little miss was the recipient of a lot of love this past week/weekend. thank you too all our dear friends who sent her special messages & gifts. your generosity is, as always, overwhelming.
here are two special items from last week. the first being this chris monday comic featuring Darla from our trip to Cosi with Mabel and Chris. Mabel bequeathed a dress unto darla. darla wore it the rest of, well, always. she might even be wearing it now.
oh also, that’s me wearing the back pack. smiley.
the second piece of lovin’ was this super cute video birthday message from our california based buds. we miss them terribly.
birthday morning
a few snaps of the birthday morning:
first glimpse of the three year old
ring pop for breakfast. you can get away with anything on your birthday.
birthdayness
thank you hugs and kisses all around for bday presents
we’ve had a good morning complete with family visits, CRUMBelievable pancakes (pancakes with sausage crumbles baked inside. mmmm mmmm), presents and orange soda pop. Three is starting off pretty fantastic.
thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes coming miss darla’s way!
it was three years ago…on this very night…
it’s 12:54 am and i’m up, because this is the only time of the day i can get for myself. and because i have been working on preparing for darla’s birthday. technically, it is her birthday because three years ago, down to the minute, she came into the world.
oh how a mother never forgets that first minute.
she’s three now. it’s so cliche, but i can’t believe it. i think i’m lucky because i don’t sit back and think “where did the time go?” I have felt every minute of these three years roll past. i think what happens for most of us parents is we spend so much time looking forward and preparing for what is next in our childrens’ lives that these moments, birthdays and other monumental occasions, stop us in our tracks and make us be present.
i think about how happy i’ll be to see her become an older child and put her inborn independence to good use.
but i never stopped to think that she’d actually be three. then four. then five. and then her running away from me will mean more than just me chasing her down in a mall. it will mean her not wanting my kiss good bye in front of her friends. it will mean her wanting to spend more time with others and less time with me. it will mean i will have to chase her down for attention instead of the other way around.
so, now she’s three. and darla is going to be GREAT at being three. and i’m going to try my hardest to remind myself to be present for these next 8 months because she’ll be starting school in the fall and the great migration away from me will officially begin.
and that’s why i’ll have to just get me another one…
last day as a 2 year old
today is darla’s last day as a two year old. ( i double checked. sometimes the days can get lost around here.) this morning i asked her to draw two pictures. The first is of all the things she did as a two year old. The second is of all the things she’s going to do as a three year old. here is her artistic interpretation with some commentary:
My Life as a Two Year Old by Darla Marie Wright
“i runned away a lot. then i ran in circles. small ones first. then i bumped my head on the table and all my hair fell off. then i joined the circus!!!!!”
What I Will Do When I Am Three by Darla Marie Wright
“I will walk down the street by myself. and run in circles.”
well, now we know what to expect.
tent bedz
when i was a little girl i had a tent bed. a nice pink one that attached to my bed and made it look like a house. i felt so important when i could zip up the door myself. practically speaking, it also kept me from falling out in the middle of the night. i thought, for a while, about hunting down that tent bed for darla but then started dreaming up a simpler way that we could do the tent bed on our own.
here’s what we came up with:
we found some decorative ceiling hooks that were guaranteed to hold up to 90 lbs, – you know, for when child decides to try and zip line her tent bed – affixed them to the wall, tied some clothesline between the two, and threw some blankets over it…
Voila! Tent Beeeeeeeeddddd!!! and this way i can change up the sheets that are used and even take it down when need be – you know, as a time out measure when the child tries to zip line her tent bed.
some extra book reading has been the result. mostly because i don’t want to get out of it either.
suffice to say, the girl enjoys her tent bed.
last week i…
painted chevrons on everything,
treated myself to a Brezel after earning cash dollars being part of a research focus group.
took darla to Wonderlab in Bloomington, IN. Thanks again COSI membership. here is darla enjoying her favorite experiment at the museum – parachutes.
sat by my parents’ fire and rescued woody from dress-up,
took darla to roscoe’s tacos for the best darn tacos around. oh and beans and cheese.
then took darla to literal bouncy castles where she hugged inflatable gnomes,
and finally, i brought the girl home. introduced her to her new “special darla place” that i have been working on.
i’m really happy to look back on this post and be reminded of the small successes of this past week. i feel like most of my objectives for the past week were not met due to extenuating circumstances, weather, a toddler’s whims, etc. but even though i didn’t accomplish all my task goals it was still an ok week. lots of good little moments tucked in between the stressful times and the neverending unpacking of boxes.
the house is coming together and it will all be finished by this weekend. because that is the date we have set to open up our home to others for darla’s birthday/mike’s going away festivities. let’s hope everyone is ok with looking at some blank walls.
samesies
some more pics from that one weekend i keep sharing. i would like to state that these moments were a lot less awkward than they came across on film. darla was happy that she and fruncle james were dressed as “samesies” for our holiday photo shoot:
she’s a very lucky girl to have so many great fraunties and fruncles who will pose for awkward family photos with her. what more could a girl ask?
digz
the new place is finally coming together. some of our DIYs are getting finished. personalizations are happening. it’s finally looking less sterile and less like a cardboard jungle. a visit from my parents helped break up the drudgery. here’s how darla likes her new digs.
the girl is loving her big girl bed. she shows her affection by climbing in one of her pillowcases and pretending to be a “lumpy pillow.”
just
a few
touches
my parents brought this mantlepiece clock that i inherited from my grandparents. it is perfect for this new place of ours. i loved this clock as a child and am happy to be reminded of my grandparents on the hour.
looking forward to having the place complete and settled so that we can move on to other things in life. mr. mike is only home for another two weeks and i’d like it to be more play than work these last few days.
sighhhhhing all over the place.
makeupz
darla snuck away one morning during mike’s surprise birthday visit and got into susanna’s make up. because she’s awesome, susanna took pictures instead of getting upset.
darla then decided to paint our bedsheets with make up. it didn’t come out in the wash. womp womp. oh well. it was worth it. i mean, just look at that face…
pics by susanna simpson
shootz
all these here photos are way back from our friendliest visit in december for mike’s birthday. doesn’t everyone look so happy in their holiday flannel and sweaters? thanks to our friends, adam and susanna, for bringing their sweet camera.
my two personal favorites:
for obvious reasons.
some others from that weekend may be making their way on here.
happy weekending to you all.
momjeanz 