Annaliece's Second Birthday

 

We celebrated Annie’s party a little late this year due to so much going on in our world!  However, it didn’t matter when we did it.  She was still the happiest little girl.  She loved the cupcakes and especially loved the Minnie Mouse theme.  Friends and Family showed up to celebrate with us and it was a really nice low key event!

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth's Third Birthday

Elizabeth turned 3 on November 10.  It was such a crazy time of year for us this year that I regretfully admit that we didn’t have a chance to celebrate until later in the month.  When we finally had an opportunity to celebrate, our little Elizabeth was very particular.  She had to have Rapunzel decorations and LOTS OF BALLOONS.  Our little angel girl loves balloons.  LOL.  Pretty hard to come by when we are going through a helium shortage in the United States, but hey, I managed to scrounge up a good dozen balloons and made her day pretty special.  

We celebrated at Grandma Bartlett’s house with cupcakes and ice cream and plenty of gifts for her to open.  She was more interested in just tearing all the paper off the packages than she was on what was inside them, but it was really fun to watch. She also loved blowing out the candles on her cupcake.  She thought that was pretty awesome.  

Elizabeth got lots of fun stuff to play with along with some much needed clothes and diapers.  She loved the My Little Ponies that mom and dad got her and she especially loved that Kennedy came to play with us along with all of our family members.

Elizabeth is doing great at three years old.  She is 36 inches tall and weighs 30 lbs.  She has a few delays still but is otherwise caught up to her full term classmates.  We hope that we have worked through the rest of her delays before she is ready to start preschool in the fall. Elizabeth is bright and outgoing and loves to help mommy with whatever she is doing from dishes and laundry to selling jewelry and getting ready for work!  Mom and dad find life is never dull with Elizabeth around.  She is a fantastic big sister to Annaliece and Annie and Ellie love to rough house together.  Mommy and GaGa love you!

Annaliece's First Birthday

We held Annaliece’s first birthday on a sunny Sunday afternoon.  We had a nice little turnout of family and friends.  Elizabeth was more interested in helping us open Annie’s gifts than Annie was, but hey, what are big sister’s for.  We did a ladybug theme to mark the big occasion for our little lady and I handmade the invitations and most of the decorations.  Grandma Bartlett made the cupcakes and ordered the cake for Annie as part of her gift and we tried to keep expenses to a minimum.  

We have a lot to celebrate in this past year.  While Annaliece continues to be small in stature, she has proven that size isn’t everything.  She has hit most of her milestones on target and continues to strive to reach the rest.  She is a bit speech delayed and struggles to push the walking barriers but works at it all the time.  She isn’t gaining weight very fast although it isn’t because she doesn’t like to eat.  LOL.  That little one can pack away food better than most. 

She was very happy at her one year party and loved all the beautiful gifts she got.  We did miss the presence of some of our family but loved having those that joined us.  Annaliece especially loved having her own smash cake and LOVED the frosting!  She was disappointed when daddy finally took it away.  She loved having her former NICU buddy Max there to play with and it was an extra joyous party when Kiri  and cousin Braylee came to join them.  Having all those babies in one house playing was fun to listen to.  They have their own way of doing things that makes the rest of us wonder what they are up to.  

All in all it was a wonderful event and was just perfect to mark the one year survival of our very precious princess.  Here’s hoping that the next year is a bit calmer in comparison!