Happy 3rd Birthday Christine!

It seems hard to believe that 3 years ago today LC came into our lives. Technically she's not 3 til 11:33PM tonight but ... who's counting?! After 9 months of feeling just about as awful as one possibly could, this little ray of sunshine fell on our family. All feelings of resentment I harboured during those nine months (wishing for a boy, wishing for a non-nauseous day, wishing I could walk without pain, etc) disappeared almost instantly when she was put into my arms. I say almost because there was still a great deal of pain to work through - pushing out a 9lb 8oz baby is NOT FUN!!!
She was such an easy baby - as long as you kept her from screaming. Boy, she had a set of lungs on her! Still does, mind you. Now her screams are of the 3 year old, over-dramatized, the-world's-gong-to-end-if-I-don't-get-what-I-want-right-now sort of screams! But she was a pretty good sleeper (none of my kids were too great) and has now got out of the phase of coming downstairs at 10PM for some late night party time with Mom and Dad! Her naps are almost a thing of the past so she is usually pretty happy to go to bed at 8PM and stay asleep til 7AM.
And her smile and her giggles ... the words "light up the room" just don't seem to do them justice. She has a way of taking all the bad mojo in a room or situation and making you forget it was ever there. Just with a giggle or a funny comment or - my personal favourite - a hug and an "I love you Mommy".

... for example ... oh, I don't know ... say your 3 girls decide to pain their nails and one of them (no one's admitting who) leaves the nail polish out on the side of your bath tub and the little one decides to REpaint her fingers and toes and in the process dumps half a bottle of your favourite Opi nail polish on your bathroom floor ...

Just sayin' ... she was lucky to even SEE 3 today!!

But then you look at her gorgeous face and ...

See? All bad feelings go 'poof'!

This is her this morning getting her "official 3 year old measurements" taken. By my count, she is now 3' 2.5" (or 98cm).

As you may be able to see through all the additional scribbles (grr!) she is taller than Paige was at 3 but not quite as tall as Marley was. Almost, but not quite! (Ignore the giant P with the red circle around it. That was one of the "additions"!)

Greg took a vacation day today to spend it with Christine so we had French Toast and birthday presents for breakfast - not necessarily in that order! Christine got a package the other day from my Aunt Moira which we most cruelly wouldn't let her open until today. Here she is sporting the apron that was in the package. Thank you Aunt Moira! She loves all the presents!!

I took this picture in the hopes that it would show how carefully and meticulously LC was opening her presents this morning. It was driving Marley nuts! So funny!!! I'm not sure where she gets this slow and careful side - it's not something we've noticed before. Usually she's racing headlong into danger!!

Funny story ... Greg and I were pretty much at a loss of what to get her this year. Being the 3rd daughter, whatever she she hasn't already been given has been handed down to her! Anyway, on Wednesday I took the girls to Toys 'R' Us to get several different birthday presents (Marley had 3 friends with birthdays soon!) with the plan of sneaking a present or two for Christine into the cart. Well, it must have worked because she showed nothing but surprise when she opened this one from the girls! Awesome!! Job well done, Mom!! 

That's all for now. We have big plans to play mini golf today (FYI - Art Knapps at King George and 44th on Surrey has mini golf for $0.99 a player!! Just go to BCDailyDeals.com!! Thanks Cheryl!!) and then a special McDonald's dinner tonight. I know, I know. Mcdonald's isn't so special but our tradition is that the Birthday boy or girl gets to choose where they want to go out for dinner. So ... to a 3 year old, McDonald's is pretty cool!

Have a great day everyone! I'll post more birthday pictures later.