and the award goes to...

Dear Em,
A couple weeks ago we left your 3 year well-visit. I called your daddy, & said "yeah, we are A-holes. We are totally the A-hole parents of the year." It's not often that I go around giving myself awards, but in this case I've earned it...for sure.

Let's start at the beginning. Actually, the sad part is I'm not really quite sure when the beginning started. It just seemed like the end of December was full of tantrums, scream like a ferile animal tantrums. Your daddy & I were perplexed & frantic. What was going on? Was it the hype & aniticipation of the holiday? Was it that I was traveling more? Were you trying to fit as much of the terrible twos in the last couple weeks of your two-ness, & petrifying us about the threes (afterall, it's also a "T" age)?

Christmas just isn't as fun when it's full of timeouts. We only put you in timeout once that day, but you probably should have spent a lot more time rocking it in there. There was toy throwing & screaming & crying & stomping. Daddy & I started to ask ourselves, "what happened to our child?" In the last 20 minutes of our flight to North Carolina, we may have thought about telling the plane full of angry travelers "this isn't our child."

It continued through the holidays & even soured moments of your birthday. In the midst of it all, resolutions were being made. I told your daddy that I was going to work at being more patient. He agreed he was going to try as well. Maybe it was the way we were handling it all? Days later, we confessed to each other that you were making our resolutions challenging.

We woke up one morning to another throw down tantrum. I think that time it was about putting on pants. Who knows. Daddy & I looked at you & asked, "why aren't you happy anymore? You used to be happy. What happened?" You looked at us, thoughtful. "Well, when I was a baby I cried a lot." You are obsessed with babies, & some regression had been going on over the past few months. Were you throwing tantrums so you could be more like a baby?

I scooped you up & snuggled you next to me. "Actually, Em, you were a really happy baby. Let me show you." We spent the next 30 minutes watching home videos of your first 6 months. We watched you giggle as you played with Daddy. We watched you beam with pride as you started to crawl. We watched you gurgle & babble to the baby in the mirror while you played in your gym. "So, what do you think? Could you be happy like you were when you were a baby again?" If only it was that easy.

We left later that morning to go to your three year well-visit. They used a machine I had never seen before to check if your ears were clear. Three times your right ear was reading funny, & we assumed it was malfunctioning. You have tubes in your ears, after all. The doctor checked himself just to be be sure. Uh Oh. It was one of the worst ear infections he's ever seen, with the tube in the right ear completely blocked.

We should have known. With so many ear infections, you start to see patterns. When you're in pain, you have trouble expressing yourself & the behaviors you had been exhibiting are typically what result. We had been told that if your ear got infected, we would see fluid draining from them, & we didn't.

But still. We should have known. Instead we were losing our patience & asking you why you were so whiny. It's our job to protect you from pain. Instead, we just got frustrated with you. To think of how long you suffered. Christmas. 4 flights. Your birthday. Poor, little girl. Seriously, A-hole parents of the year right here.

Once you started to take antibiotics, we could tell you were feeling better. Our sweet little Emma was back. Your daddy & I have also started to handle things differently. We're not perfect...we never will be, but hopefully we'll be better.

I love you so,
Mommy

love letters

Dear Miss T & Miss S,

I can’t believe it’s Em’s last day! It’s a bittersweet moment for us. It’s exciting & amazing because she’s hit a big milestone. She’s done so much growing & learning during her time at school, & she’s moving up. At the same time, we can’t help but feel a little bummed out that she’s moving on without the two of you. You’re the only very first teachers she’ll ever have, & you’ve set an incredibly high bar for every teacher she has in the future.

You two have, in a sense, become a part of our family. You were there to dry Em’s tears on her very first day of school. You were there to rub her back & check her temperature when she was suffering through chronic ear infections. You read her stories & sang her songs (which she then preciously sings in the car…love it!). You helped all of us through potty training (If for nothing else, we will never forget you for that). Brian told me last night that for the longest time he had a fear that Em would enter kindergarten without being fully potty trained. He told me what a relief he felt leaving Em with the two of you during the days when we were in full potty training mode, because he knew the two of you “were on it.”

You know Em better than almost anyone else. You know when she’s coming down with a sickness & when she hasn’t had enough sleep. You know when she needs a hug. You knew when she was ready to spell her name or her hair was long enough for pigtails or she could drink without a cover on her cup (remember the cup shaking?).

Our daughter has learned & grown & thrived under your loving care. We love the sweet stories she tells us about what she’s learned & what she did during her day. Sometimes the stories make us laugh. Sometimes they are so sweet they bring tears to our eyes. Sometimes her stories cause us to check out Amazon (we learned about her love of Magna-Tiles, My Little Pony’s, sit and bounce balls, & Pete the Cat through you).

When I asked Em her favorite thing about you, she said, “I just love singing to her.” Then she said to tell you that she “loves you & misses you.”

We are in constant awe of everything you do. You teach & guide & love a whole classroom of 18 month-3 year olds with such patience & laughter & love. We have a hard enough time doing that with one child. All the while you’re also lesson planning, birthday poster making, calendar coloring, & cleaning. We’re both in awe & exhausted just thinking about it. There’s also the little things you do for & with the kids. It’s the way you are with them, knowing what each one needs individually, that makes such an impact & such a difference everyday. We’re going to struggle to not compare you to Em’s future teachers, because we know that no else could measure up. Is there a place to nominate you for teacher of the year?

So, one last time, we wanted to say thank you, thank you, thank you! We hope to keep in touch so that Em can give her very first teacher’s, the best teachers, big hugs. Merry Christmas to you & your family. Happy New Year. We wish & pray for you the best of everything in 2013 & beyond.

We love you,

Em, Julie, & Brian

Here are our past letters: December 2011 & May 2012

our third year favorites

Dear Em,
I'm pretty much done with all of my holiday shopping. Between Christmas & your birthday, you are going to be...well, SPOILED. A friend of ours is starting a tradition where Santa brings three gifts (just like the three kings brought for baby Jesus) & Mommy & Daddy give a couple gifts for her children. I love that idea & think that's what we're going to go with next year, because this year got a little out of control. With that said, there are such special things waiting for you to open them up, things that I think will be your favorites for a long time to come.

The anticipation of watching you open up your gifts, always makes me think about all the gifts we've come to love & cherish this past year. I wrote about Our First Year Favorites here & here, & Our Second Year Favorites here & here. From those lists, there are a lot of things that will be our forever favorites. A great camera for pictures & video will always be a MUST for me, & this year we even stepped it up a little with a Canon EOS (love love love!). Music has always filled our home, but this year has been so fun because we get to sing it together. Top 40s sung in your little 2-year-old voice will always be my favorite. Books! Oh-Em-Gee, I hope reading together is always our favorite. We built bookshelves for your room this year just to fit all of your books, & they have even started to overfill. I kind of have a book buying addiction, but there are so many great ones out there. Perhaps, we need to start going to the library. Some of our other oldies but goodies are the trampoline, your puzzles, a bin we have full of coloring books & markers & crayons, & your kitchen set & table.

There were also some new favorites that have emerged:

Magna-Tiles
I wrote about your Magna-Tile set (here) less than a month after you were gifted the set, because they are that amazing. We first learned about them at the children's museum, & it was one of my favorite parts of the museum. The colors, the endless structures you can create...this has always been fun for both adults & kids. In fact, my whole family sat down together to play. It was such a fun sight. We store them in a basket, & almost always dump them out when friends come to play. It's such an easy, no mess activity...& it's tons & tons of fun. My favorite Magna-Tile moment this year was when we built three house shaped structures & enacted The Three Little Pigs. It was one of your first days of potty training, & you were only wearing a sweatshirt & undies. I just remember you as you huffed & you puffed & you knocked down the houses. It will always be such a precious moment to me.

Radio Flyer My 1st Scooter
I put this on your amazon wish list thinking it could be fun, & was so surprised when your uncle Greg gave you your first scooter as a gift. My mom typically does his shopping, but he had picked it out for you on his own. We didn't use it for a little while, not knowing if you were ready. A few months ago we were going on a walk & pulled it out. I know I'm biased, but you are the most adorable scooter-girl ever. It took you a little while to get the hang of it. I laugh to myself thinking of the awkward position you would stand in during our first scooter outing, but now you zoom. You giggle & smile as we chase you down our quiet street. Sometimes your Daddy & I take a turn, but we've recently realized we're going to break it with our weight & will leave the scootering to you. This has become one of our favorite outdoor toys. It's so much fun, & it's something you can do on your own. We love it!

Lamby

I'm not sure how Lamby hasn't been mentioned in any of our past favorite posts. I'm not sure who gave us Lamby (maybe my mom?), but she was a gift when I was pregnant. I filled your crib with stuffed animals. I think a lot of people wondered where you would sleep in a crib that was so filled with "friends," but I wanted you to always feel comfortable in your bed. I never wanted you to feel lonely. Somehow, Lamby emerged above the rest. She became your lovey, the one you snuggled with & loved above everything else. She still is. She's been by your side through your first day of school, getting tubes in your ears, overnight trips, & has really traveled with us on all of our adventures. We've had to enact a Lamby rule: she must stay in your room. This keeps us from having to go on a Lamby hunt every night before bedtime (you can't sleep without Lamby), & keeps you from being too dependant. I love watching you talk to her & the sweet way your snuggle her tight as you sleep. We had gotten a second Lamby for school. You needed one for nap time, & we didn't want to be constantly taking Lamby back & forth. Even still, Lamby started to look awfully dull. I started to wonder how long Lamby would hold up & pictured your heartbroken little face if Lamby were to fall apart. So, I went on amazon & found more Lamby's. Now I think we have a total of 6 Lamby's (one at Nonnie & Papi's house) that we rotate through, & everyone is happy.

Baby-Dolls

I talked about babies before in our second year favorites, but they are worth mentioning again. You are baby obsessed. You have a ton of them, & you love every single one. Watching you play pretend with your baby dolls is one of the most precious things ever. You rock them & put them in your booster seat at the table to feed them. You "take them to the store" in your carriage & ask Daddy & I to babysit while you "go to work." Recently, they've all been "pooping in their pants." I'm not sure why, but you are always upset with your babes for pooping in their pants. Daddy & I can't help but giggle as we listen to your mothering techniques. You are one tough momma. Your babies spend a whole lot of time in time-out, but you scold them with love. 

Easel
I think I bought your easel before you were one. I always knew I wanted you to have one, & there was an amazing deal. I bought it, & we stored it in the basement until your second birthday. There has been so much chalk drawing, painting, & coloring with markers since then. You've created wrapping paper masterpieces. You were coloring with markers on your easel when you drew your very first person (your adorable people seriously melt my heart). It's a thing you can use to let your creativity flow, & it's also a thing we can pull out to occupy you when we're busy with something else. Of course, when we're not occupied in other things, it's great to join in on the art fun too. Win...win...win!

Play-Doh
You beg us to pull out your play-doh on a weekly basis, & I have to admit we've said no more often than not. While it's great fun, for the longest time you just weren't able to play with it on your own. It had to be a time when we knew we could sit with you & create with you & clean up the play-doh mess at the end. Recently, it's been a little different. You play with your play-doh independently & so sweetly, occasionally running to us to show us your newest creation. Your favorite part is using the Play-Doh: Fun Factory Deluxe Set to create "gingermans" & make little faces on your little gingerbread men & women shapes. You create whole families. It's kinda cute. I have a feeling that play-doh will also be a fourth year favorite.

iPad
So, you don't actually have your own iPad. I have been very hesitant about introducing you to a lot of technology. I know that it's going to be a big part of your life, but I didn't want it to be the ONLY thing in your life. I would rather have you run around outside, read a book, & use your imagination than sit down all day with electronics. You'd never really seen an iPad until Nonnie brought hers this summer. It amazed me how quickly you picked it up. In no time, you were opening up apps & playing learning games on the iPad. When I got one for work, I downloaded a few free children's apps. You don't use it a whole lot, but it's your favorite thing to do when we're all feeling lazy. It's also really great for travel. I think there's going to be a constant struggle for me with you & technology, but I at least feel better knowing that you are having fun learning with it. If we get you any type of tablet in the future, the iPad will be it...but that will likely be far into the future.

Plasma Car
My parents have two of these, & your Daddy & I had a blast riding around on them before you were born. It's a children's car, but it holds up to 250 pounds. So, really it;s fun for the whole family. We couldn't wait for you to have one, & were excited when Santa brought you one for Christmas last year. We keep it inside, because it rides so well on the pergo floors. You use it to "go to the grocery store" & "go to work." You have a blast pushing Daddy & I down the hall in it. Our adult friends have even had the pleasure of going for a ride.

Movies
While you watched a lot of TV shows last year, movies were a little too long for you to get into for the most part. You also scared easy at the slightest hint of a darker theme. This year has definitely been your first year where you've developed a love for movies. We have a bunch of Disney & Pixar classics & a few other goodies. Your favorite coming into the year was Rapunzel, but now you're more of a Despicable Me fan. We keep them in your daddy's old CD case. This way they're together in one place & easy to grab when we go on a trip. Your movies have been clutch during long car & plane trips, sick days, & days when we just feel like being lazy. Most of your movies are ones that your daddy & I can also appreciate, which makes for fun, popcorn filled movie nights.

Sigh, so those are our third year favorites in a nutshell. I'm kind of seeing a fun for the parents & kids theme when it comes to our very favs. Weird. I hope playing for all of us never gets old.

I love you so,

Mommy

Happy Halloween 2012

Dear Em,
Happy Halloween! I can't wait to take you trick or treating tonight. You are going to be so adorable in your little lamb costume.

I feel like it was forever ago that we picked out your costume...well, it kind of was. In August, a costume catalogue was mailed to our house. We looked through the pages filled with costumes a few times, & I asked you what you wanted to be for Halloween. You pointed to a lamb costume. I was a little surprised. You love lambs, but you're such a girly girl. I really thought you would want to be something covered in pink.

"Are you sure you don't want to be a flower?" "Nope." "Are you sure you don't want to be a princess?" "No, I want to be a sheepy." So, I continued to ask you each day for the next week what you wanted to be for Halloween. Every time you gave me the same response, "a sheepy." So, I ordered your costume.

Your lamb costume came in a month later. We tried it on you & you ooooohed & awed & squealed with happiness. You cried when I told you you had to take it off.

The next day we were on our way to school. "Hey, Mom, I think I want to be a flower for Halloween."

AUGH!

Luckily, your mind was easily swayed back to wanting to be a little lamb. A few weeks ago, we took our annual Halloween photo shoot (2010 photo shoot & 2011 photo shoot).

I might be biased, but I think you're the most adorable little lamb in the whole, wide world.

I love you so,

Mommy

love letters

Dear Em,

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you."

We didn't purchase a whole lot of artwork for your new room. We had so much from your nursery that we were able to blend into your garden room nicely. Of the new artwork, the prints hanging above your bed are my favorite. I found Paper Ramma on Etsy & fell in love with their work. Everything they do is customizable. They actually offered to match the colors of the prints exactly with your new bedding. How cool is that?! All of their work is so sweet. I also wicked love this one & this one.

We chose these prints because, well, you are our sunshine. At the age of two & a half (& one & a half months), you are sunshiney & you are love. Your favorite color is pink, but I think of you anytime I see yellow. You truly shine with giggles & smiles & love. I can't help but feel sunny when we're together. You put your cute little arms around us & give us the sweetest kisses.

You're a passionate little girl. You either distinctly like something or emphatically dislike it. There's not a whole lot of in between with you.

In the past six months, you've hit so many milestones. You said goodbye to your high hair & now eat at the the table with us. "So, how was your day, Daddy," is how you often start the dinnertime conversation. The list of foods that you'll eat has grown over the past six months, as has your willingness to try new foods. The promise of dessert is a strong force when it comes to encouraging you to eat the different foods on your plate. Your daddy & I struggle not to laugh as we watch you with your hands over your mouth, forcing yourself to swallow whatever food you don't particularly care for so you can have your dessert after.

You went from diapers to undies in the last six months. We were worried if you were ready when we started potty-training, but you proved your daddy & I wrong once again. Accidents are few & far between. You excitedly announce you have to go potty, quickly go into the bathroom, and firmly tell us you need your privacy. You still wear pull-ups for naps & bedtime, but you wake up dry more often than not.

One of the biggest transitions has been saying goodbye to your crib & sweet nursery & moving into your big-girl bed & big-girl room. I was worried you would miss your nursery or crib, but you said goodbye with an excited smile. You love your new room. The other day I found you sitting on your bed with one leg crossed over the other. You were surrounded by piles of books with your nose buried in the Boogie Monster.

Your nonnie gave you your first baby doll before you were one, and baby dolls have been your favorite  ever since. Now you have tons & you're such a sweet mommy to your babies (when you're not putting them in timeout). It's so fun to watch you rock them & feed them. Your very favorite is still your lamby though. You sleep with her every night & wake up crying if you can't find her in the middle of the night. You sing to her & dance with her & fix her hair while I fix your hair each day.

You're sooooo stubborn. I may have been told a few hundred times how much your stubbornness reminds my family of another stubborn little girl...me. You have an opinion on most things, & you want your opinion to be heard. Every day I see glimpses of the strong, independent woman I know that you'll grow to be.

Right now you're a bright learning sponge. You tackle learning new things with excitement & squeal with delight when you're able to do something new. You've been working on writing your name. Letters are fascinating to you. You're constantly reading off letters & then asking, "Mom, what does that spell?" You like when I trace letters on your back, & you correctly guess when I've spelled Emma, Mommy, Daddy, & Nonnie.

You remind me often that you are my "little love bug," & what a little love you are. You have such a sweet & empathetic heart. You can't be happy unless those around you are. If the child sitting next to you is crying, you are also crying until the child is soothed.

Grace & gentility is not a strong suit for you. You kind of boom into everything you do, & you're constantly booming into walls & doors & onto the floor. You know to be "kind & gentle" to others, but we're not sure you understand what being gentle means. Your kindness is very hands on & sometimes a little rough. You've almost broken our noses a few times with your excited hugs & kisses.

Your laugh is infectious & adorable. You are such a happy, little girl. You make us smile everyday & bring such joy to our hearts.

Tomorrow morning you're leaving to stay with Nonnie & Papi for three whole weeks (two without us, we'll be joining you the last week). I'm so excited for you to have that time to spend with my family, but it's also the longest time you've ever been away from your daddy & I. My heart already aches thinking about how much I will be missing you, our little sunshine. There will be lots & lots of skyping to help us get through it. Plus, we know you'll be having a blast. Then Daddy & I will join you in North Carolina for some last summer beach days Labor Day week.

I'm so excited about all the adventures your going to have down south. I can't wait to talk to you about all of them, but I'll miss tucking you in to your big-girl bed in your big-girl room for the next three weeks.

I love you so,
Mommy

* This is part of a five post room reveal. For more peaks into the room, see also Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: The Bed, Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: Dressing Up, Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: Your Book Nook, & Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: Star Gazing. *

Big-Girl Garden Room Reveal: Star Gazing

Dear Em,

* This is part of a five post room reveal. For more peaks into the room, see also Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: The Bed, Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: Dressing Up, Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: Your Book Nook, & love letters. *

No matter what camera I used (& I tried three) I just couldn't get a shot of the starry sky you can see from your bed. Nope, your room doesn't have a retractable roof. While that would be kinda cool, our house is nowhere near that technologically advanced.

I've always loved stargazing. Growing up, I had glow in the dark star stickers hanging all over my ceiling. I loved drifting off to sleep while gazing at my very own starry sky. The daytime was another story. The star stickers were a little of an eye sore during the light of day.

I wanted you to have your own starry sky without the daytime eyesore. When I was six months pregnant with you, I bought some glow in the dark paint & star stencils from the craft store. Is the image of me six months pregnant, standing on a stool, painting the ceiling a little ridiculous? The glow in the dark paint is barely visible during the day (it shows as a really pale yellow) but glows bright after you turn off the lights at night.

I loved tucking you in your nursery each night. Right before I switched off the lights, I would ask you if you were ready for your stars.

I wanted you to still have that for your big-girl room. I wanted you to have stars to make wishes on & coax you into sweet dreams. So, the last thing I did was stencil some stars on your ceiling. And I mean it was THE VERY LAST THING. You were actually laying in your bed (because it was bedtime) while I stood on your bed & quickly stenciled.

Now as I tell you "I love you so" one last time after I tuck you in, I know you'll be stargazing once I switch off the lights & shut your bedroom door.

Sigh, maybe I'll do a little stenciling in my room too.

I love you so,
Mommy

Big-Girl Garden Room Reveal: Your Book Nook

Dear Em,

* This is part of a five post room reveal. For more peaks into the room, see also Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: The Bed, Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: Dressing Up, Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: Star Gazing, & love letters. *

When I was a little girl, I longed for a book nook. One of my rooms had a window in an alcove, & I dreamed of a sweet little window seat in it. I would have read so many books in my quaint little book nook. Your papi worked on my room for months, & I forced a smile on my face when there was no window seat or book nook in my room reveal. I also never got the large weeping willow I wanted so badly so I could sit under it & read away my summer breaks. I was forced to go swimming in our pool instead. I know, it was a difficult childhood I lead.

Designing your big-girl room was my chance to finally give your room what I thought every little girl should have: a book nook.

Creating this book nook wasn't all sunshine & butterflies. I had a very specific plan for the shelves, & what you see is not what the plan entailed. Remember how I had bought these organizing cubes from Home Decorators Collection for a crazy amazing price? Well, I soon learned that they were a crazy amazing price because they were pieces of crap. I was in the middle of putting them together when I realized that not all of the right pieces needed to put the shelves together were even in the box. Then one piece completely fell apart & broke. No wonder they didn't even ask me to return them to the store. They just sent me a gift card for what I had paid (since I had bought them when they went on sale 5 months earlier). Luckily I can use the gift card at Home Depot, because I wasn't planning on buying anything else from their company.

That left me with no shelves, & have you noticed how expensive shelves are? Crazy expensive. I searched online for a replacement, but with the extra we spent on your bed I knew we couldn't afford to also splurge on shelving. That was it for me. Between the changes we had with your bedding & the disaster of the shelves, I'd had it. 

That's when I started to cry...over a bedroom design. I know. I'm not exactly proud, but that's what happened. In the middle of my tears & feeling bad for myself, I started an Etsy search. Etsy saved your room (& saved us a lot of money).

I found someone who was selling white-washed wooden crates that had been made into shelves. She didn't have as many as I wanted, but it gave me an idea. I ordered 12 unfinished, wooden crates from a wholesaler. They were more expensive than my original plan for shelves, but much cheaper than anything else I found. They also give the garden room the rustic vibe I was going for.

The crates were delivered disasembled. 12 crates= 60 sides. Your nonnie, cousin Michaela & I stained all 60 sides. I picked out a pink stain at Home Depot (well, I thought it was pink, it came out more purple) & a whitewash stain. It took what felt like forever to put two coats of stain on all 60 of the sides. Your nonnie & cousin Michaela will probably tell you I tortured them by making them stain in the garage in 100 degree heat. I just tried to smile, lie & say we were almost done, & bribe them with Dels Lemonaid. I'm sorry not to have pictures of us staining the 60 sides, but I'm pretty sure Nonnie & Michaela would have murdered me if I took out my camera.

Once the sides were stained, it was really easy for your daddy & I to put the crates together (they had pre-drilled holes). I was incredibly nervous about making the individual crates into shelves & anchoring them to the walls (like I said previously, I don't don't have a lot of confidence in our craftmanship), but that was actually pretty easy too.

I love the result, & it makes me smile to think we made this. We also finally have a spot to store a lot of your knick knacks, baby dolls, stuffed animals, & the library of books you've accumulated. 

We topped each shelf with purple flower prints that I found at Home Goods for a great deal. Michaela & I painted the frames pink to bring a little more of your two favorite colors, pink & purple, into the room.

While I was perusing Etsy for shelving ideas, I also came across bench ideas for the window seat. I found benches that were inexpensive, colorful, & rustic: just what I needed. I ordered your bench from Square Nail Furniture. I highly recommend this Etsy shop. They were so responsive. "Um, what if we made a bench this size by this size?" "No problem." "What if it was this size by this size." "No problem, but we'll charge you less." They let me customize the size (I needed it shorter & deeper) & the color (sunflower). I love the sturdiness of it. I love the rustic look of it. I love that there is an area for storage bins. I love that the shop refunded some of my money when they realized delivery would cost slightly less than what they had originally projected.

We added some throw pillows from Home Goods & Walmart (can you believe that Walmart had a better online selection of throw pillows than anyone else?), & we had created the window seat I always wanted.

We kept your yellow curtains from your old room & added some white sheers. I think they add a sunniness & match your bench so well.

To add a little more seating, we brought in your yellow rocking chair & your pink bunny chair from your nursery. Since "and they lived happily ever after," is one of your favorite lines from the books you read, the frame that we were given as a wedding present fits perfectly just above your bunny chair. I just added a happy picture of the three of us.

We also bought you a big, pink beanbag chair, personalized with your name on it. It was on-sale at Pottery Barn Kids. We figured it would be another comfy spot for you to read until your heart's content. 

And when the lights go out, the string lights we got from Target, give your room a little night-time magic.

There's one extra finishing touch that I put on your room to make your nights a little magical, & I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

Until then, you might find me sitting on your window seat, lost in a book & the beauty of what sits just outside your window.

I love you so,

Mommy

Big-Girl Garden Room Reveal: Dressing Up

Dear Em,

* This is part of a five post room reveal. For more peaks into the room, see also Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: The Bed, Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: Your Book Nook, Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: Star Gazing, & love letters. *

You've loved playing dress-up for a while now, but we never had a place to store all of your dress-up clothes in your old room. Since you were moving into a bigger, big-girl room, I wanted to create an area where dress-up fun can happen.

In one corner we have your dress-up rack from Ballard Designs. We bought it with a coupon. It was still pricey, but I love it. It has all the storage solutions your last rack does not, & it's sturdy enough to hold all of your dress-up things. You have a lot. Mostly past halloween costumes, hand-me-downs, & things bought after halloween for great prices.

You enjoy sitting at your vanity while you put on your costume jewelry. Someday the vanity can double as a desk. For now, a sense of whimsy is added with these butterflies your Nonnie found at Land of Nod. We used ceiling hooks & fishing line to hang them. They look like they're kind of fluttering around your garden room.

In the middle of your dress-up area is your dresser that holds your regular clothes. It goes with your bed from Pottery Barn. We had bought your first dresser from Babies R Us. It was not a cheap dresser, but it was made with cheap materials & promptly fell apart in less than a year. This dresser is sturdy & will last after continued use. We love it & how much it holds. The best part was that your dresser & bed were assembled upon delivery (even though we had gotten a special for free delivery). Do you know how happy that made your daddy? Have I told you how much we love Pottery Barn?

You're rocking on your "rocking lamb" which was a gift from your aunt Gina.

The wall is decorated with prints we bought when we traveled to Ireland & my grandma had framed before you were born. We used them in your nursery, & I wasn't ready to let them go yet. The definition of your name was a baby shower gift. The bright yellow & blue candle holders we've had but haven't displayed, & the cute blue owl we found at Home Goods (had I gone there first, I probably could have done your whole room from HomeGoods).

I bought a mason jar & silk flowers from Michaels to add to the garden theme.

Santa had put these letters (from Kohls for super cheap) in your Christmas stocking, but we hadn't had anyplace to put them. Now they hold pictures of us, your nonnie & papi, your grandma & grandpa, your aunts & uncles & you. I thought it was a fun way to display the people you love so dearly.

In the corner, by your closet, sits a blue chair that used to be my grandma's. Wasn't my grandma so fun to have a blue chair, & how perfectly does it fit in your garden room? The girl in pink on the circle of wood hanging on the wall is something your Nonnie made for me when I was a little girl. Great, right? The little Emma ornament was a gift to you from your Uncle Briant & Aunt ErinShea, the hope ornament we bought in Ireland, & the Angel ornament was my grandma's. I like to think she's watching over you while you sleep. I love having pieces of our different family members throughout your room.

One of my favorite pieces is the personalized TuTu Bow Holder I ordered from Etsy. It is so beautiful & fun. It combines two of myfavorite things: asthetics & function. As you can see, you have a whole lot of hair bows & this is such an amazing way to store them. 

Last but not least is your very favorite spot, your mirror. We often find you dancing around in front of it...no matter how you're dressed. It was off-white rather than white like the description suggested on Amazon, but that doesn't matter to you. You twirl & dance & giggle in front of it no matter what color it is. 

Lucky for me, your Nonnie painted beautiful vines & flowers throughout & now I'm OK with the color.

A fun spot for a fun girl...& boys...& everyone else who comes to play.

Tomorrow we'll look at the part of your room I would have most enjoyed at your age.

I love you so,

Mommy

Big-Girl Garden Room Reveal: The Bed

Dear Em,

* This is part of a five post room reveal. For more peaks into the room, see also Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: Dressing Up, Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: Your Book Nook, Big Girl Garden Room Reveal: Star Gazing, & love letters. *

After a lot of hard work & love, your big-girl room is complete. It's been mostly complete for a little over a month now, but we've been waiting for a few items to be shipped. Now it's time for the big reveal. Are you ready?

Remember this post? It was an outline of my dream design for your new room. I started by painting the room grey. After that things didn't go exactly all go as planned, starting with the bed. Originally, I planned on having two twin beds in your room. Not because we're planning to have another child. Just because I thought it would be fun when you had friends & family sleep over. Plus, we were going to spend less than $100 on both beds, because we were going to make these fun beds.

But then I chickened out.

You're a pretty active 2.5 year old. If there is something you can get your feet on, you're going to jump on it. You LOVED jumping in your crib. As many times as we ask you not to jump on the couches, the beds, the chairs, the tables...jumping is exactly what you do.

I wouldn't exactly call your daddy & I expert crafts-people. We have a hard enough time putting things together when they're pre-cut & pre-screwed with step-by-step instructions. I just envisioned you jumping away, the beds crashing down, & a tearful emergency room visit.

So, I chickened out.

I started looking at different beds we could purchase. Now that we weren't building your bed anymore, the price tag got a lot bigger. I had plans...great plans. I had drawn diagrams. I had pre-purchased things on-sale. Sigh, our budget was no longer lining up with those plans, & we had to make some changes to my dream design. Your daddy finally became the voice of reason. "Does she really need two beds," he asked.

That's when we came up with a Plan B. We decided to buy you a quality bed (& only one quality bed), that you could grow into. If we bought a toddler bed, we'd only be buying a new bed in a few years. Even with a twin sized bed, we'd probably be buying you another bed in the future. So, we picked out the full sized Catalina Bed from Pottery Barn Kids, a bed we hope to have for always. I love the beadboard paneling & white finish, & we bought it for a great sale price. Plus, we figure we could purchase a trundle bed for underneath once you start having sleepovers.

I was satisfied to have decided on & purchased your bed, but there was a little problem. You see, I try to get things as they go on-sale. This past winter I had already bought the bedding for two twin sized beds instead of one full sized bed. Whoops. I was about to learn how easy it was to return things (5 months later) at the different stores I had purchased them from.

I had bought the Daisy Garden Quilted Bedding from Pottery Barn Kids. I've loved Pottery Barn kids since before Daddy & I were married (they started sending me their catalogues & I would cry thinking of a cute baby in their adorable baby rooms...that's when your daddy started throwing away the Pottery Barn catalogues). I love them a little more now. Their return process was amazing. All I had to do was put the quilts in a box & put the box on our front porch. We didn't have to pay for shipping costs. Plus, they had the queen sized quilt & the gift card for the difference between the two (since it had been five months, they couldn't just return the money) in the mail before they even got my return. Amazing.

Company Kids wasn't as easy. For the winter time, you will need a little more than a quilt. I had bought two down comforters in buttercup. To return those I had to create my own return label, pack them up, ship them via FedEx, pay for shipping, & call them once I knew they had received them to remind them to refund my money. At least the full sized comforter I bought was on-sale. I also bought your fun pink polka-dotted sheets from Company Kids.

So, without further ado, here is the first reveal of your big-girl room: your bed.

Before:

After:

You know everyone's favorite colors. It's one of your favorite things to ask people. You're thrilled that your new bedding incorporates Yours (PINK), your daddy's (blue), & my (yellow) favorite colors. You've become enamored with smelling & picking flowers. So, the quilt is just right for you. It's also girly without screaming pink. The pink polka-dots of your sheets add a little more pink & a little more fun.

We moved your book shelf from your old room into your new room, right next to your bed. This way you can continue to pull your books into your bed. It houses our very favorite books & some of your ever growing collection of stuffed animals. You can't really tell from the pictures, but the beadboard in the shelf matches the beadboard of your bed.

It was funny to see your little body in such a big bed at first. You love love love your big-girl bed, making the transition from crib to bed seamless. I've asked you if you want to go back to your "cribby" & you emphatically say "no thank you." We've lined the end of your bed with your favorite stuffed animals that were squished in your crib. Your music makers & sleep sheep hang from the bedpost, seamlessly bringing a little bit of your nursery to your big-girl bed.

Your babies sleep right next to you in the bunk beds your Aunt Jennie gave to you.

Your bed is big enough for snuggling as we read books. You also love to tuck everyone else into your bed. A great big shout-out to your cousin Michaela & your Nonnie for helping out so much with putting together your room. I hope they've enjoyed playing with you in it as much as you've enjoyed playing.

I think your bed is the perfect, comfy spot for you to dream big. I enjoyed putting it all together (ok, I'm not going to lie, there were some parts I didn't enjoy), & the best part is seeing your eyes sparkle as we tuck you in at night.

Sleeping isn't the only thing you do in your room, it's also become a fun place for you to play. Tomorrow I'll share one of your favorite spots to have fun.

I love you so,

Mommy

Birthday Party for Little Loves: Luau Party Yummies

Dear Em,

This is a four part Series covering your Luau Birthday Party. You can also read about the Luau Party Location, Luau Party Invites, & Luau Party Decorations & Favors. 

One of my favorite parts of any party is yummy food. It doesn't necessarily make or break a party, but it can sure give a party some extra pizazz. The thing about your Luau party was that it started at 10am. Not exactly breakfast time for little loves, but not exactly lunch either. Also, you aren't a big fan of most lunch foods, & we thought it would be kind of nice if the birthday girl actually liked the food at her party. We had our work cut out for us.

Sooooo, we went with things you like & a little bit of everything. That's kind of what I do when I'm not really sure what to do.

 We had gone to a birthday party earlier in the year & watched the kids gobble up a fruit salad. You are starting to love blueberries, strawberries, & pineapple. So, we made a large fruit salad. Your favorite food in the world right now is probably yogurt. Panera Bread makes individual sizes of yogurt parfaits with yogurt, yummy granola, & fresh strawberries & blueberries. Did you know they also make large catering sizes? I've purchased it a few times for work functions & everyone loves it. So, we ordered a batch for your party. It was a huge hit (with the littles & the adults), but I should've paid a little more attention to how much it cost. I thought they had charged us in error. It was a hundred dollars! Whoops. In the future I probably would've bought a large thing of Chobani, some granola, & we could've used the fruit from the fruit salad for 1/4 of the price. At least we had tons of leftovers & were able to have yogurt parfait for breakfast for the next week. You loved it. That made me feel a little better about the cost...kind of.

We also had a Rhode Island party staple, bakery pizza (also known as pizza strips). You're not really a big fan of it, because you don't like sauce. Most Rhode Islanders love it, especially your Daddy, & we try to keep his tummy happy. We had covered both breakfast & lunch & also had animal crackers & pita chips & hummus to provide some munchie foods (we totally understand going to a party & having a toddler who refuses to eat any of the food & figured animal crackers would be something ALL the kids would eat in case they didn't want anything else).

The Children's Museum provided all of the plates & cups & forks. They also provided apple juice & ice cream sandwiches. Sigh, I love when things are included.

That just left us with my favorite, your donut cake. We ordered a cake from Allies Donuts. They are so affordable & will make donut cakes in the shape of anything. So far we had gotten a giant donut shaped cake & a cake in the shape of Rhode Island. This time we got your donut cake in the shape of a hula dancer, complete with blonde sprinkle hair to match yours. It was a vanilla donut with strawberry frosting & sprinkles. It was amazing.

They even wrote "Happy 2.5 Birthday Emma." I'm not going to lie, I blushed a little when I told them it was your 2.5 birthday party. 

When it came time to sing Happy Birthday, you beamed as you listened to your friends & family & looked at your donut cake. You blew out the candles all by yourself. I can't believe how much of a big girl you are. You loved the donut cake. I think you were just thrilled to be able to eat so many pink sprinkles. We had leftovers of the cake & you enjoyed donut cake for dessert for the next couple days. It was perfect.

That pretty much sums up the fun we had eating and playing at your luau party at the Children's Museum. This will be the last of the scheduled Birthday Party for Little Loves posts. It's been so fun recapping your Garden Party last year & your Luau Party this year (posted about here, here, & here). I'll be on the lookout for fun ideas for next year & will post some of my favorite ideas. There's a couple ideas that I'm already really excited about.

It's so fun to celebrate you.

I love you so,
Mommy