Perfectly three

I waited a week to do Rachel's birthday post because I'm still trying to come out of my state of denial that my baby is three...three!  That is ridiculous!  When she woke up on her birthday she told me she was very happy to not be a baby anymore because now she was an adult just like mommy.  And that just about sums up Rachel Ryan.  I had a small breakdown after I tucked her in the night before her birthday because once you have a three year old things change and I'm just not sure that I'm ready for that.  But I also love watching her grow into her personality and see what she is drawn to and what she absolutely is not drawn to.  Here are a few things about her that I'd like to remember:

• she likes to pick out her own clothes and does a pretty good job of matching everything


• she can dress herself and use the bathroom by herself


• she has abandoned her bed and sleeps on Ethan's bottom bunk every night


• she takes a nap a couple of days a week


• she goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 most nights


• she loves going to school and Bible class


• she talks all.day.long - seriously, she can't stop talking (My dad and I were in the car with her the other day and after about 48 minutes of constant talking, my Dad said, "Rachel, can you go just one minute without talking?"  She replied in her best robot voice, "I am a robot.  I cannot stop talking."  That's perfectly Rachel.)


• she wears 2T pants and 3T tops and wears a size 7 shoe


• she prefers to have her hair in pigtails or a ponytail, but most days the curls win and she just wears her hair down with a bow


• she prefers oatmeal for breakfast


• she likes grilled cheese sandwiches with Ranch (or "white sauce" as she calls it)


• when she's not talking she's singing


• she bites her tongue at least 247 times a day


• she falls down and hurts herself at least 247 times a day


• she loves riding her big girl bike and is getting pretty good


• she still doesn't like going upstairs by herself


• she eats all.day.long


• her favorite drink is chocolate milk


• she loves doing crafts and painting - and she's done after about 3 minutes

We had her birthday party last Friday morning here at home and had a pajama/donut party and it was great!  I would highly recommend it to anyone.  My parents asked her to choose where she wanted to go for dinner that night and she chose Chuck E Cheese so we did that.  We also took her to Toys R Us to spend her birthday money from Meme and she FINALLY chose a coloring book and some new crayons.  Then on Sunday - her real birthday - she chose to eat at Chuy's for lunch.  It was a weekend full of focusing on Rachel and little miss center of attention loved every minute of it.  Here a few pictures from the weekend.  Unfortunately I left the camera at my grandparents house when we went last week for Rachel's birthday lunch, and I have more pictures on there.  Hopefully I'll be getting it back soon because I really feel lost without it! 

Eating her pre-party breakfast...and obviously before I had tamed that crazy hair


Playing with Mimi before the party


Blowing out the candles in her birthday donut


The spread


Part of the craziness


Making a cereal necklace


Opening gifts


Party people


Rachel - I love you with all of my heart and I am so proud to be your mom.  Happy birthday sweetheart.