Macy's Big Girl Room

 This is Macy's new room almost finished.  

I love how she likes to line up her animals on the bed.  

I am still trying to decide whether to put a picture of her or an adorable "I am a child of God" print where her original painting is currently serving as a place holder.  I am also going to put up some picture ledges for some books.  We love to read and need books in every room.

All the little DIY projects and the bright colors helped me get through the dreary month of February.  I still want to add a pompom trim to the curtains, get a new light fixture and maybe tweak the colors on the M's.  

Photographing your room is a great way to get a fresh look at your room and see what could use a little change.  I think I may go through the house and photograph each room to see if it looks right.

The Egg

I have a new blog layout, thanks to my talented sister Rebecca.  My header is slightly different.  We have added a little nest with egg to represent the little baby girl we are adding to our family this July.  

We have known she is a girl for several weeks and Macy has just now decided to accept this.  As soon as I told her we could buy some tiny clothes to dress the baby she was on board.  This is also an improvement over her insistence that  I had a giraffe in my tummy.  

And what is a post without a picture?  Here is our little 1950's housewife.

What Was I Thinking?

Last week Macy announced she would like to sleep in a big girl bed. This move has been in the back of my mind for a while but she was not interested and we had a really good thing going. Seven o'clock would hit, she would happily (most of the time) get in her crib, we would zip her up and that would be it until I heard her calling me around eight the next morning. If she did wake up in the night upset I would just go in and calm her, start her iPod and go back to sleep. Pretty good right?

Well, turns out that I am an idiot. When Macy showed interest in a big girl bed I went right along. It has not gone smoothly. Last night I thought victory was mine when she was asleep by eight with only one intervention. Hahaha! Macy woke up at 1:30 and jabbered until 5:30. She was saying the funniest things and making up great songs making it hard to keep saying no more talking. But we are tired. The only thing that keeps me from putting the crib back up is how much fun I am having redecorating her room.

Here is where I beg for your help. What worked for you? Do you think it is bad to keep a child in a crib with a tent until they are 18?

Monkey Birthday

Last month on the car ride home from my nephew Brady's Thomas the Train party Macy announced she would like a monkey birthday. I love to plan her birthday parties so I have been monkey obsessed for a month now.

We had separate parties for each side of the family to cut down on the chaos. JD was in charge of games and put the catapult we got for Christmas from his parents to good use. We also had a pull string pinata which is a great indoor alternative to a traditional pinata, especially for the younger crowd.

And we made sure to invite the cutest monkeys around.

PARTY #1

PARTY #2

Inspired by my sister Rebecca's Molly Monkey, I even made Macy a stuffed monkey. An hour in, I remembered that I only like one-hour projects and I was still cutting pieces out! About three hours in, I remembered that Rebecca is an awesome seamstress and I am still learning. That night, I went to bed almost in tears and decided to bag the project. But the next morning, I got up and got it finished. In order to spend this much time sewing, I basically let Macy get out every toy she owned and it took me a week to restore order. In the end, Macy really loves the monkey -- imperfections and all. So it was worth it.

**free pattern from mmcrafts.com

Three Years Old

For the last three nights, Macy has been sleeping very fitfully. So last night, when the crying began again, I decided to take her with me to the spare bed. She snuggled right into me and went peacefully back to sleep. I lay there for a long time thinking about how, exactly three years ago, I was checked into the hospital to be induced the next morning. I didn't sleep much that night either. I was so excited to meet my baby girl. There was so much heartache in getting her to this earth.

After an easy labor and delivery, I finally had my sweet baby. My broken heart was healed. I was so blessed -- Macy just fit into our little family and the transition into motherhood was full of joy for me.

Today Macy is three. I am so lucky to spend most of my time with her. She is hilarious, sweet, and shy. She hates to share her toys. I love to watch the way she plays. She has spent hours this week playing with three rolls of toilet paper, a round box, and ten rocks. She leaves little, carefully arranged vignettes all over the house. But most of all, each day as I watch her learn, grow, and play, I am filled with gratitude that she is mine.

Christmas Morning-- Now with Video

Christmas morning was so magical this year. Macy was so excited and so grateful. I'll admit that I teared up a little as Macy ran to the front door after taking each item out of her stocking and yelled, "thank you Santa." And then she laughed as she carefully placed each item in a row on the floor.

It took so much energy running to the door and then so much concentration to make the line straight that she had to take a little break before opening her presents.

She didn't even end up opening all of her presents that day. I think it was Sunday before she finally wanted to open the last one.

She got a little Dyson vacuum, a camera, a lot of Pez dispensers (for the past two months, if JD saw a Pez dispenser with a character from a show she likes, he bought it), some books, a tea set, art supplies and a little car for her stuffed animals and dolls to drive. The car has proven to be her favorite gift -- she has played with it a ton. I'll admit that it was my favorite thing she got too.

A Couple of Christmas Advent Highlights

We finally got around to getting a tree with less than two weeks until Christmas.

Her face here says it all. We had to wake her up that morning for our ward Christmas party and then she had to be chased and corralled for two hours during the party. She wasn't really feeling it. We let her choose whatever tree she wanted. And she picked this little darling. I loved it so much!

This was supposed to be a trip to This is the Place park to see the reindeer. But I neglected to look it up and it turns out the reindeer are only out at night. But we had a great time at the zoo, it was probably the least crowded place in the valley on the last Saturday before Christmas.