Holland's 3rd Birthday

Our little Holly baby is 3. I can't believe it. She is delightful, wonderful, stubborn, loving, smart, and so ridiculous sometimes (okay, often). I still need to take her in for her 3 year check up so I don't know her stats, but she is growing. She is still rear facing in that car seat, but she is getting closer to 30 lbs.

Holland loves her teddy bears so much so we thought we would include them in the photo shoot. That little brown bear from the dollar store is her favorite. She calls it Baby Bear.

She is in the delightful stage right now when she says things but doesn't really understand what she is saying a lot of the time. For example, when she doesn't want to do something she'll dramatically say, "I am just shy." in a super sad voice.

Holland highly anticipated her birthday and for months ahead of time she said, "My birthday's coming out." Somehow she mixed up "out" and "up," and it just stuck.
Since then she has still talked about her birthday a lot. Just the other day, she said, "Where is my birthday? My birthday is over there. My birthday is upstairs. My birthday is in Phoenix." And she has already requested Miriam sing to her.
Since she was thinking about her birthday so much, she came to the conclusion that she really wanted Uncle David to sing Happy Birthday to her. He is the one that brings in ukulele to family functions and sings with all the kids. Fortunately he was available to sing to her at the end of the day. She loved it. :) I expected her to forget about having him sing to her, but it was on her mind for months ahead of time. She really wanted that serenade.

It has been a year since I stopped breastfeeding Holland. She has mentioned nursing just a couple of times in recent months, but one of my favorites was when she pointed at my chest and said, "I drank it all gone."

It is not all cuteness though. Holland has this super darling (not!) habit of dumping out her cup of water at the end of a meal. It isn't that big of a deal, but she just won't stop. And I forget to take it away from her. The kids have started giving her only cups with a lid.
Another awesome habit is just going a little bit of poo in panties pretty regularly. I especially don't love it when she does it in quiet time, and proceeds to get out baby wipes and try to clean herself off. She really doesn't do that effectively and makes a huge nasty mess.

I really shouldn't complain though. She really is adorable, obviously see the above photo. I can't get over those grey-blue eyes and blond curls. She is super loving, and has taken to spontaneously telling me that she loves me. There is no one she loves more than Daddy though. She is thrilled when he comes home from work yelling, "Daddy!!!" and running to him. It's the cutest.

So I just had to take a break because Holly needed to go potty in the middle of quiet time. She just told me, "I don't want you to help wipe me everyday. It no make sense." Alright kid. :)

She can be very affectionate. She really knows how to plant a kiss. Sometimes it is a sweet kiss on the cheek, but it can be a long, hard one on the lips. What she really doesn't like is when John and I kiss, she yells at us, "In the MORNING!" Meaning, she doesn't want us to kiss right now, but we can tomorrow morning. If we try to kiss anyway, she tries to block our lips from each other.

Holly is in a place now where she loves being read stories. But her one true love is watching shows. We limit them to only watching after dinner on Friday and Saturday, but those Friday and Saturday are cherished by that girl. She loves Sofia the First, Minnie Mouse, and recently Winnie the Pooh. She still loves books, especially about those same characters. She also loves Berenstein Bears and Pinkalicious.

Holland is starting to learn how to read too! She knows all of her letter sounds, so we have started doing the Reading Lesson with her. I really didn't expect it to stick this first time, but she is doing great with it. We have to add a craisin or chocolate chip for her to get after she reads the word or the line, but it works! So she can read "At, Cat, and Sat." Not bad. :)
I used to be better about doing counting time, singing time, and coloring time with her too, but they have fell by the wayside since the start of summer. Hopefully we can pick it back up in the fall.

I love how she talks about things. I know writing it down doesn't have the same feel that hearing her say it, but I still want to record it. "No waaaaayy!" when her voice goes up on the way. :)
"This one my favorite." said about really any thing.
"Drink of water, Miriam, me." Her little voice makes everything cute.

One of my favorites is when she talks about her priesthood leaders. She talks about Bishop Kenchington, President Rogers, and President Nelson. I love that they are in her repertoire of things and people to talk about.

Her birthday was also Mother's Day so we compromised on yummy foods to eat. Holland's big gift to receive was a balance bike. Her favorite gift was a Minnie Mouse waterbottle.

As for Mother's day, I received a 4 pack of plumeria starts! I was so excited. We gave one to my mom for helping with the girls while we went to Hawaii, and I was so bummed that we didn't get one for us. John surprised me with 4. And guess what, it is mid July, and they are all growing!!

(Back to cute Holly pictures :) )

I really feel so lucky to be a mother to my sweet girls. They are the light of my life. I pray everyday to be a better mother for them. Their example of kindness, forgiveness, and joy is amazing.

Especially my little Holly, you are adored by your family. We all just love you and are wrapped around your finger. Happy 3 years, little one.