3 years ago...

Three years ago, I became a mother.  I loved my tiny 5 pound, 11 ounce baby!

I can't believe Naomi is 3 years old today.  I still think of her as my little baby, but when I look at these pictures, she looks so grown up.

Naomi talks ALL the time.  I took her out for a little birthday outing today to pick out cupcakes and run a few errands, and Naomi was talking constantly when we were out.  Driving in the car, this is what I heard from the backseat, "Look!  Trees!  More trees!  Lots of trees!  Look!  Cars!  Lots of cars!  Look!  A truck!  It's a bus?  A yellow bus!  Where's Daddy?  I miss Daddy.  Let's go home and see Daddy and Aleta.  We're getting cupcakes?  Yummy cupcakes!  Birthday pancakes? (that is what she calls birthday cake/cupcakes) *yawn* I'm really tired.  Omi is really tired.  Ouch! (as we go over a tiny bump)  That hurt Omi!  Are we going to the store?  I'm hungry!  I want a yummy dinner!  Look!  Trees!  Oh, the trees are gone.  We need to buy some more!"  ("buy some more" is her solution for every problem.)

Naomi knows all of her capital letters.  She can count to 14 or so and recognizes some of the numbers.  She knows most of the basic colors.  She knows circles and triangles and can draw circles but needs help drawing triangles.  She LOVES puzzles.  And bubbles.  And building towers with her blocks, or cans of food, or boxes, or anything else that she can stack.  She also loves throwing/catching a ball, kicking her soccer ball, coloring, slides & swings, having dance parties, playing baseball & tennis on the Wii, reading (sometimes), and singing songs.  Oh, and she loves watching tv and movies, but we are trying to steer her away from that!  She is still a terrible eater most of the time, but she does love pizza, spaghetti, her Granddaddy's spanish rice, chocolate, cookies, chips, & ice cream.  And lately, green beans.  She ate an entire can by herself for lunch the other day.  So, if it is a food she likes AND is in the mood for, she'll eat really well.  Otherwise, forget it!  She's not touching it.

Naomi playing baseball on the Wii.  (She dressed herself on this particular day, in case you were wondering about her outfit!)

Naomi has a very specific bedtime routine, and if we forget even one little thing and put her to bed without it, she will stand by her bedroom door crying until we come back in and do the thing we forgot.  Her routine goes something like this:  We change her diaper & get her into pajamas.  We brush her teeth, and wash her hands, and she points to the red & green food coloring in the bathroom cabinet. (We use it to make bathtime a little more fun!)  Then we go in her room and put together her alphabet puzzle and sometimes her number puzzle (but half of the pieces are missing, so we just do as much as we can).  Then we read books (she becomes very attached to library books for this part of her routine.  When we have to take her books back, she chooses a few of the new library books as her "bedtime books").  Then we sing songs, in this order:  Popcorn Popping, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Once There Was a Snowman.  Then we say prayers, lay down to snuggle, and she spells her name while pointing to the wooden letters on her wall.  When she's had enough snuggling, she gives us kisses and hugs, and we cover her with her blankie (making sure she also has her hippo and her little mermaid magnet), and she will finally go to bed.

Naomi treats her hippo like her baby... this was after she changed his "stinky diaper". 

Naomi is such a good big sister.  She loves "Tah-ee" SO much.  She has recently started sometimes calling Aleta something that sounds a lot more like "Aleta" instead of "Tah-ee", and it makes me a little sad.  I think it's cute hearing Naomi's little nickname for Aleta.  Naomi and Aleta play together all the time, running around and laughing and chasing each other.  (The video is from November, but it's still cute!)

Naomi is such a fun little girl.  She is incredibly energetic and always has to be busy doing something and running around, which is why she doesn't always love reading--she just doesn't want to sit still long enough to read a story.  I love that she is old enough now to have conversations with me.  She makes me laugh all the time.

I love you, my beautiful Naomi-girl!!