The House That Russells Built: Another Year In Review

Next weekend my wee little baby will turn - dare I say it out loud - 3. 3?!?!?!?!?! She has grown so much in the last year and the change from toddler to little girl has been amazing, frustrating, exciting, exhausting, fun and one heck of a ride.

Physically she has grown to 38.5 inches tall and weighs in at a whopping 28 pounds making her my little sting bean. Developmentally she is starting to read books (the ones she has memorized from having us read them to her 1 million times), carries on fully conversations, comprehends feelings and emotions, plays pretend and is trying to control her world as much as possible. The overwhelming consensus is that she is still a miniature version of me and we share similar expressions, stubbornness and sassiness. Lord help us all, we are going to have our hands full as she gets bigger.

The past few weeks have been spent in mad preparation for the upcoming Lollipop Birthday party. I keep promising myself I will not go overboard on her parties but all that goes out the window once an idea has taken shape. It is just so hard NOT to when there are so many great ideas out there (thank you internet) and the desire to do them all is overwhelming. There will have to be some "minor" house renovations to make the overall scheme come to fruition. I have restrained some and can't wait to share how it all turns out.

In baby news, many of you already know it is a boy (and if you didn't - it's a BOY), which for me was not much of a shock considering how much different this pregnancy has been from the first. I am a little nervous about having a b-o-y and it should be interesting to say the least. I am also having a much more difficult time preparing for this one but we did finally find bedding which will determine the overall look of junior's room. A step in the right direction but still so much to do before his arrival in November, including trying to figure out a name. Uncle Joe is on a mission to get his name in there somewhere and his campaign is relentless. I must give him credit for his persistence!

And now, I present another year in pictures....

Looking very excited about her first ride at the fair by herself