And now she's THREE!!!

Yep. That's right. My baby turned three on July 19th. I wanted to post about her exciting birthday weekend before now, but it's been a crazy week (I'll post about that in the next couple of days). So here's a synopsis of the weekend and some pictures to go along with it.

We left River Falls on Thursday, July 17 and headed south to Wisconsin Dells: tourist trap of North America. But it's a fun place, so what the heck. We got a great hotel with lots of swimming pools and Hope was in HEAVEN!!! She's a little fish that girl is. Our room overlooked one of the pools, so that was fun to her. We went to the mall in the Dells that night before supper and Hope made her first Build-A-Bear. Bearamy (she came up with the name on her own) is a bright pink bear with white hearts all over. Hope had a great time filling Bearamy up, putting a special heart inside her, giving her a "fluff bath" and then picking out a cute little outfit for her to wear. So cute. Bearamy is special in Hope's life not only because Hope made her, but because Bearamy has taken the place of Hope's much beloved pico (aka pacifier). More on that later. We went to Uno's for pizza after our trip to the mall and had a great time. Hope got to make her own pizza and after we were done eating, the wait staff gathered around our table and sang Happy Birthday to Hope. They also gave us a great dessert: a warm brownie with ice cream, whip cream and chocolate syrup on top. YUMMY!!!!!!!! There was a family sitting kitty-corner from us and as they left one of the girls (I'd say she was about 15) came up to Hope and wished her a happy birthday. So nice. We found out they were from Stevens Point. Love it! Then it was back to the hotel for more swimming and a good night's sleep.

In the morning we left for Madison. We headed to the Vilas Zoo and had a great time. The Henry Vilas Zoo is a free zoo and it is a wonderful place. It reminds me of Como Zoo in St. Paul, but Vilas has more animals. It was HOT that day and I was in heaven!!! I felt sorry for the Amish families I saw because they were in their traditional "garb." They must have been so hot. After 2 1/2 hours at the zoo we headed for my brother's house. We got to visit with them and they made an awesome supper for us. I don't get to see Gene and Tammy nearly enough. I love them. After getting party bags together for Hope's party, we headed to our hotel and, you guessed it, went swimming. We stayed at a very nice hotel in Madison, too. I love the deals you can find on the internet!

Then came the day. Saturday, July 19th. Hope's 3rd birthday. We headed to Gene and Tammy's house to help get things ready for the party and then we headed back to Vilas Zoo to meet our family and friends. We weren't at the zoo very long because it was very hot and very humid (at least by Wisconsin standards) and we had several toddlers as well as an 8 month pregnant friend in our party. So we ditched the zoo early and went back to Gene and Tammy's for the rest of the party. They did SO much to make Hope's birthday special. We had a great meal and great company. All of my siblings were at the party and so were our friends Amy with her daughter Heidi (Heidi will be 2 in January), Amy's sister Becky and Amy's "almost here" baby (Amy's due in early August). Brian (the best man at our wedding) and his girlfriend Patricia also joined us. It was a good day. Friends, family, food and fun. Who could want anything more?? Oh...I even set the alarm clock on my cell phone to ring at 3:42pm. We sang Happy Birthday to Hope at the exact anniversary of her birth.

Before we left Madison on Sunday morning we stopped at West Towne Mall and did a little shopping. I got some great deals on clothes for Hope for this fall, next summer and next fall at the Boston Store. YEAH!!!

We celebrated Hope's birthday with Mark's parents this past week and next weekend we'll celebrate with his sister. Emily (aka Miss Hudson 2008) found a crown to give Hope for her birthday. She's going to LOVE it since she was eyeing Em's crown the night of her coronation. There are some other cute things that Hope will be getting from them, but I can't write it here because Mark doesn't know what they are yet and he wants to be surprised...and yes, once in a while he reads this blog. lol

Now that I've bored you with the details of Hope's birthday, let me tell you that I can't believe my baby is three already. I have NO idea where the time has gone. It really does seem like just yesterday Mark and I were on our way to the hospital because my water broke sometime between 2-4am on July 19th, 2005. I remember that day like it happened yesterday. One of the things I remember most is my first look at her when they held her up and carried her to the warming bed. I was so worried about her because she was SOOOOO tiny. She weighed 5lbs, 10oz when she was born. Little, little, little. They assured me she was just fine...she was just tiny. And she is just fine. And she's still pretty tiny, but she's growing like a weed! And I swear that in the past 2-3 weeks she has grown up and changed so much. She really IS pico-free. I'm so proud of her progress with that. I thought we were in for a rough few weeks when we made her go cold turkey, but it only took a couple of nights. She doesn't even ask for it now. YEAH!! Our next big hurdle is to get her to go to bed on her own. That's another story. And she's even been asking to wear barrettes and pony tails in her hair. That is COMPLETELY new. Usually she doesn't want any of that stuff. The funny thing is that she's scheduled for a haircut tomorrow and I was going to have them cut it SHORT. Now I might have to reconsider getting it cut so short.

Today we watched some of the video we took on our September 2006 vacation to Texas and Colorado. Hope wasn't even walking on her own during that vacation. She was close, but hadn't mastered it yet. Such precious memories. Such a precious baby. Such a precious three year old. God has so blessed my life with this special little girl. I think it's amazing that God gives to parents exactly the baby they're supposed to have. Always mixed in with the joy of Hope's birthday will be the sorrow I have about losing my first baby due to a miscarriage. Hope's birthday is July 19th (2005). I had the miscarriage on July 23, 2004. Not even a year between those very two events. I'll always wonder if my first baby was a boy or a girl. I'll always wonder what that baby would have been like, what he/she would have looked like. I think that's normal. But I find comfort and solace in knowing that we have been given this incredible gift that we named Hope Christiana...and she's exactly the baby we were supposed to have. I can't imagine life without her.

I could write a ton more, but I won't because this is WAY longer than I anticipated. Here are a few pictures from Hope's birthday party.

Mark and Hope by the rhinos.

Hope in the pouch of a kangaroo.

Mommy and Hope in front of the beautiful flowers.

Intently opening yet another gift.