The Nation Family: 3 years. Yes, already.

My sweet girl, not even a trace of baby about her. Well, that’s not true, she still likes to snuggle and be rocked before bed - something we are not taking for granted and definitely not ready to give up. And she will always be my baby and James’ baby and her ZZ’s baby and her Gammie and Papa’s baby and her Poo-Pa’s baby, a fact which she often reminds us of. But, she’s lost all the baby fat, she’s potty trained (!!), she’s in a toddler bed and she has very clear opinions on anything and everything around her. She can throw a tantrum like no one else, get so frustrated and angry that she can’t speak and fight a nap or bed time like a trained professional, but makes up for all of it with infinite hugs, kisses and countless declarations of her love for us.

We had her 3 year doctor’s appointment a few days after her birthday, she did freak out when the doctor started examining her (Strange man wanting to touch you and you aren’t ok with it? Fine with me.) but she did eventually warm up to him, an iPhone may have been involved, and we learned that she speaks well for her age and she’s right on track with everything she’s supposed to be doing. She was in the 90^th percentile for height at 38 ¾” and in the 50^th percentile for weight at 32.4 lbs. so basically she’s long and lean. I’m going to go ahead and claim that she gets that from me, she still looks exactly like James so I have to take what I can get.

We celebrated her birthday with a rainbow themed party, complete with bounce house. The day of her party she was clingy and whined constantly and only wanted James and I, the two busiest people. She had 2 grandmas, a grandpa, an Aunt and an Uncle who would have loved to hold her but they would not do, they couldn’t even look at her or she would burst into tears. Thankfully I’ve gotten better about delegating so I was able to spend some time just sitting on the couch enjoying the snuggles. About the time everyone started showing up she wanted to take a nap, it was only 11 a.m. We figured she must not be feeling well so we decided to give her some just in case Tylenol, which we rarely do, and that did the trick. By the time we were ready to cut the cake she was back to her normal, giggly, smiling happy self.

I could go on and on for days about all the funny things she says and her developing personality but I’ll stop here and leave you with pictures from her birthday weekend.