Today You Are Three

Dear Baby Girl,

Today you are three.

I woke up early and watched you as you slept right through the time of your birth. I whispered Happy Birthday in your ear. You rolled over.

You finally woke up, opened your eyes as wide as can be and smiled. I sang you Happy Birthday, and you grinned the whole time in a very sleepy, dreamy way.

We talked about how today you are three--not two anymore. Now when people ask you how old you are, you get to say, "I am three!" You like the idea of that.

You helped me make your favorite pancakes for breakfast, with extra chocolate chips. They were delicious.

After getting ready for the day, we went to the Library to read books--you were so excited to go on your birthday! You chose 11 books to borrow for the week.

You had chicken bites and orange fries for lunch with lots of ketchup and milk to drink.

You slept for two and a half hours--which made for a much more pleasant afternoon than when you don't!

Grandma gave you an art set with LOTS of stickers, so after your nap, you worked on a sticker page for Daddy to take to his office. You are always thinking of others.

When Daddy came home, you gave him his wonderful picture, then brought some dolls and furniture to the family room to play with Daddy. I love that your rough and tough daddy is so good at being gentle and playing with you on your terms.

You requested macaroni for dinner. We decided on some fresh corn on the cob and hot dogs to go with it, and Daddy requested fried corn like Grandpa W used to make us. Yum!

For your cake, you asked for white cake with blue frosting. I knew what you really meant was that you wanted an angel food cake from scratch with homemade strawberry jam filling topped with blue, powdered sugar glaze. I'm so glad you loved it!

After dinner, we sang and you blew out your candles on the fourth or fifth try. You opened presents from us and then we dove into the cake and the giant tub of ice cream we forgot to get out at your party on Saturday--oops!

You got some new puzzles, books, letter magnets and your very first Bible. You were so excited to have your very own 'Sunday School Book!'

You are asleep now with Daddy (even though you said you would sleep in your own bed when you were three) and I am staring at a bunch of dirty dishes and blue icing drips all over that need wiped up. I'll take this kind of mess any day if it means I get to celebrate you being precious, wonderful you.

I hope each birthday Jesus has for you is filled with love, pancakes, books and blue icing.

Love,
Mamma