HaPpY 3rd bIrThDaY pAiSlEy GiRl!!

Today our baby girl turns 3. 

I just about cried last night when I said goodnight to her, her final night as a 2 year old, crawling into her toddler bed, clad in cupcake footie pajamas, clutching her faithful pink blankie. 

 What a difference a year makes! xoxo. 

Her 2 year old picture in on the left. 

She's just growing up, that's all, (and I cry at everything right now). 

I know that once there's a newborn in the house she will suddenly seem even bigger!  

She joined the tea table at the end of my maternity photoshoot and Angie kindly snapped a few pictures of her having fun and exploring her new little party. xoxo. 

She loves a good party, (I don't know where she gets it). I will often find her decorating and pretending "party" with her stuffed animals or with "the guys", (her brothers).  She loves her brothers and does her best to keep up with them in most everything....from playing "Tangled", to racing and wrestling and most definitely, in conversation!!  She is not easily walked over or bossed around and will make her case known if she feels wronged, (or bothered)! 

She plays well by herself, spending most of her hours outside if she can.  She rides her bike FAST and climbs the trees HIGH.  She scares me a little sometimes, but I have to let go of those fears because I remember being just like her and I'm so thankful my Mom gave me the freedom she did....it made me into the woman I am today.  

She loves food. 

She will eat just about anything and often will eat as much as me. 

She loves to go to Grammie's house for "choco cake" and "mash atatoes".  She drinks water day and night and insists on having a cup of water by her bedside each night.

She adores her Daddy 

and her Daddy adores her!

When we were first married, I remember Jake saying how he hoped he could have a little girl just like me someday....pretty sure he got his wish!  She can be sugar and spice to say the least.  That old Mother Goose rhyme holds true for her, through and through.  The attitudes and moods are hard to deal with at times, (it's new to me after having 2 boys), and she doesn't get away with much or at least we try to not let her. 

I can clearly see the differences in raising boys and girls, saw it early on for sure.  The main thing that stands out the most to us is her desire for affection and to be lovely in her Daddy's eyes.  Each Sunday morning, (or when she's dressed up) she will come to Jake, tap him on the knee, look up to his towering frame and say, "how you like me Daddy?"  With a gleam in her eye she waits for his approval and adoration.  It's a beautiful picture of our Heavenly Father and His desire toward us and for us. 

She would "sleep in the middle" every night if we let her.  Most nights she still cries to lay with us, (and she cries LOUD), but with the baby coming soon we've had to bring a change to that....not easy, but necessary for everyone.  She understands, but it's the implementation that takes time and energy and drives us batty some nights when we're awakened so often!  Each day she says to me with excitement, "the baby's coming out today!"  I try to explain otherwise! 

She likes to entertain and if she has your attention she will dance, sing, "exercise" or try to tell a joke.  She will also tell you to clap and as you do so, she will close her eyes and take a bow.  

I'm amused and concerned all at once!!   

She is truly so pleasant and her name holds strong to her, 

Naomi Paisley, delightful and pleasant one. 

And so our baby begins a new year, a year that will bring some wonderful changes into her world.  A year that will be full of what childhood is all about, 
LIVING LIFE OUT LOUD!! 

We love our sweet Paisley-girl so much and THANK GOD FOR THE GIFT OF HER LIFE to us.  I will never forget the moment we first met, my heart was never the same. 

Our baby girl.

Our daughter. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAUTIFUL!!!! 

"And thou shalt in thy daughter see,
This picture, once, resembled thee."
~Ambrose Philips~