Happy 3rd Birthday Princess Sophie

We've been partying so much this past week we have barely had a moment to even think about posting! Sophie's third birthday celebration began last weekend when we had a visit with Jim's cousins and Aunt and Uncle and Aunt Ann was so sweet to bake a cake for Sophie so she had her first official birthday singing and cake last Sunday! Then, mid-week we got to bake cupcakes for all her classmates at her school. They all sang to her and she got to wear a special crown for the day. We made Ariel cupcakes and of course, Sophie helped and thoroughly enjoyed herself licking the batter afterwards! Then on Saturday we had *quite* the birthday celebration starting with a breakfast of sausage and monkey bread, opening some presents from Mommy and Daddy and some quality time playing and then off to the toy store to pick out a few "special" presents for our big three year old girl. Then, Sophie got treated to her first trip to "the Shalon" (what Sophie calls a "salon" for some reason) where she had a mini-manicure and a makeup application. (She was supposed to have gotten a mini-pedicure too but sadly had dropped some really heavy binoculars on her big toe earlier in the day and so we bagged the pedi for the day in favor of some purple eye shadow and sparky lip gloss.) She was in pure heaven! She just thought it was the coolest thing and loved all her special "treatments" and loved being around all the glam and the other little girls getting their "sweet and sassy" spa treatments, too. Then we got to meet up with some surprise guests - Aunt Pat and Caely - for a special birthday dinner!! We had a great meal (spaghetti and meatballs for Sophie or course) and OF COURSE there was more cake and signing. Then today was Sophie's birthday party at a wonderful place called Romp n' Roll. It was a humongous success and there was much romping and rolling (and jumping and snowball fighting and princess freeze dancing and moon bouncing and so much more). What a great birthday week and weekend I think she has had!!

As for the sappy stuff, I was a blubbering mess putting sweet Sophie to bed for the last night of her life as a two year old. And, I cried yesterday and today. These three years have gone so fast. How can she be three already? It just boggles my mind. And yet she is. A big girl - already three. Getting spa treatments and telling jokes and talking about her wedding to her BFF Nevyn... Lord help us... But that's another post altogether.

I love you sweetest Sophie girl. You are our everything... I'm proud of the sweet and funny and smart and spirited and independent 3 year old you are! And Daddy and I love you more than you will ever know. xoxoxo

Happy St. Pat's

Happy belated St. Patty's Day everyone!!! Here are a few shots of the girls on St. Patty's Day. And, I have to share this story with you....

We were in the post office a week or two ago and a woman with a thick Irish accent was looking at Emily and asked me if she was Irish. I said, well we're Scottish (and I'm a MacDougall, etc) and then I remember that Jim's mom is Irish and told her that too. And she said, "Ahhhh... she has the map of Ireland all over her face." Isn't that sweet? I just thought that was the sweetest comment and it made me really happy. And for some reason it made me think of both of my amazing Grandfathers - Grandpop Coll because he was Irish and stories about Ireland and Irish people make me think of him. And of my Grandpop MacDougall because he was Scottish and a MacDougall and wore a kilt and I will always have that MacDougall part of me because of him even though I lost the name, I'll never lost the heritage he passed on to me. Anyway, of course I got teary and wistful and started missing them both so much. And I was proud and happy that Emily carried on the face with the map of Ireland all over it.

Funny... then about a week later I was in the grocery store with the girls and yet another Irish lady with a thick Irish accent stopped me and asked if Emily was Irish. She commented on her face and how Irish she looked.

So I guess, our little Emily Anne is a little leprechaun at heart. I know she sure is cute and the Irish ladies sure do like her.

The Girls

So.... It's been another long stretch since I last posted, huh? Let's see what has been happening... Well, both girls were healthy there for a good stretch - maybe almost two weeks! But that is over now as Sophie got sick (again) this week and now poor Emily has it too. Emily also has had a return of her reflux which has caused her to be really miserable and unhappy and of course in a lot of pain. We didn't know for sure it was her reflux back because she is also teething so we kind of just thought it was teeth. But, then we noticed that she was burping and then crying. A lot. And she was gassy. And she couldn't sleep at night for more than an hour or so at a time. So I had her back into the doctors yesterday and they seem pretty sure that yes, her reflux is probably back. See... the last time I had the girls in the doctor suggested I either stop giving Em her reflux meds or else switch her formula from Alimentum to a regular one and see how it went. So, we gradually stopped giving her the reflux meds and she seemed to be doing fine with it but I guess maybe the medicine just hadn't all worked its way our of her body yet. So poor Emily has had a tough run of it - between the teeth and the reflux and not getting a lot of sleep at night and now she's got a cold on top of all that. Hopefully now she'll start to feel much better once she has a few days of her reflux meds again.

Sophie on the other hand seems to be doing pretty well. She does have a cold but doesn't at all seem "down for the count". She is overall pretty happy and doing a bit better in general. She doesn't seem to be throwing as many tantrums as before and she does seem to be overall fairly happy and even-keel. She has been fighting us a lot lately on having her hair brushed and wearing clips or bows in her hair and she is always pushing it out of her eyes all day long so we went yesterday and got her haircut. She loves it and it is so cute on her. Hopefully it will make the morning routine a little less painful to not have the hairbrushing fight to contend with every day.

In other news, Mommy's AVON business seems to be doing pretty well. And, Mommy is going to start gong back into the office a few days a week now. We found an amazing caregiver who is a wonderful person, local, and who Sophie adores so we feel like we are so lucky to have found her!! We have been doing "test runs" of her being her to watch the girls and it's gone so much beter than anyone ever would have expected. Sophie even told me one day "You can go do some work now" so she could be with her new BFF, Miss Lynn.

We are all excited for Dayling Savings tonight so now when the girls wake us up at 5-6am it won't feel quite so awful anymore (because it will be 6-7 am)! And of course, we're gearing up for the big birthday celebration at the end of the month for our big "3 year old" cutie!