Happy Golden Birthday to Me!

Can you believe that I am 4 years old today!?  And it's the 4th of the month...so that makes it my golden birthday!

 

 

 

Here are some things you should know about me at 4 years old:

  

I love to draw!  Here's a picture I drew on the first day of school this year.  It was my first attempt at drawing people.

 And here's a "quilt" I created a few weeks ago during Qq week at school.

 

 

 

I am full of questions. 

Some of my recent inquiries include:

How do Mommies get their babies out of their bellies? (I've been asking this question on a semi-monthly basis for the last year.  I keep hoping for a clearer answer every time I ask it.)

When we die, can our bodies not move anymore?  Can we move in heaven?

How old will I live to be?

(After learning about the Lord's Prayer) Why Jesus prayed to himself?

What if a fire is in our house when we're not home?

Can I have some candy?

 

Despite Mommy and Daddy's best efforts to keep me otherwise, I am a huge Disney Princess fan.

 

 

I love to have books read to me.  Berenstein Bears, Little Critter, and the Laura Numeroff's "If You Give A..." series are some of my favorites.  I'm even learning to do a little bit of reading myself. 

 

 

I like to write my name and (attempt to write) Elliot's.  I'm still not convinced that the letters have to be placed in a straight line, though...or that 'E' contains only three horizontal lines.

 

I am fascinated with potty words (you know: poo, pee, poop, foot, toot, bottom, booty...)!  In fact, Mommy and Daddy recently decided to ban all such words from every room but the bathroom.

 

Even though I've been at school for 5 months now, I still have a hard time saying goodbye to Mommy and Daddy most mornings.  

 

I still loathe the Happy Birthday song!

 

 

I have a great memory.  Recently I reminded Mommy of an event that occured just a few weeks before I turned one.  We hadn't spoken of said event in 3 years!

 

Daddy says he loves to see my creativity expressed when I play pretend, make up songs, and dress myself.

 

Speaking of, I've recently discovered the joy of choosing my own clothes.  Which means that Mommy now has to differentiate between "at home" outfits and "going somewhere" outfits.

Family Photos

Back in mid-December we had our first official family of four photo shoot.  The photographer was one of Mommy's friends from high school, and we were all thrilled with her work!

 

All photos by Lisa Michelle Photography.

 

 

Mommy and Daddy were also thrilled with my cooperativeness at the shoot. 

 

 

 The last two times we've had family photos, I was on the other end of the cooperation spectrum.

 

 

This time around, though, I was more than happy to ham it up.

 

 

 And the next day (when Mommy showed me the sneek peek shots Mrs. Lisa had posted on Face Book) I cheerily exclaimed that I looked like a "beautiful princess".

 

 

And who could deny that this little guy makes one handsome prince?

 

 

2012 in Review

Here's a little look back at our family's year.

 

January

Mommy and Daddy made the announcement that 2012 would see us become a family of four.

 

February

We celebrated my 3rd birthday with a Very Hungry Katerpillar party.

 

March

We celebrated St. Patrick's day at the Oriz boys' birthday party.  Mommy and I made Shamrock Shakes when we got home.  We did't take any pictures of them, but I did talk about them for the remaining 9 months of the year!

 

April

Dan asked Auntie to be his wife. She said yes!

 

Mommy's belly grew. So did my aversion to unexpected noises.

 

 

May

We welcomed the Texas heat with a little trip to the zoo.  Mommy tried really hard not to be jealous of Daddy's canteen.

 

June 

We (meaning Daddy, Uncle Dan, and Grampa) painted Elliot's nursery...

 

and transitioned me into a "big girl" bed.

 

I also performed in my first ballet recital!

 

July

We welcomed Elliot into our family!

 

August

I struggled through the transition from only child to big sister.  And Mommy struggled through the transition of being a "mother of one" to "mother of two".

 

My "Obey Right Away" chart helped us both!

 

Mommy also turned 30,

 

Elliot had his first Sunday at church,

 

And I started "school".

 

 

September 

 Mommy really began to feel like she had a handle on this "mother of two" thing. 

(Even though she can't figure out how to get this picture to orient correctly in Blogger!  She loves the picture...so you're just gonna have to cock your head to the right.)

 

Then she returned to work...and realized that "working mother of two" is an even more challenging title to bear than "mother of two".

 

Elliot joined me at "school", too!

 

October

Auntie and Dan tied the knot and I made my (rather loud) debut as a flower girl.

 

 

November

We celebrated Thanksgiving with lots of family (both the biological and handpicked kind).

 

 

December

I was totally into Christmas this year, so Mommy and Daddy thoroughly enjoyed celebrating the holiday with an (almost) 4 year old ball of energy and a little baby.

 

 

I suppose if I had to choose one word to describe the past year for our family it would be "transition".  Mommy and Daddy are incredibly thankful for God's strength and grace through 2012, as well as the love and advice they've received from friends and family who have walked this parenthood path before them.

 

We're all excited to discover what 2013 has in store for us! 

Sunday Best

Today was one of those Sundays where, if Mommy had it to do all over again, we would have just stayed home!

 

Yesterday I woke up from my "rest time" with a stomach ache and fever.  As the day turned to evening, however, I began to feel much better.  This morning I woke as good as new, so Mommy decided to go ahead and take Elliot and me to church and just have us sit with her instead of going to our nursery classes.

 

 

Well, we hadn't been in the service more than 10 minutes when Elliot started into the most pitiful cry Mommy had ever heard come from his mouth.  I joined Elliot's protest chorus as soon as I realized Mommy was about to escape to the foyer with Elliot and leave me in the sanctuary with Poppy.

 

So, Mommy, Mimi, Elliot, and I spent the remainder of the service in the church foyer.  You'd be suprised at how much activity actually takes place out there during the service.

 

In total, I had about 3 meltdowns while we were at church. 

 

Once we got home, though, there was not even a trace of sadness left!

Recap: Auntie's Wedding

Even though it was 2 months ago, I thought I should share some pics from Auntie & Dan's beautiful October wedding. 

 

We'll start with Mommy's absolute favorite shot.  This one was taken at A&D's "first look" before the wedding ceremony.

 

Mommy & Auntie...two of my favorite people.

 

The Pierce side of our family. 

This year's additions of Dan & Elliot make use even!

 

Me & Auntie.

We love each other so much.

 

Auntie and the Ortiz boys. 

These guys were so enamored with Auntie's beauty!  Preston (especially) just couldn't take his eyes off of her.

 

See?  He even had to peek at her during Pastor's prayer.

 

 The kids' table at the reception was a huge hit!  For days before the wedding, I kept telling Mommy that I was going to get to "sit at my own table and eat candy and lollipops on Auntie's wedding day".

 

Mommy didn't notice this little detail until she saw it displayed in A&D's house a few weeks ago.  Isn't it lovely?

 

Dancing fun!

 

Mommy loves this shot of Auntie gettin' down!

 

 The fabulous exit!

 

 

You know you designed your exit well when the wedding guests are still playing with the props after you've made your get away!

5 Months

I turned 5 months old on 12-12-12!

Here's what you should know about me at 5 months.

 

 

I'm doing okay in the weight department.  My pedi was a little concerned a month ago because I dropped from the 90th percentile to the 60th.  Mommy took me in for a weight check this week, though, and we were happy to see that I gained one pound over the last 4 weeks. 

I still wear 3-6 months clothes (although I can wear some 6-9 month footed outfits), size 3 diapers, and size 2 shoes.

I am an excellent flipper.  I can move from my back, to my belly, and back to my back quicker than you can say, "Bob's your uncle."

 

 

I've become a belly sleeper.  Mommy still puts me down on my back, but I'll immediately flip over to my tummy to fall asleep.

I have officially outgrown my monkey bouncer seat...which makes Mommy and Daddy super sad.  They loved how easy it was to move that thing around the house and plop me down while they finished a load of laundry, emptied the dishwasher, or took a shower.

I'm still going to bed between 6:30-7:00, waking once in the middle of the night to eat, and getting up for the day around 7:00 in the morning.

 

I've stopped clawing up my face.  My pedi suggested that Mommy try putting some hydrocortisone on my scalp, and that seemed to take care of the problem.  I do still occassionally scratch my face or Mommy's face, though.

 

I just started taking 6 ounces at a time in my bottles while I'm at "school" during the day.

 

Mommy and Daddy aren't really sure when this happened, but they're certain that I recognize my name now.

 

My smile can light up a room!

 

 

Mommy's Thanskgiving Prayer

 

This was Mommy's prayer when she and Daddy tucked (a very sleepy) me into bed tonight:

  

Thank you, Father, for making Katie Bug our little girl.  Thank you for giving us clothes for her to wear and food for her to eat.  Thank you that you have healed her every time she's been sick.  Thank you that she is so smart, a good friend, and a wonderful big sister to Elliot.  Thank you so, so much.  Amen.

 

 

I'm not positive, but I think I heard a little bit of Mommy's "happy cry" in her voice.

 

 

(By the way, she feels every bit as thankful for Mr. E...he just went to bed two hours too early to get in on this tucking-in session.)