And Then She Was Three

    The birthday girl with her Minnie Mouse cake. It wasn't as big as it looks here, I promise. =)

This year, Lane's birthday "celebrations" began at around 9:30 the night before her birthday, when she woke up complaining that her tummy hurt. An hour later, the puking began. At 3:30 a.m., after a few hours of dozing in our bed and waking every 30-45 minutes gagging in her sleep, subsequently dry-heaving and puking up any spit that accumulated in her tummy while she slept, she finally fell asleep for the night. Around 7:30 the girls woke up, so I got up with them, leaving Shannon to sleep for awhile longer since he also had been up a lot of the night puking. (Lest anyone think I escaped the plague, rest assured that I had it the night before.)


    "Hey, dat's my NAME!" said the birthday girl.

So, we woke up and I let Lane have a big glass of water since she had been puke-free for 4-5 hours. Big mistake, as she immediately threw up all over the kitchen floor. Lesson learned. Until noon she only got a couple of tablespoons of water at a time, and no food. Some great birthday breakfast, huh? That morning she opened her gifts while on Skype with my mom, and spent the rest of the morning playing with her new toys, other than the hour and a half that she napped, which she desperately needed since only getting six or so hours of sleep the night before.


    Birthday pancakes. For lunch.

We ate our birthday pancakes for lunch, played some more (and watched new Mickey Mouse shows), and had the birthday girl's request, spaghetti and broccoli, for an early dinner. Lane was in bed by 6:00. Her actual birthday was, I'm afraid, quite the let-down, at least in my eyes. But I think she had fun, despite being exhausted and not feeling too well.


    Playing with her new Minnie Mouse Birthday Boutique.


    Watching Mickey Mouse shows.

I had wanted to give Lane an actual party this year, since she's finally old enough to know what's going on. But I knew it would have to be Mickey Mouse, and the more I looked at ideas for party decorations and party favors, the more stressed out I became. I don't live where I can just drive to Target or Walmart or the nearest party store and come home with a tablecloth and birthday banner and color-coordinated balloons. So we decided to forego an actual party (and save my sanity) and instead to celebrate with the people we fellowship with on Sundays.


    Birthday dinner, complete with candles. Hey, when the sick birthday girl wants candles in everything and for you to sing to her, most people oblige, right?


    The Minnie Mouse cake I made. A big shout-out to my sister who sent me the candy melts and to our friends who loaned me 1/4 cup of corn syrup! And to Pinterest, which makes coming up with cake ideas so much easier!

I made a beautiful (if I do say so myself) cake for her, found some birthday paper plates and Minnie Mouse napkins, and called it good. A few friends brought her gifts which she opened on Sunday, but honestly she was quite overwhelmed just with everyone singing to her, and what started as a huge grin at the onset of "Happy Birthday" turned into a shy little girl looking at her lap until it was time to blow out her candles. She could barely handle opening gifts (and the children who were so excited to give them to her), so I think in hindsight, it's a good thing we skipped the actual party this year. Maybe the big "4" will be a winner in the party department.


    Our birthday gift: a mini trampoline. I love the fact that now when she's being crazy I can tell her to go jump on the trampoline if she wants to jump around, and most of the time, she does!


    One of her favorite gifts: a BrainQuest dry-erase tracing book. The tracing lines gradually get lighter until they're not there. I think that's a pretty good solo H for a just-turned-3-year-old, don't you?

Anyhow, it was more or less a birthday week, stretching over five days with gifts and cake, and even today she got to finish her piece of cake from yesterday (of which she only ate the frosting). I can't believe my baby girl is already three years old. I about threw up when I realized she'll leave home in 15 years, that my time of day-to-day influence in her life is 1/6th of the way over. Here's to hoping that three is better than two was (in the temper tantrum, I'm-in-control-and-want-it-my-way, learning-to-be-obedient areas of life), although from what I've heard...I'm gearing up for another long year. I love my girlie to death, but her stubborn side might just do me in before we reach next January!


    I let her lick the beater when I was making her birthday cake. I'm an awesome mom. =)

On Your Third Birthday

I asked you some questions. Here are your answers, completely mostly unprompted:

1. Your favorite color is red.

2. Your favorite toy is Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse.

3. Your favorite fruit is bananas.

4. Your favorite tv show is Mickey Mouse.

5. Your favorite movie is Cinderella.

6. Your favorite thing to wear is a shirt (your Minnie Mouse one, we think).

7. Your favorite animal is elephants and chickens and cows.

8. Your favorite song is "I love you, Lord."

9. Your favorite book is The Very Lonely Firefly.

10. Your best friend is Calvin and Mommy and Daddy and Noel.

11. Your favorite snack is cashews.

12. Your favorite drink is milk and water.

13. Your favorite breakfast is pancakes.

14. Your favorite lunch is ham and cheese.

15. Your favorite dinner is soup (this is quite doubtful in our minds).

16. Your favorite game is Blue Dog, Red Dog.

17. Your favorite thing to play outside is chalk.

18. Your favorite holiday is Christmas.

19. At night you sleep with blankie.

20. You want to be free when you grow up.

I'll repeat these questions every year on your birthday and see how they change. Maybe next year you won't have been up half the night puking and delirious by dinnertime when I ask them to you. 

13 Months Old

My littlest lady turned 13 months old today. She's becoming quite the cutie-patootie.

At 13 months, Noel:

*says lots of words, although most of them aren't very clear. Mama, dada, nite-nite, yay (Lane), mom-eee, baa (ball), buh (book), muh (Milk. Or maybe "more." Hard to tell since usually she wants more milk).
*pats her belly when we ask where her belly is, and sometimes sticks out her tongue when we ask where her tongue is.
*loves green veggies. She's so hilarious...we actually have to not put any on anyone's plate (i.e. leave them on the stove in the pot) until she's eaten some of the rest of the food (pasta, rice, meat, whatever), because one she sees broccoli, or peas, or green beans, or cauliflower, it's over. It's all she'll eat after she sees it.



*is still nursing once a day, in the mornings. She likes regular milk a lot though. I'll probably wean after she's done teething.
*has 11 teeth. Eleven! That's six more than Lane did at five months old! She got three molars in the four days after Christmas. It was a rough couple of weeks.
*can put the rings on her stacker. One by one, using two hands. Totally cute.
*loves to wear the beaded necklaces that Lane got for Christmas. She can even put them on herself. She'll wear them, all of them, all day long if we let her.



*sleeps 7:30-6:30 or so. Or 8-6. Or 8-7. She sleeps consistently all night, but as for the exact times...well, it's been a rough few weeks of it. I think it's due to all the teeth, and all the nasty diapers that have been accompanying the teeth. We thought she was ready to drop to one nap a day, but then right as she started to get the hang of it, she started teething, and pooping 4-5 times a day, and that would wake her up early from her nap, which would throw the whole day off. Anyhow. I'm hoping that things return to normal soon!
*drinks from a regular cup, but can't do it by herself yet.
*can get a forkful of food to her mouth.
*is wearing a combo of 9, 12, and 18-month clothes.



*is totally a daddy's girl. Tonight Lane and Shannon were in the office with the door closed and Noel stood outside the door, banging on it and hollering. It was like she was saying, "I know you're in there! Come get me too!" She loves to (practically) run to Shannon and throw her arms up to be picked up.
*still has mostly blue eyes.
*loves to play "pat-a-cake" and "this little piggy." Mostly she loves the tickling.
*is obsessed with throwing things in the bathtub. And with hairbrushes and toothbrushes. And with cell phones. Goodness does that girl love a cell phone!



*has a little bit of a temper. She'll sit in her high chair and scream and hit the table if she wants some more food. She'll get mad at the cabinet doors that keep closing on her when she's digging in the cabinets, pushing them open, which only causes them to close on her faster, which causes her to get mad and push them again...it's really funny.
*is sensitive. If you speak to her harshly, "NO, Noel!" she'll usually scrunch up her face and cry. And then she doesn't do "it" again. She's also pretty obedient. We didn't have many issues with her touching the Christmas tree, or standing up in the tub, or touching electrical outlets, or anything. Usually when we tell her "no," she obeys.

I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting, but hey, the cuteness makes up for it all. And the fact that I'm trying to live in the moment with my kids, instead of documenting every moment and missing it in real life. =)

2012 In Review

I wanted to do a post like this last year, but let's face it, I was up to my half-closed eyeballs in the diapers and laundry that accompany a 3-week old. My year in review:


January

I turned 32.

Lane turned two.



We took a short trip to Antalya, Turkey as a family.


February

We got family photos taken for the first time.



We potty-trained Lane.

Shannon went to the States for two weeks, leaving me alone with a 2-year old and a 2.5-month old.


    Girls snoozing together, giving me a break!

March

Noel started sleeping through the night.

Lane started her love affair with Mickey and Minnie Mouse.



I started taking a Turkish class outside the home, dragging Noel with me to class each week.


April

Lane went on her first Easter egg hunt.



Noel reached that happy, smiling, rolling-all-over-the-place stage.


May

Shannon got Lasik eye surgery.



Noel and I went to the States, surprising my youngest brother for his high school graduation.



Shannon went out-of-country for a week, and I nearly went insane.


June

We gave Noel her own room: the bathroom.

Lane and I had our first real tea party.


    First tea party.

Shannon took a CELTA course, effectively making me a single parent for a month.

It got really hot in Istanbul, so we spent some time in the pool.



We took a day trip to Buyuk Ada (Big Island) off the coast of Istanbul, giving Noel her first carriage ride (and Lane the first one she might remember).



More family photos!




July

We went to a conference on the Marmara Sea, where Noel took her first dip in a pool and Lane cried all week while in childcare.


    View from our hotel room.


Shannon's dad came to visit.




We took a day trip to the beach with some good friends. It was Noel's first time to the beach, and Lane's first visit in almost two years.



Shannon turned 38.


August

We celebrated five years of marriage.

Shannon went out of town for a week, so I ate whatever I wanted. (We did drop his cholesterol about 30 points, just in case you were wondering.)


    Where he went.


    What we did while he was gone.

I night-time potty trained Lane while Shannon was gone.



And I attempted to put the girls in the same room, but Noel started getting some teeth that week and waking lots during the night, so I gave it up.


September

We moved out of our apartment and into temporary housing, waiting on our visas to come through for our next move.



I took a break from blogging with no guilt.


    Lane got really interested in coloring.


October

We voted.

I chopped off all my hair.



Lane became hilarious.

We took the girls for one last "big hurrah" in the "Big City."


   First time in a ball pit.

We moved to another country.


    View from our apartment when we arrived.


November

Lane broke her collarbone and got an ear infection.

We started language lessons and began to figure out life here.

We decorated for Christmas in the typical Scarbrough fashion: pizza and decorating with A Charlie Brown Christmas playing on Thanksgiving Day.




December

Noel turned one.



We got some decent snowfall and Lane got to really play in snow for the first time.





Noel got three molars in four days (25th-28th) and we put the girls in the same room again.

Christmas.





Fireworks for 30ish minutes on the 31st. Best show I've ever seen.


     View from our apartment windows of fireworks all over the city.

Happy New Year! As crazy as 2012 was for us, it was a great year. I'm praying for another great year in 2013!