Monday, January 28, 2013

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. =)

1 comment:

  1. Happy 3rd birthday Lane. Too bad she was sick for her actual birthday, but it sounds like you made it up for it. That cake came out GREAT!! Those are some great baking skills you have.

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