Happy 3rd Birthday, Liam! {The Busiest Birthday Ever}

My beautiful boy celebrated his 3rd Birthday today!  I truly can't believe my baby is THREE!

We celebrated this sweet boy all day long!

Of course it turned out to be the busiest day ever!

After our morning celebration, we had to go to Dylan, Lexie and Lily's schools for building visitation. They are in three different buildings and when you have 5 kids with you it's quite a workout. Park the car, haul out the stroller, unstrap 2 kids from their car seats, harness 1 kid in the stroller, push the stroller to the school from the farthest parking spot, visit the school (which requires a trip in the elevator), walk back to the car, strap 2 kids back into their seats, fold and store the stroller, drive to the next school and repeat two more times. Did I mention I woke up with a cold? (BAD timing.)

In 2 weeks, I will have an unimpressed 6th grader...

A 4th grader...

A kindergartener...

AND a preschooler!

{Shirt - Koala Kids from Babies R Us}

This mama will be shedding a lot of tears over the next few weeks!

After school tours, we stopped by Grant's mom's house to pick up some packages and ended up visiting for a few minutes. We headed back home so I could pack for vacation. With less than 24 hours to go until we left, I really needed to start!  

More about those 5 kids: my great niece has spent every weekday with us this Summer and today was her last day with us. We still see her throughout the year, but we're really going to miss her. She's a part of my crew and Lexie and Aubrey are best friends! My girls were so sad when my niece picked Aubrey up to take her home.

By then, there were all those vital last minute errands, like getting the luggage rack from my sister, filling up the SUV with gas (hello, fuel perks) and stocking up on almond milk for Liam.

We did take a brief break from the insanity for dinner. Grant met us on his way home from work and we celebrated our birthday boy. Of course, Liam had his usual: a salad!

We rushed home from dinner to have a mini birthday party for Liam! My parents and Grant's mom came over to celebrate. We gave Liam his gifts and had some cake. I do feel bad that he received all these new toys and has to leave them behind for a week!

After everybody left, we had to load up our SUV...in the dark. Grant headed to bed early so he could get some sleep and I put the birthday boy to bed. Despite the craziness of our schedule, he had a great birthday!

I'm pulling an all nighter to get everything done.  It's all worth it, though. In less than 12 hours I will be seeing my favorite view!

It will be a very welcome break after the past few months of constant busyness. We don't have a single thing on our agenda other than enjoying the beach! 

My blogging schedule will be jam-packed when I return! Next week, however, I have a few awesome guest posts coming your way. I'm not a fan of blank blog space for a full week, but I do plan on enjoying a break from EVERYTHING, so these awesome mamas have it covered!

I try to blog every weekday, but had to take a brief break this week to get things done. One of those things was a post for Pittsburgh Moms Blog! In honor of Liam's birthday today, I shared a post about Liam's birth diagnosis. I get a lot of questions about how it went undetected so I decided to share that part of our story. You can read it HERE or just click on the picture below!  

" The truth is there are no guarantees in life. I had a 1 in 891 chance of having a child with Down syndrome. I didn’t think it would ever happen to me."

I was feeling all the feels when I wrote that post, especially considering Liam "graduated" from early intervention yesterday and we had to say goodbye to his amazing team of therapists. When I get back from vacation, I will be sharing Liam's full birthday recap along with his 3 year pictures. Right now it's time for a road trip! Have a great week, my friends! XOXO

Happy 3rd Birthday to my sweet boy! He is the most amazing unexpected surprise I've every received.  I love this kid with every ounce of my being!

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Oh My Lily

My sweet Liliana is now 3 1/2 years old! In less than 6 months, she will be starting Pre-K.  I can't even believe it.  I can't even believe it's almost time for my BABY to go to school.



Now, I know she technically isn't the baby anymore, but I can't help but think of her as my baby.  For the first two years of her life, it was mainly just the two of us.  Dylan and Lexie were in school, so I got plenty of alone time with her.  Liam entered the picture, and even though things changed, she was still home with me.  It's really hard to admit to myself that she is growing up!



Although I do wish time would slow down a bit, I love watching her grow.  She has a personality like no other.   She is extremely sweet, loving, and loyal, just like her older siblings, but she's also precocious, stubborn, sassy, adorable, and ABSOLUTELY hilarious!



Some of the things that come out of her mouth are really funny or just plain adorable!



For instance...

A rolling pin is a dinner pencil.
A unicorn is a hornycorn.
A heart beat is a heart beep.
A donut is a donup.
A caterpillar is a rollerpoller.
A skeleton is a sket-lin. 



Instead of saying goodness gracious, she says Goodness Tracy's.

She told me, "My heady-ache is on my knee" after she got hurt one day.

She was struttin' her stuff and told me, "I freakin George-ous."  (Yeah.  We're working on freakin'.)

She put on a fancy dress, and said, "I look like pretty!"  She started singing "I SOOOO FANCY!"



She was playing "This Little Piggy..." and said "This Little Piggy went to Target!"

She was describing her Uncle Greg to me, and said, "He's the coolest man."

She's a bit obsessed with all things Frozen and all things Elsa. She said, "I love Elsa. She is amazing."



One of her favorite movies is Hocus Pocus.  She climbs on top of Liam's Fisher Price doorway toy, pretends it's a broom, and sings "Come Little Children" complete with the head tilts and hand motions.

She recently got her first black eye.  She cried for just a few minutes, then declared it didn't hurt at all.  It looked awful, but she was so proud. She told everyone, "Look at my rainbow eye!!!" 



During storytime, I went into the room to watch her make her craft.  She looked at me, sighed, and told me, "I don't need any help, Mommy. Please leave. This is my time."

She's very compassionate and intuitive.  She truly cares about feelings. My eyes were tearing up one day.  Lily looked at me, and asked, "What's the problem? I see sad things in your eyes."



She has the cutest quirks, too. 

She still sucks her thumb to fall asleep.  Very loudly.

When she wants to relax, or needs to calm herself down, she sucks her thumb and plays with her belly button at the same time. 



She eats cheesy broccoli soup almost every morning for breakfast.

She drinks her hot tea out of a straw.

She loves sketti-O's.  (YUCK.)



She prefers to wear an Elsa dress every single day.

Her friends Lily, Charlie, and Vic-tola (Victoria) are mentioned daily.

She can correctly identify every popular WWE figure, thanks to her big brother.

She loves trains during the daytime, but they terrify her when she hears them at night.  Every so often, she can hear one in the distance, and she races into our bedroom.  She quietly climbs into bed, curls up next to me, sticks her thumb in her mouth, and presses her forehead against my cheek. I let her stay because I know it's just a phase that she will outgrow way too soon. I truly love it, and look forward to hearing that train whistle in the middle of the night.



But my favorite - my absolute favorite - is when she tilts her head to the side, smiles so sweetly that even her eyes smile, and says, "My love you sooooo much, Mommy."



The feeling is mutual, baby girl.

Lily at 3 Years Old

Liliana Kathryn
Age: 3
Stats: 39 inches and 30 pounds

 





 
1. FAVORITE COLOR? Pink
2. FAVORITE TOY? Elsa
3. FAVORITE CHARACTER? Elsa
4.FAVORITE SUPERHERO?  Supergirl
5. FAVORITE FRUIT? Oranges
6. FAVORITE VEGETABLE? Corn
7. FAVORITE BREAKFAST?  Eggs
8. FAVORITE CEREAL? Lucky Charms
9. FAVORITE LUNCH?  Soup
10. FAVORITE DINNER?  Mac and Cheese
11. FAVORITE DRINK? Apple Juice
12. FAVORITE SNACK? Apples
13. FAVORITE RESTAURANT? Burger King
14. FAVORITE TV SHOW? Team Umizoomi
15. FAVORITE MOVIE? My like Frozen!!!
16. FAVORITE ACTOR/ACTRESS? Elsa
17. FAVORITE SONG?  Let it go!!!
18. FAVORITE SINGER/BAND? Katy Perry
19. FAVORITE BOOKS?  Monkeys (Monkeys Jumping on the Bed)
20. FAVORITE BOOK SERIES? Disney Princess Books
21. FAVORITE OUTFIT? Elsa outfit
22. FAVORITE GAME?  Paw Patrol
23. FAVORITE SPORT?  Basketball
24. FAVORITE ANIMAL?  Crocodile (Huh?!?)
25. FAVORITE PLACE TO GO? To zoo.
26. FAVORITE THINGS TO DO? I like to go in my bed and sleep.  (Haha, me too!)
27. FAVORITE SUBJECT? I like pink ones and Goosebumps.  (Good answer, Lily!)
28. FAVORITE STUFFED ANIMAL?  My pink tiger (picked out at the zoo on her 1st birthday.)
29. FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK? Sunday
30. FAVORITE MONTH? August
31. FAVORITE SEASON?  Fall
32. FAVORITE HOLIDAY?  I like Halloween!
33. WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND? Lily. Charlie. Tullah (Victoria). And Fefanie.
34. WHO DO YOU LIKE TO PLAY WITH?   Lily, Tullah, Charlie, Lexie, Liam, and Dylan.
35. WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?  Dylan makes me happy when my cry.
36. WHAT SCARES YOU?  Crocodile.  Them eat me.
37. WHAT MAKES YOU SAD?  Shouting makes me sad.
38. WHAT DO YOU WISH FOR? For mommy. And I wish for a kitty.
39. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY?  Opening presents at Christmas.
40. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?   Lexie.
41. DISLIKES?  Fountains.  Because them scare me!













Some recent Lily funnies:

~When asked where she wanted to go on her birthday, she replied, "To Walmart." 

~She recently said, "I want to smell your teeth."

~She says, "I love you really well."  

~She got hurt at her Grandma's house.  She grabbed her chest and said, "I shattered my boob!" 

~Lily saw a bandaid on Liam's leg after his yearly exam.  She asked, "The doctor do that?  That looks like sad."

~She used to call her favorite show, Team Umizoomi, Umzi Umzi.

~Hocus Pocus is Pocus Pocus.

~She sings Boom Crap instead of Boom Clap.

~She used to twirl her earrings while sucking her thumb.  Now she likes to play with her belly button while sucking her thumb.  She needs access to her belly button at all times.  If she is in one piece pajamas, she wears them unzipped for that reason.

~We were asking the kids what years they were born.  Lily replied, "When I was Nugget." (Her nickname when I was pregnant with her.)

~When she has to go to the bathroom, she tells us, "I have to let the poop come out."  She's very literal.

~ She spotted sparkles on the ceiling, then they disappeared. She asked, "Where the sprinkles at?!?"

~On our way home from a shopping trip, I had to go to the bathroom.  Lily reassured me.  "Just hold it in, Mommy.  It's going to be okay."

~She was watching me get ready recently.  She stared at me for a few seconds, then said.  "Mommy.  You have big boobs.  I have wittle boobs. Daddy has hairy boobs.  And Bailey (our dog) has a lot of boobs."  

She really is our own personal version of Kids say the Darndest Things.   




 






Three year old Lily.  Beautiful, smart, sweet, hilarious, and sassy!  We love this little girl SO much!