Have I ever mentioned how Devan is the luckiest girl in the world? While I often wish Devan was like every other LDS kid and had dozens of cousins to grow up with, I often find myself getting a little emotional when I think about her losing her "only grandchild" status so soon. Either way, she definitely had no shortage of love (and gifts!) on her birthday.

Birthday Photos

Every time I see this photo I want to kiss her cheeks! (And since she's mine I can, and do, all the time!)

Playing with the new sandbox/table toys that my mom got for her.



Kitty, who apparently partied a little too hard.

The best and biggest cupcakes from Costco!

Devan showing off her new cupcake bandaids.

Quite possibly Dev's favorite gift- her jelly sandals.

And, trying out her new scooter from Q & Grandma.

These are only a few of the many gifts she received. See what I mean about being lucky? Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who helped maker her birthday the best!

Here's our brand new three year old getting ready to make her cake!


Here she is posing with her cake/blowing out the candles.
Getting excited for presents. (She LOVES making weird faces for the camera, these days).


Modeling her apron and showing off her princess shoes.
And the dress John got her. She loves it. She's worn the dress with her princess shoes for the past two days.


And yes, she's already asked me several times when she gets to start preschool and her dance class! Happy Birthday Devan! Thanks for the best three years ever!!

I window shop online sometimes. And I say sometimes because sometimes it's window shopping and sometimes it turns into real shopping. Well, tonight I surfed over to one of my favorite stores and found something so cute I'm debating whether or not to get it.


Baby Bojangles (our temporary name until we find a more permanent one...) seriously does not need any clothing but this has a giant strawberry on it! And I'm not sure whether or not I've mentioned this before, but I LOVE strawberries. I was born and raised in strawberry country and my Dad used to buy flats at a time and I would eat those berries until they were gone. Every last one. This month alone I've bought strawberries three different times with the intent to make jam, and every single time I've eaten them all before I could even think about getting the jars out!
So, baby bojangles doesn't need a suit. In fact, she has one that my Mother in law bought for Devan with a giant pineapple on it:


I don't know what it is about fruity swimsuits, but I love them! And I love how chubby Devan was. Chubby and bald.

I think I've been able to talk myself out of buying the strawberry suit. At least until I find it on the clearance rack, marked down about three times!

Like most almost three year olds, Devan loves to do everything all by herself. This is good when she wants to do things that she actually can do by herself, and bad when she wants to do things that she could never do herself (Please please please let me use the drill to hang the curtain rod in my room! I can do it all by myself!!)

One of the things she can do is pick out clothes and dress herself (almost). The problem I've found is that she has a hard time remembering what clothes are in what drawers. I came up with a little labeling system that seems to have worked so far.

I printed this free packing list and cut out the pictures I wanted.
I made them into little labels, tied them on with bakers twine and voila!


They are so cute I almost want to make some for my drawers, but I think John might think I've really lost it if I did.

Now I just need to train Devan to put her clothes away as well as take them out!
Happy St. Patty's Day!

Unless this is your first time visiting our blog, you are well aware of the fact that John and I are having a baby. In less than 5 weeks!

Naturally, I am full of many emotions. Some days I find myself getting so irritated with Devan that I want to pull my hair out-(I do not usually feel this way and I totally blame the pregnancy for it!) and some days I find myself holding on to her so tightly and wondering: Is it actually possible that I'll love my new baby as much as I love her?

On the baby front we have almost everything ready. Devan is finally potty trained and I am thrilled that I will not be buying diapers times two. Devan is seriously looking forward to being a big sister. She can't wait to teach the baby how to do everything.

On the home front- just as the condo that we've been waiting on for oh, six months or so was ready to finally enter escrow we changed our minds. This is a little discouraging for many reasons, but the good news is we found one we like better. It's actually a little smaller but almost completely remodeled and looks beautiful! Now I won't have to worry about moving and having a baby at the same time. If all goes to plan, we will be proud first time home owners in six months or less! ( Can you sense my sarcasm?)

Questions:

The girls bedroom in the new condo is SMALL. The dilemma: Should we buy bunk beds? Bunk beds tend to scare me. I'm leaning more towards a trundle bed. This would obviously be for when the baby is out of a crib. Any thoughts?

Crown molding. Have you put it in yourself? Is it easy? I am convinced that John could easily do it but he is in denial. I think he secretly just doesn't want to.

Hospital bags. What do you pack in yours? I tend to totally over pack or totally under pack and even though I've had a baby before I don't remember what I used or didn't use. Should I bring anything different for a planned cesarean?

I thought I had more but I guess that's it. Thanks for the advice!!

Devan has a birthday coming up. She is SO excited about it because when she turns three she gets to do all the things she's been begging me to do for the past six months. Mainly go to preschool and start a dance class. I've yet to explain to her that these things don't happen immediately when she turns three- I don't know what will happen when I tell her that she can't start school until the fall. In the meantime, I've been working on a birthday present for her. Seeing as she has more toys than she will ever be able to play with, not to mention we are absolutely out of room for anything that's bigger than a DVD- I decided a nice handmade gift would be best. I found an easy apron tutorial and got to sewing this morning. I have to say, it came out so stinking cute I want to make one for myself.




Last time we were at Target Devan spotted these sandals and insisted that I put them on her birthday list.
I thought they were pretty cute, and now that I've made the cupcake apron I figure she's got to have them. It's only fair, right? Happy Tuesday!

She's growing up. Way too fast.

A few weeks ago right after she woke up I asked her if she had any dreams. "Yes" she said. "What did you dream about?" I asked. "Boys" she said.

I asked her the same question today and she answered with crocodiles.

I recently became tired of waiting (and waiting!) to hear about our short sale and decided to go ahead and set up baby camp. I've spent quite a bit of time these last few days trying to make things like beds, furniture and clothes fit. (It's not easy getting a family of almost four to fit into 1,000 sq feet). The other night I stood in the middle of the girls room and looked around to see if there was any other furniture arrangement I hadn't tried, hoping to come up with some miraculous idea that would somehow double the size of their room. Devan was sitting on the bed and noticed me in deep thought. This was her response:

"Mom. Think about ME, not the baby!"

Of course I lovingly reassured her that I am in fact ALWAYS thinking about her, whether or not she believes it. But really, can you believe that? And since when does a 2 year old call their mother Mom? I thought I'd get at least a few more years of "Mama" or "Mommy"!

On a side note, here's Devan, a few moments after they pulled all 8lbs 9oz of her from my guts. Notice the big frownie face. I should have known from the beginning she'd be a stubborn one!

Here's to hoping the next one is born with a smile!