Anna’s turning 3 is not only a huge milestone in her life but in mine too. I have been a mom for three years now! According to all of the studies and such, I only have a good three more years of her developmental stage. Only three more years to get good habits started and values instilled. Of course I have the rest of her childhood but if you don’t get it right during those first few years, you have a long road ahead!Birthdays for some reason are very important to both Dustin and I. VERY IMPORTANT! We want our children to feel special beyond normal circumstances! Yesterday was a start! We tried hard and I think it paid off!Her celebration began the night before her birthday, July 4th! We got home around 10:15 from the water bottle give away that the Tapestry did at our local fire works 4th of July celebration. (we passed out over 900 bottles of water!!!! For FREE; just because!) Anyways, I had to add that part. Sorry, back to the birthday celebration. Dustin had promised her that she could stay up very late and watch her favorite movie on the TV (it’s really a computer – we do not watch television) in Mommy’s room. The 3 of us snuggled in bed, ate cookies and drank milk and watched Coraline. I was the first to fall asleep, she hung in there till the last 5 minutes and Dustin carried her to her bed.
The next morning, she called for me saying, “Mommy, I ‘waked’ up, come get me”. You don’t know this, but I have been waiting for YEARS for that exact moment. Even before she was born, I have always wanted to go in the morning of my children’s birthdays and have a cupcake with a candle ontop, sing Happy Birthday and just celebrate for a few moments alone, just the 2 of us. No Poppy, No siblings! Just us! This year was the first year she is old enough to have some sort of concept as to what was going on. Friday she asked me, is today my birthday?!? No baby, your birthday is on Monday, today is Friday. Saturday she asked me, is today my birthday?!? No baby, your birthday is on Monday, today is Saturday. Sunday she asked me, is today my birthday?!? No baby, your birthday is on Monday, today is Sunday. So as I walked in to her room, I started singing Happy Birthday! Her whole face lit up and she said, “my birthday is today?!?!” Yes, baby, your birthday is TODAY! It brought so much joy to me to see how happy she was. She then told me that she didn’t want to eat the cupcake (really a muffin – I’m not going to give a 3 year old that much sugar at 8 in the AM) and that I could eat it for her. I told her no, it was her birthday and her cupcake. She opted not to eat it. We then left her room and went to snuggle with Poppy!
The next tradition I explained to her while the 3 of us were snuggling was that the birthday person got to choose what the whole house ate for breakfast, lunch AND dinner. I had already warned Dustin if she said broccoli and apples, we were going to eat broccoli and apples! Fortunately for us, she LOVES breakfast! In fact, she requested bacon, eggs, sausage, grits and blueberries. So, bacon, eggs, sausage, grits and blueberries it was! I told her to stay in bed and keep snuggling with Poppy and I would have breakfast done real quick. Dustin said he couldn’t keep her in bed even if I paid him to, she wanted to help me cook so downstairs she went! I had the dishwasher open and was emptying it and she was drawn to it like a magnet. “I help you Mommy”. “No baby, its your birthday, you don’t need to help me do dishes. Go snuggle.” “No, Mommy, I help you!” Breakfast was ready 2 minutes later. Our next conversation was over who said the blessing. She always says it but I wanted to say a special blessing over her on her birthday! We compromised and both said the blessing.
With breakfast out of the way, we wanted to get the birthday adventures under way! It was supposed to reach 100 degrees here in the lovely Washington DC metro area and we didn’t want to get caught up in that. We headed over to Brookside Gardens! An amazing, incomparable, award-winning 50-acre public display garden. Included in the gardens are several distinct areas: Aquatic Garden, Azalea Garden, Butterfly Garden, Children's Garden, Rose Garden, Japanese Style Garden, Trial Garden, Rain Garden and the Woodland Walk. The Formal Gardens areas include a Perennial Garden, Yew Garden, the Maple Terrace, and Fragrance Garden. With it being so hot, we decided to hit the Children’s Garden and then head on over to the Wings of Fancy Live Butterfly Exhibit! The children’s garden has a tree house to climb in, a hallowed out tree to hide in and lots of fun stuff. AB and Dustin even had a tea party. She loved the butterflies! We had never seen that many before. She was a little freaked out when one landed on her head and then when the employees insisted on checking her clothes and hair before exiting to make sure there were no escapees. By the time we got back on the trail and felt the heat and stared at the uphill challenge, my wonderful husband and AB’s amazing Poppy found a nice spot in the shade for us and sprinted the 10-minute walk back to the car and picked us up at the butterfly entrance! Once in the car, AB said she wanted to go home. The birthday girl wants to go home, home it is. Little did she know, there was another adventure there waiting for her.
When we pulled into the driveway, Dustin hopped out and ran inside. He brought up a huge box that had been sitting in our laundry room for over a week. She walked in and saw it in the middle of the living room. MeMaw and BopBaw sent her a sand box. She told Dustin she could open it herself. He let her try and when there were no objections to his help, he dug right in and started pulling it out of the box! There in the middle of my living room floor, my daughter was so happy! It looked as if she were doing a rain dance or something. She jumped right in the empty sand box and ran in circles. Dustin asked her if she thought we should put something in it and her choice was dirt! “poppy, we need some dirt!” Lucky for her, we had bought some sand (200 lbs) a couple days before, and in less than 5 minutes, she was set up on the deck with sand and buckets and shovels and whatever else you need for sand box fun! Keeping in mind that it was 100 degrees outside, we made sure she was in the sun and had many sips of water! Dustin got the canopy out and set that over her as well. I have never seen a kiddo take such pride in the simple act of scooping sand and placing it in a bucket. She seriously was out there over 45 minutes.
Trying to get her mind geared towards our next part of the day, we asked her what she wanted for lunch and reminded her that what she chose the whole family would eat. She requested fish and sticks and blueberries. So we had fish sticks, blueberries and Dustin added oranges and these (nasty) breaded creamed corn bites. Again, we had a compromise with the prayer, she said the first half and Dustin prayed a blessing over her as well. Her favorite part of the meal was the mayonnaise that she put with her fish. Dustin likes it straight up with just plain mayo and I prefer my mayo mixed with horseradish and pickle cubes. AB took it anyway she could get it. We only objected it when she ate the mayo plain without fish.
It was noon and she had already had such a full day. We knew there were many more adventures so we encouraged her to go take a nap. I was so proud of her. She willing let Dustin shower her off real quick to get the sand off and then it was off to bed, no objections! I think she enjoyed the shower so much, she thought it was part of her birthday adventure!
Over 3 hours later, my birthday princess awoke! Let the adventure continue! We found a park nearby that has a carousal and a miniature train.
God’s timing was perfect! We went straight to the ticket booth, bought 2 carousal tickets and 3 train tickets! Per Dustin’s request AB and I got on the carousal and she picked out her horse. I asked her what its name was and for the first time, she chose a real name. She has named all of her stuffed animals after what they really are, so puppy or bear. I was fully expecting the horse to be “horsie”. She declared that her horse was Suzie. Round and round we started to go. She waved at Poppy almost every time we went around and he just took picture after picture. I looked at her, put my arm around her and she told me I could hold on to Suzie so I didn’t fall. We tried to kiss but it was when the horse was on its way up. She thought that was so funny. When she finally returned down closer to my level she gave me a quick kiss. It quickly turned into a game and she kept escaping my kisses! She put her arm around me and squeezed me tight and said, “Mommy, I love you, you are my best friend” Many my heart melted. Being 8 months pregnant and standing on a spinning carousal did a number on me but hearing her say those words made it all ok. I was there with my best friend! By the time we got off the carousal, we headed over to the train. We got the second to last ride of the day. We were first in line and the birthday girl got to sit in the front seat (of course right behind the driver). The whistle blew and we were off. The train took us through fields and a thick forest. Some of the trees had to be over 150 years old, they were huge! The speed of the train caused a light breeze and it was perfect. When we arrived back at the station, we looked over and saw that the carousal was closed for the day! We hit it just right. If we had reversed our order, we would have not been able to do both.
As we got in the car and were headed home, we asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner, reminding her that whatever she wanted, the whole family would eat. We have her three options: Taco Bell, Chinese Soup (she loved egg drop soup) or pizza. The birthday girl chose Taco Bell and Chinese Soup with crunchies; so Taco Bell and Chinese Soup with crunchies it was! At Taco Bell, she got a cheesy roll-up (which she ate before we got home) and nachos. Poppy got a caramel apple empanada and I got a bean burrito. At our favorite Chinese restaurant, we got egg rolls, egg drop soup, rice, crunchies and Mongolian beef. I have to say that is a first in the Hedrick Household (2 restaurants for 1 dinner).
After dinner was cake and presents. As I came down the stairs with the store bought cherry cream cake with 3 purple candles in it, her face lit up once again! As I knelt down to her level, she put her arm around my neck as Dustin and I continued to sing to her. She looked at me, held her hand up as if she were giving me a warning and proceeded to tell me “you don’t blow it out, I will!” After the candles were blown out, the cake was cut and served. She didn’t touch hers. Not one bite. She didn’t eat the cupcake (muffin) that morning and would not eat even one bite of her cake! She could care less for sweets! I am not going to complain about that! I do not know who had a better time as the gifts were opened, her or us! We got her a Scooby and Mystery Machine pins to go on her crocs right next to her fire truck and police car from last year, a soccer ball, a Scooby back pack, a book to go in it, a Scooby lunch box and a Scooby Haunted Mansion. Her favorite was the Scooby lunch box! She slept with it last night and brought it to my room this AM.
After an exhausting day, she requested, as she always does, to watch Scooby Doo. The only difference is this time, we gave in and let her watch 4 episodes. Lydia wanted to get in on the action and I started having contractions and was extremely nauseated. Dustin grounded me and made me stay in bed the rest of the evening and he did dishes, laundry, picked up the house and put AB to bed. He said he could not afford to have a baby come 4 weeks early. I agreed. I want as many days in between AB’s and Lydia’s birthday as possible. I heard the parties and gifts get more expensive the older they get and I would like to have as many paychecks in-between the 2 of them as possible.
Dustin sent Anna to wish me a good night and let me give her one more birthday hug. That child was non-stop chatty. You would have thought she ate the whole cake; but we know the truth, it was not a sugar high, it was a ‘I am a loved three year old and have great parents high’!
God, I hope I am doing this right! Please continue to lead me and show me your heart for Anna and help me be the mom I am called to be. Dustin and I cannot do this alone!
The birthday adventure is still going. We have a party planned for her at Chuck E Cheese with 4 or 5 of her little friends from Sunday School. I want to do nothing more than to pay the cashier at the end of the night. No mess to clean up at my house, no dishes to wash, no entertaining to do. I never thought a mouse could be a pregnant lady’s best friend!
Now how to make that Scooby Doo cake I promised her…!
The next morning, she called for me saying, “Mommy, I ‘waked’ up, come get me”. You don’t know this, but I have been waiting for YEARS for that exact moment. Even before she was born, I have always wanted to go in the morning of my children’s birthdays and have a cupcake with a candle ontop, sing Happy Birthday and just celebrate for a few moments alone, just the 2 of us. No Poppy, No siblings! Just us! This year was the first year she is old enough to have some sort of concept as to what was going on. Friday she asked me, is today my birthday?!? No baby, your birthday is on Monday, today is Friday. Saturday she asked me, is today my birthday?!? No baby, your birthday is on Monday, today is Saturday. Sunday she asked me, is today my birthday?!? No baby, your birthday is on Monday, today is Sunday. So as I walked in to her room, I started singing Happy Birthday! Her whole face lit up and she said, “my birthday is today?!?!” Yes, baby, your birthday is TODAY! It brought so much joy to me to see how happy she was. She then told me that she didn’t want to eat the cupcake (really a muffin – I’m not going to give a 3 year old that much sugar at 8 in the AM) and that I could eat it for her. I told her no, it was her birthday and her cupcake. She opted not to eat it. We then left her room and went to snuggle with Poppy!
The next tradition I explained to her while the 3 of us were snuggling was that the birthday person got to choose what the whole house ate for breakfast, lunch AND dinner. I had already warned Dustin if she said broccoli and apples, we were going to eat broccoli and apples! Fortunately for us, she LOVES breakfast! In fact, she requested bacon, eggs, sausage, grits and blueberries. So, bacon, eggs, sausage, grits and blueberries it was! I told her to stay in bed and keep snuggling with Poppy and I would have breakfast done real quick. Dustin said he couldn’t keep her in bed even if I paid him to, she wanted to help me cook so downstairs she went! I had the dishwasher open and was emptying it and she was drawn to it like a magnet. “I help you Mommy”. “No baby, its your birthday, you don’t need to help me do dishes. Go snuggle.” “No, Mommy, I help you!” Breakfast was ready 2 minutes later. Our next conversation was over who said the blessing. She always says it but I wanted to say a special blessing over her on her birthday! We compromised and both said the blessing.
With breakfast out of the way, we wanted to get the birthday adventures under way! It was supposed to reach 100 degrees here in the lovely Washington DC metro area and we didn’t want to get caught up in that. We headed over to Brookside Gardens! An amazing, incomparable, award-winning 50-acre public display garden. Included in the gardens are several distinct areas: Aquatic Garden, Azalea Garden, Butterfly Garden, Children's Garden, Rose Garden, Japanese Style Garden, Trial Garden, Rain Garden and the Woodland Walk. The Formal Gardens areas include a Perennial Garden, Yew Garden, the Maple Terrace, and Fragrance Garden. With it being so hot, we decided to hit the Children’s Garden and then head on over to the Wings of Fancy Live Butterfly Exhibit! The children’s garden has a tree house to climb in, a hallowed out tree to hide in and lots of fun stuff. AB and Dustin even had a tea party. She loved the butterflies! We had never seen that many before. She was a little freaked out when one landed on her head and then when the employees insisted on checking her clothes and hair before exiting to make sure there were no escapees. By the time we got back on the trail and felt the heat and stared at the uphill challenge, my wonderful husband and AB’s amazing Poppy found a nice spot in the shade for us and sprinted the 10-minute walk back to the car and picked us up at the butterfly entrance! Once in the car, AB said she wanted to go home. The birthday girl wants to go home, home it is. Little did she know, there was another adventure there waiting for her.
When we pulled into the driveway, Dustin hopped out and ran inside. He brought up a huge box that had been sitting in our laundry room for over a week. She walked in and saw it in the middle of the living room. MeMaw and BopBaw sent her a sand box. She told Dustin she could open it herself. He let her try and when there were no objections to his help, he dug right in and started pulling it out of the box! There in the middle of my living room floor, my daughter was so happy! It looked as if she were doing a rain dance or something. She jumped right in the empty sand box and ran in circles. Dustin asked her if she thought we should put something in it and her choice was dirt! “poppy, we need some dirt!” Lucky for her, we had bought some sand (200 lbs) a couple days before, and in less than 5 minutes, she was set up on the deck with sand and buckets and shovels and whatever else you need for sand box fun! Keeping in mind that it was 100 degrees outside, we made sure she was in the sun and had many sips of water! Dustin got the canopy out and set that over her as well. I have never seen a kiddo take such pride in the simple act of scooping sand and placing it in a bucket. She seriously was out there over 45 minutes.
Trying to get her mind geared towards our next part of the day, we asked her what she wanted for lunch and reminded her that what she chose the whole family would eat. She requested fish and sticks and blueberries. So we had fish sticks, blueberries and Dustin added oranges and these (nasty) breaded creamed corn bites. Again, we had a compromise with the prayer, she said the first half and Dustin prayed a blessing over her as well. Her favorite part of the meal was the mayonnaise that she put with her fish. Dustin likes it straight up with just plain mayo and I prefer my mayo mixed with horseradish and pickle cubes. AB took it anyway she could get it. We only objected it when she ate the mayo plain without fish.
It was noon and she had already had such a full day. We knew there were many more adventures so we encouraged her to go take a nap. I was so proud of her. She willing let Dustin shower her off real quick to get the sand off and then it was off to bed, no objections! I think she enjoyed the shower so much, she thought it was part of her birthday adventure!
Over 3 hours later, my birthday princess awoke! Let the adventure continue! We found a park nearby that has a carousal and a miniature train.
God’s timing was perfect! We went straight to the ticket booth, bought 2 carousal tickets and 3 train tickets! Per Dustin’s request AB and I got on the carousal and she picked out her horse. I asked her what its name was and for the first time, she chose a real name. She has named all of her stuffed animals after what they really are, so puppy or bear. I was fully expecting the horse to be “horsie”. She declared that her horse was Suzie. Round and round we started to go. She waved at Poppy almost every time we went around and he just took picture after picture. I looked at her, put my arm around her and she told me I could hold on to Suzie so I didn’t fall. We tried to kiss but it was when the horse was on its way up. She thought that was so funny. When she finally returned down closer to my level she gave me a quick kiss. It quickly turned into a game and she kept escaping my kisses! She put her arm around me and squeezed me tight and said, “Mommy, I love you, you are my best friend” Many my heart melted. Being 8 months pregnant and standing on a spinning carousal did a number on me but hearing her say those words made it all ok. I was there with my best friend! By the time we got off the carousal, we headed over to the train. We got the second to last ride of the day. We were first in line and the birthday girl got to sit in the front seat (of course right behind the driver). The whistle blew and we were off. The train took us through fields and a thick forest. Some of the trees had to be over 150 years old, they were huge! The speed of the train caused a light breeze and it was perfect. When we arrived back at the station, we looked over and saw that the carousal was closed for the day! We hit it just right. If we had reversed our order, we would have not been able to do both.
As we got in the car and were headed home, we asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner, reminding her that whatever she wanted, the whole family would eat. We have her three options: Taco Bell, Chinese Soup (she loved egg drop soup) or pizza. The birthday girl chose Taco Bell and Chinese Soup with crunchies; so Taco Bell and Chinese Soup with crunchies it was! At Taco Bell, she got a cheesy roll-up (which she ate before we got home) and nachos. Poppy got a caramel apple empanada and I got a bean burrito. At our favorite Chinese restaurant, we got egg rolls, egg drop soup, rice, crunchies and Mongolian beef. I have to say that is a first in the Hedrick Household (2 restaurants for 1 dinner).
After dinner was cake and presents. As I came down the stairs with the store bought cherry cream cake with 3 purple candles in it, her face lit up once again! As I knelt down to her level, she put her arm around my neck as Dustin and I continued to sing to her. She looked at me, held her hand up as if she were giving me a warning and proceeded to tell me “you don’t blow it out, I will!” After the candles were blown out, the cake was cut and served. She didn’t touch hers. Not one bite. She didn’t eat the cupcake (muffin) that morning and would not eat even one bite of her cake! She could care less for sweets! I am not going to complain about that! I do not know who had a better time as the gifts were opened, her or us! We got her a Scooby and Mystery Machine pins to go on her crocs right next to her fire truck and police car from last year, a soccer ball, a Scooby back pack, a book to go in it, a Scooby lunch box and a Scooby Haunted Mansion. Her favorite was the Scooby lunch box! She slept with it last night and brought it to my room this AM.
After an exhausting day, she requested, as she always does, to watch Scooby Doo. The only difference is this time, we gave in and let her watch 4 episodes. Lydia wanted to get in on the action and I started having contractions and was extremely nauseated. Dustin grounded me and made me stay in bed the rest of the evening and he did dishes, laundry, picked up the house and put AB to bed. He said he could not afford to have a baby come 4 weeks early. I agreed. I want as many days in between AB’s and Lydia’s birthday as possible. I heard the parties and gifts get more expensive the older they get and I would like to have as many paychecks in-between the 2 of them as possible.
Dustin sent Anna to wish me a good night and let me give her one more birthday hug. That child was non-stop chatty. You would have thought she ate the whole cake; but we know the truth, it was not a sugar high, it was a ‘I am a loved three year old and have great parents high’!
God, I hope I am doing this right! Please continue to lead me and show me your heart for Anna and help me be the mom I am called to be. Dustin and I cannot do this alone!
The birthday adventure is still going. We have a party planned for her at Chuck E Cheese with 4 or 5 of her little friends from Sunday School. I want to do nothing more than to pay the cashier at the end of the night. No mess to clean up at my house, no dishes to wash, no entertaining to do. I never thought a mouse could be a pregnant lady’s best friend!
Now how to make that Scooby Doo cake I promised her…!
