Greetings From the Gilleys: Piper Turns 3

Did my baby girl really turn into a 3 year old? What? My mind can't seem to comprehend that my BABY is 3. Her little life has been SO full, so in a way, it seems like she was born years and years ago, but also, I remember so clearly delivering her and our first night together in that snowy hospital 3 years ago and sometimes it feels like it's only been a few weeks. Where has the time gone? It's all a blur almost. It makes me stop and wonder if I'm doing this "Mom" thing right...Am I holding onto the memories as tightly as I should be? Am I wasting our days away on unimportant things? Or am I making her little life the best I can to my abilities? I know I love her deeper than the deepest ocean, and I know I show her tons of love and affection....but please, let me be the Mom that gives her life meaning while she's still so young and impressionable... I hope I'm doing a good job. Somedays, I know I have failed big time. But somedays, I hope I'm doing everything just right. What I do know is that I love my babies so much it hurts, and sometimes, that feels like enough.

My sweet little blonde is slowly growing out of her Terrible Two's phase (what a relief!). We started 2015 out on the wrong foot with this girl. She gave me a run for my money. I actually don't really know how I survived her. You might think I'm exaggerating, but you weren't there to see the fits, the tantrums, the uncontrollable screaming that plagued us all day long without a single break. The tears from both her and I....Daddy travels so much, and sometimes just focusing on how I was going to get from one hour to the next hour of my day was the only way I could manage. She was unbelievably tough. So tough, in fact, that we travelled over an hour to a pediatric behavioralist to get her evaluated (that was a WHOLE other blog post on it's own). The point is, she made me question my abilities as a Mom day in and day out. She made me cry more than I'd like to admit. She frustrated me and worried me every single day. When she was sweet, she was OH so sweet! But when she was having one of her tough days (which were way more frequent than the good days), it was more than I could bare! All I could do was pray. I'd cry at night and just pray for some relief; for some answers as to WHY she was the way she was.... Luckily, around September, she finally started to slow down in the "fits" department....and here we are, 3 months later, and I feel as though she turned into a "normal" 2 year old with her sassy, independent self, and now a big 3 year old! She is unbelievably loving. She loves to cuddle. She is much quieter than Lucy. She plays by herself much better than Lucy does. She is smart as a whip. She's witty, as well! She's sneaky, she's playful, she's so ticklish, she's confident, she's opinionated, she's HILARIOUS, she's really brave, she loves people, she cracks us all up, she's social, she loves to dance and draw and create things, she loves to play with toys that encourage her brain to work hard, but she also LOVES her dolls, ponies and Barbies as well. She's full of life! She loves to run around and show off, she always copies her sister, she's quick to follow the rules after a "1, 2, 3," count from me, she loves to swim! Her imagination is taking off these days and it's remarkable to watch her play.....and she's my Pi Baby. She's mine, all mine. I love that girl so much. I love the memory of her birth. Soft Christmas music playing...Alone in a hospital, just her and I, watching the snow fall outside my window. It was one of the best nights of my entire life. The hospital's policy was no babies were allowed to sleep on their Mother's; they had to be in the little bed's provided (for safety, I guess). But I held her on my chest all night long...Skin to skin. I was not about to follow that rule on her first night of existence! I couldn't put her down. So all night long we held each other. She is my Christmas baby.

She is my everything.

Let's rewind to last weekend: We took the girls to a place called Santa's Village about an hour from where we live for Piper's "party". It's a Christmas theme park that's open year round! Even in the Summer (they have a water park and all the slides are red and green, haha!). Anyway, since we took Lucy to Disney World on her birthday, we thought we should try to take our Christmas Baby to a Christmas theme park! How fitting! It only cost us a few hundred dollars less than a Disney Ticket.... ;)

Piper is much braver than Lucy. She wanted to go on the big rides with Daddy (this one spun all around and almost upside down!). Lucy and I waited down below. I couldn't go on all the rides because of my belly, and she didn't want to go, so it worked out.

We met all the reindeer! And we even got to feed them! So fun!

The Ferris Wheel was Lucy's favorite ride, while the Carousal was Piper's favorite :)

On Piper's actual birthday, we just stayed home because there was nothing playing in the movie theater suitable for a 3 year old, we don't live by any bowling alleys or arcades.....and it was cold outside with no snow to even sled. When there's nothing to do, we make our own fun at home!

Piper's daily menu was this: For Breakfast she requested Mickey Pancakes (NOT Minnie, even though Minnie is her favorite) with a dab of honey, an Orange, and NO bacon (she loves bacon too....not quite sure why she didn't want it, but what baby girl wants on her birthday, baby girl gets!). Lunch: Hot chocolate and toast. And dinner: a SQUARE pepperoni pizza :)

The night before her birthday, Daddy set up her new little Minnie Bike and a Washer and Dryer set while Mommy decorated the house. In the morning, Piper was ecstatic to see the balloons and snowflakes hanging! The girls had helped me make the snowflakes the day before, but they had no idea I was gonna hang them up. I hung them with strings of tinsel so that everything sparkled a bit more :)

In lieu of a traditional birthday cake, we made a Christmas Tree forest instead! The girls had SO much fun decorating those trees. Yum!

We finished off the night with some confetti poppers, a nice warm shower, and "The Grinch." The girls passed out quickly and Shawn and I high-fives at a successful day! We love you Piper!

A week earlier, the girls decorated Gingerbread Houses for the first time ever! It was so much fun! Piper kept eating all the candy off faster than we could put it on, and it was making us laugh pretty hard. They are so much fun!