marriage (by that I mean a HAPPY one)

3. School

4. Friends

5. Immediate Family

6. Work (oh yeah, almost forgot about that one!)

7. Finances

8. Miscellaneous (you know you’ve got a misc category, too, which often proves to be the largest and most delicate life ball of all!)

Whether you’re a novice of expert level juggler, a bauble is always bound to occur, and one certainly happened for me a little over a week ago. Indulge me with a read:

I had Bridget’s Meet the Teacher time/date on the calendar (by that I mean “mental calendar”, which is basically the problem…but as I’ll say later, its not like I haven’t tried!) since it was given to me about 2 months ago. In my mind, it was always the last Thursday in August. More on that to come. I also learned that our Parent Orientation would be Thursday night at 6:30. Jonathan had an important event at work and I had class at 7:50. Shocker, we were all double-booked. Sent a note to my prof warning him of my imminently late arrival…check.

A few days prior, sweet Julie had scheduled her cleaning lady to come do my house for me as a way return a favor I did for her this summer. Bliss!!! Originally planned for Wednesday (perfect – I’d be at work all day and the house would be empty), that appointment needed to be bumped to Thursday. Hmmm. I could make this work. Instead of coming home for nap after Meet the Teacher (in Dallas) and then heading back to Dallas (Mimi and Pop babysitting during parent orientation/my Thursday class) immediately after, B and I would pack all we needed for the day and just do nap at Mimi’s. Perfect!! The car was loaded…and we were actually ON TIME!

Of course, I’d been pumping her up about meeting Miss Trish for weeks. We both were dressed to impress and should have been concerned when the only other little ones walking in were definitely younger than B (think young 2s instead of 3s). Oblivious. We strolled to Miss Trish’s room, boldly claimed that we were here to meet her, only to be told that Meet the Teacher is actually TOMORROW at 11am, not TODAY. Ya’ll, I barely made it out of the school before bursting into full on tears. As you can imagine, Bridget started crying as soon as we turned away from her adorable classroom. I don’t even think I made a response to Miss Trish at all, just turned on my heels and walked away. That is so not me!

Well, I strapped a screaming B bad into her car seat, placed myself in the car, and proceed to throw my own pity party. Tears and all. I even unbuckled B and asked her to climb in the front seat with me for some hugs. We both needed it! All I could think about was how I could have sent her to Kathy’s today so I wouldn’t have to miss those 8 hours of work that I’d now be missing on Friday. I had so much to do at work!!! How could I let this happen?!

Once we’d both calmed down, I strapped us back in and headed out of the parking lot to my parents’ place. Pretty much immediately after hearing my mom’s voice on the phone (now driving on a major street), I burst into tears again! Ugh, hormones. My sadness turned into annoyance when I heard her say, “maybe now’s the time to start using a real calendar” (we’d just talked about that subject the day before this…she’s caught me red-handed). Don’t we all love and hate that “mom knows best”?!?! Again, ugh.

A small glass of wine was waiting for me upon arrival. An example of what I love about “mom knows best”. The afternoon went decently (see previous posts referencing the “theapy 3s” and lack of naps), despite my insane allegy attacks. Not to mention that about 30 minutes after I’d told my mom how embarrassed I was by my utter grumpiness upon meeting Miss Trish and finding out the “bad news”, I got a text from an unknown number. It was her! She apologized for the mix-up and said she was glad to get a chance to chat later that evening at the parent event. I couldn’t have typed my response fast enough – telling her how embarrassed I was and how eager I was to make a second first impression!

Once 6pm came around, Pop was home as well and Bridget wasn’t too upset about me leaving (major separation anxiety these days…when it rains!) so I headed out to the parent orientation. It was amazing and made we that much more comfortable with our decision to send her to this school. Ahhh. Only draw back? Extreme allergies!!! Though I’d told myself that if the event was over by 8:15 I was still going to class, when it finished at 8:07 you’d better believe I gifted myself with a night of skipping. No regrets on that one! I needed to get my over-tired girl home for much needed Daddy hugs.

And I walked into a FABULOUSLY CLEAN HOME. Again, ahhhh. What a day! Did I mention the quick Anna-time pop-in visit to Barnes & Noble I made on my way to get B from my parents' house? Yep. I picked up a cookie and a purse-fitting “Do It All Mom” planner. The name was calling me, for some reason . Someone was using this sort of day to give me the little kick in the rear I needed to remind me how important it is not to take life too seriously. What a day…

So. After a day like that, I was ready to enjoy life a little more on Friday. This is how we started our morning together, and the day pretty much lived up to the hope breakfast provided. It’s the little things…

PARTY OVERLOAD!

With each party over the last 3 weekends, I’ve increased my photo amount exponentially! We’ve been surrounded by so much joy these past few weeks that’s is almost impossible not to be happy. I love enjoying so many reasons to feel truly blessed!

Before I journal both Bridget and then Abby’s birthdays, 3 weeks ago B and I were lucky enough to play at not just one party…but TWO! If there were not a full 24 hours in each day, we wouldn’t survive.

It all started with some end-of-summer swimming in honor of our friendly twins, Lindsey and Landry!

Though it wasn’t sunny, nothing held us back from having fun in the water!

Pizza is the perfect party plate!

Enjoying some time with her buddy, Caleb:

And the birthday girls:

Aren’t these two adorable?!

All the kids from Miss Kathy’s made it out to the party. What fun!

Bridget and I made it home for her to catch about 90 minutes of “quiet time” in her room (remember me mentioning her lack of nap recently??) before we changed into our prettiest green and headed North to party with Alexandra! We made it just as the adorable craft was about to begin. Our own hands making a beautiful four-leaf clover on canvas…

After the green paint was washed, we headed into an Alexandra-themed scavenger hunt:

Which ended with a pot-of-gold in Baby Josephine’s crib!

Next up was our end-of-the-rainbow pinata. Mad dash for treats!

There own little bags were full of yummy snacks!

Then a traditional Texas sheet cake for the birthday girl!

After opening presents, us parents enjoyed the chaos of attempting a group photo. Always a favorite of mine, especially when you’ve got a ham like Alexandra owning her center stage!

Bridget loving on our beautiful host (and birthday girl herself), Jill! We love all our moments with the Fabulous Fairs, especially when we get to celebrate one’s big day!

What a joyful day!