Marissa Turns Three!

It is hard to wrap my head around the fact that I have a little girl who is three years old! Time has seemingly flown by since the day she was born. I can still remember those early days when she was first home so clearly, and it feels like it was just yesterday in some ways. And, then of course there is Oliver, who reminds me so much of his big sister in so many ways, but especially in the way he looks. He is like a boy version of Sassy (our nickname for Marissa.) I'm feeling like such a lucky mama to have two such wonderful kids.

Marissa- I just looked back at all the photos of your birthday party, and one thing is exceptionally clear - you had an amazingly good time! In literally every single photo, you have a grin that stretches so wide across your face, it looks like each moment is the happiest moment in your life. I think you were so happy to be surrounded by all your friends and family, and I hope felt so much love for you, because you are so loved by everyone who knows you!  I hope your mermaid party was everything you dreamed and wished it would be. I can remember thinking back to when I was still pregnant with Oliver last winter and we would lay in your bed at night when I tucked you in and we would daydream together about what your third birthday would be like. I am so amazed by the beautiful, smart, imaginative, sweet, thoughtful, funny girl you are becoming. One of my favorite moments of the party was when you saw your friend Kyler across the backyard, even though he was at least 20 feet away from you, you called out to him, "Kyler, I am so glad you came to my birthday party, thank you so much for coming." You said this to all of your little friends that day, it nearly melted my heart, because you did so without any prompting from mommy or daddy, you were just so trully happy to have your friends there celebrating with you. We love you so much Marissa, Happy 3rd birthday! I can't wait to see what the next year brings you.

California Girl

My strawberry loving girl. Every week she goes through about a half a flat from the farmer's market.

Birthday Preparations

Marissa and I have been in full preparation mode for her birthday and upcoming party. It has been really fun planning it this year, because it is the first year where she has definite ideas about what she wants and can really anticipate her party. She is having an Ariel themed mermaid party, this fits in perfectly with her current princess obsession. I'm so glad I didn't try and plan this party while I was pregnant, because 6 months ago she wanted a Thomas cake. I really can't even say where this princess craze came from, but in our house, it's all princess all the time. She has only seen Cinderella a hand full of times, which she loves, and has never even seen The Little Mermaid, but that doesn't deter her undying love for Ariel.
I am so excited to see her party come together next week and to see her have fun with all of her friends.
Here are some photos involving birthday preparations. And, of course a few of little Flounder aka Oliver.

Seaweed Playdough

The cutest little foot.

Making Playdough for her party.

Giving himself a good tummy time lick. He must taste good.

Marissa with her personal seamstress (aka my friend Natalie.)
Sneak preview of one of her birthday outfits!

First Physical Therapy: Check

Done! Well, at least the first session of Oliver's PT is done. And, I am happy to report that it wasn't as dreadful as I had anticipated. Leo and I went together on Friday, while Marissa got to have some fun with our great sitter Bethany. I was so glad that Daddy was able to tag along, despite his super busy work schedule. Oliver did so well! His physical therapist Dave who is also the owner of Evergreen Physical Therapy, was so gentle and calming. Which, Mommy probably needed more than Oliver. He said that he thinks his case is "mild," but he also didn't say that he won't need a helmet. We have some serious homework to do with him at home that includes lots of stretching and keeping him on his tummy as much as possible while he is awake. For some reason he isn't quite as thrilled about the stretching at home as at the physical therapist's office, but I like to sneak in a lot of stretching while he is asleep. We are all scheduled through September to have weekly appointments, so hopefully we will see some improvements in his head shape.
In other news, Oliver is just giving this mommy a run for her money. After Leo went back to work Friday, I was for whatever reason (probably because I am slightly neurotic about the back of his head shape) feeling the back of Oliver's head, when I felt a lump, and I didn't feel a similar lump on the other side of his head. I really wanted to call Leo at the office, but I knew he would just chalk it up to me being an anxious mom. So on Saturday I had him feel it and sure enough, he felt it to, which was a little disconcerting. Then this morning, I was giving him a bath and I could actually see a visible lump on the back lower left side of his head. I took a deep breath, because I was inwardly getting more nervous by the second and called Leo (again!) at work, we decided that we should call the pediatrician's office. They wanted to see him today and not wait for his four month appointment, which scared me even further. His pediatrician was very quick to decide that it was just a lymph node, and she found the matching one in a sort of similar place on the other side of his head, but it was very, very difficult to feel. I really cannot express the relief that I felt when she said this. I just feel a completely new sense of appreciation for the health of our family and just the love of our children and of course Leo too. I squeezed and hugged and kissed Marissa and Oliver soooo much today, they were probably wondering what was up with me (and I am normally a big hugger and kisser.) Marissa was even super sweet and kept giving me squeezes when I would direct her too. Thanks Marissa for keeping Mommy a little calmer today and giving me love just when I needed it. I think a scare like this makes me so much more patient as a mom and appreciative of all our little moments together. We also had such a fun filled weekend celebrating one of Marissa's best buddies, Elijah's 3rd birthday, and swimming in her cousin's pool. I have no pool pictures, because I sadly left my camera at home, but here are a few from the birthday party.  And, sadly not as many as I would have liked because I am still mastering the art of chasing a toddler around and toting a new baby while trying to get photos. Only 10 days until Marissa's birthday!

She takes her cupcake eating seriously. And, no that's not her beer.

Oliver and Daddy

Weekend Update

Well, I'm feeling a little guilty here of not updating in a while, but I swear I can explain! Since last Monday Marissa has had a BAD cold and then proceeded to sneeze directly in little Oliver's face on approximately Tuesday, at which point by Thursday he was a fussy mess himself. Then- Mommy and Daddy started to go down the tubes and we barricaded ourselves in our house this weekend trying to recover as much as possible, while poor daddy still had to stay up until 2am every night working and using the laptop I update from, so long story short no updates from me.

Here are some photos of how we have been occupying ourselves in the house for the past week:

Marissa is OBSESSED with reading and you can't really tell from this photo, but she dragged her laundry basket to the living room and it must have been half filled with these thin books (know in our house as "paper cloth books", which she reads several times a day. And, yes, she had dumped the dirty laundry in her bedroom. It is great when you have a sick kid and they love to read though, it is the perfect quiet activity.

Marissa has been asking me to do these over and over again (body tracings). She says Mom lets do a "Marissa!"

Chomp, Chomp, watching the Marissa show.

Oliver has been working on grabbing his toes.

Oliver thought staying at home rocked.

Oliver's new favorite new move, bringing his hands together.

Caught a smile.

Cuteness

 

This is why they say not to leave baby unattended on playmat.