Happy Birthday, Honey!

Today is Tessa's 3rd birthday. It is mind boggling. We opened presents last night before dinner. Tessa would hold up the present and cock her head to side and say, "Hey mom, what's in here?" How she could hold off ripping into the gift to find out is beyond me. She loved all of her presents. She would open each one and say, "OHHH! I love it!!!". Even before she really knew what it was.

I tried to capture the moment by asking Tessa to smile.

OK. Honey, that really looked like you were scared to death of something. That was just creepy. Let's try again, OK? This time I want you to smile really pretty!
Never mind.

Yesterday was Jack's 2 month appointment. Here are his stats:

Height (or is it length when you can't stand up?) : 23.6 inches--76%

Weight : 12 lbs 15.1 oz -- 79%

Head Circ: 16.3 inches -- 85% (that must mean he's smart)

Vaccines: hates them--even the "sugar water" one they put in his mouth

So he cried most of the afternoon. All of this crying happened while I was trying to put together Tessa's birthday cake. I bought this kit online. It came with instructions that were obviously written for a professional cake decorator with all the "lingo" only they would know. Words like "pipe" and "score" and "#9" . So I tried (unsuccessfully) to pull this thing together to a symphony of wails and screams. It was like an exercise in sticking to a task amidst distractions. It turned out OK. Here is is a picture of what it should have looked like:

And here is what it actually looked like:

I thought the Cinderella balloon was the coolest part. It might have been more work than the cake. Because getting it to my car in 35+ mph wind was a little bit like being dragged by a spooked horse. OK, pony. You should have seen me. I had the big balloon and four smaller ones whipping around my head (while I'm carrying the car seat, no less). They kept blowing back and hitting me in the head. It was ridiculous. Someone actually stopped and offered to help me get my baby in the car. HA! Jennifer ask for help?? In your dreams, baby. So I sat the car seat down next to the car and opened the door and began shoving the balloons inside. It was like each of them had a mind of their own. I would get one in and as I would shove another in, the first would scream, "It's a trap! Run away!!", and they would all go whipping back out into my face making those funny bonking sounds on my head at 100 beats a second.

Here is a clip of the end of the Happy Birthday Song. Tessa was pretty happy to get to blow out her candles. She also loves to tell people she is six instead of three. And sometimes "six" sounds like "sick" when Tessa says it, which I'm sure you could have figured out on your own.