Three years young

My oldest daughter turned three this weekend.  At three she is old enough to dress herself.  At three she is old enough to be out of diapers and needing "privacy" when in the bathroom.  At three she can play soccer but refer to it as football.  At three she can take dance lessons and insist on wearing Crocs.  At three she doesn't always want to hug and kiss me good bye.   At three she answers all of my questions with "Of course"  It is kind of comical.

• "Do you want lunch?" - Of Course
• "Do you want to help me with dinner?" -Of Course
• "Are your toys supposed to be on the floor?" Of course they are not

She reminds me so much of Justin.  The way she talks, the way she laughs.   My Dad said she reminds him so much of me when I was younger.  Of course (see what I did there?) I don't see it. All I see is a little girl that is growing into a young lady that I am determined to keep her little and fun for as long as possible.  Life moves at a rapid speed and I am enjoying the moments in parenthood.

This is what Three Looks like-Enjoy!

17 Months

Rhea is now 17 months old.  She is getting so big so fast!  She is getting so tall and strong.  It breaks my heart that she is no longer a baby.  She is developing quite the personality and I am enjoying getting to know this little lady she is becoming.  She is bossy, jealous, cheerful, giggly and a whole bunch of other things in between.  Listed below are a few things we know about Rhea at 17 months.  

She may look cute but don't let her fool you.  She uses those teeth to get what she wants. 

She loves to Woof like a dog.  All the time.  

She is not a morning person just like her father.

She loves her binkie

She will not talk with Nana on FaceTime.  Only Papa

Most days she loves Duke more than me and Justin

Not sure how it is possible but I fall more in love with her each and everyday.

Good Cop, Bad Cop

I have read enough magazine articles, blogs, books, etc to know that in parenthood there will always be the good cop, bad cop.  I always fantasied that I would be the good guy.  Apparently I am filling the roll of bad cop.  Our nightly routine consists of Rhea sitting on the couch with Justin having a bottle and unwinding before we put her down.  Now that she is getting alittle older and exerting more independence she tends to get off the couch and push boundaries.  I came into the living room last night just as she was climbing off the couch.  She saw me, panicked and hauled her little ass back on the couch and pretended to be a sleep.  Now I know she wasn't scared of me but she never has that reaction when Justin enters the room.  To rub salt in my wounds Justin has now resorted to saying "Uh-oh, here comes Mommy" anytime she is being fresh and not listening.   Which makes her run like hell to Daddy and pretend she wasn't just doing something wrong.  She has him wrapped.

Breakfast of Champions

When I got home tonight I noticed the baby yogurt I bought yesterday had not been open.  Strange because Justin had to feed Rhea this morning and she eats yogurt and Cheerios every morning.  So I asked him what he gave her for breakfast.  His response?  "Goldfish because it's what she really wanted.  But don't worry I gave her some applesauce too"  Sometimes I just have no words.

Belated Grandparents Day

Grandparents are a funny breed of people.  One day they are just Mom and Dad and the next they are these crazy people obsessed with one thing and one thing only.  Your Baby.  My Dad took Rhea on Sunday to spend the day with him.  He also brought her to Toys R Us and let her go on a mini shopping spree letting her get "whatever she wanted"  When I tried to argue with him that I had sent toys for her to play with he insisted she needed new ones.  I mean she is 10 months old.  She would has the attention span of a fly.  She ended up playing in a cooler with her cousin Noah all afternoon.  Go figure.  The thing about my parents being grandparents now is that it makes me miss my grandparents.  I had amazing grandparents.  There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about them in someway.  Grandparents offer unconditional love.  I am not saying your parents don't love you unconditionally but during periods of your life your parents have disliked you.  But not grandparents.  My Papa swore I hung the moon, anything I did was amazing.  And once you see your parents with your children, you can actually visualize the love they have for you.  It is pretty powerful stuff.  Justin's Dad is a great example of the "grandparent effect".  He is utterly nuts about Rhea.  And she in turn in nuts about him. It is heart warming watching him sit on the floor and be goofy with her because he usually is so reserved.  Rhea is lucky in the fact that she not only has two sets of loving grandparents, but two Great Grandmothers who think she is the best thing since sliced bread!  Conversations usually go like this when we are with them "She just smiled, can you believe it, she is AMAZING!" "She just stood up, that little bugger, how does she do that?  AMAZING" I had a re-occurring dream when I was pregnant that I was riding in a car with my Papa.  It was so real.  And I think it was his way of telling me he is watching us and is nuts about her too.  Either that or he was trying to warn me about what my parents were going to turn into and was trying to help me escape!

Happy Fathers Day Justin!

This Father's Day is a bit different for me.  Instead of celebrating my wonderful Dad, I am also celebrating Rhea's wonderful Dad.  Justin and I entered "the 'hood" (parenthood) in November and we have been scared as hell since!  We are still trying to figure it all out.  There have been plenty of ups and downs.  And though at times I feel I have struggled with doing things my way (the right way!) and Justin's way, I am learning that his way may not be what I consider "right" but just another way of doing things.  An example of his way of parenting is rigging pillows under her bottles so she can feed herself while he continues on his i-Pad.

Or when he used his nose to hold the bottle because he really needed the extra sleep

Drinking beers while walking her around the neighborhood ( I feel like Nana "what will the neighbors think!!!!)

Yelling out "She looks like the mailman!!!" to a room filled with doctors in the delivery room

  

But all in all he has been wonderful.  Rhea has him wrapped around her little finger and he loves her with all his heart.  His way is the road less traveled as a parent and I wouldn't have it any other way!  I love you Justin.  Thank you for being a wonderful husband and wonderful father.  The past year has been a roller coaster for us both but there is no one else I would want to share this ride with.  I am so lucky you picked me to be your wife and so happy Rhea has you as her father.