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.