Happy Third Birthday Mary!

Our littlest princess has turned three! This means Cory and I are now parents to two 3 year olds! We feel very lucky that we made it through the second year without any of the "terrible two's" that many parents talk of, hopefully three will be even better!

When looking over the pictures from the past year, we can't believe how much Mary has grown! She has grown over 7 inches and gained more than 10 lbs. She is most definitely a little girl now, but she will always be our baby!

Second Birthday, December 2010

Mary's birthday is also a special time because I share the same birth date with her. So although we thought of having TWO birthday cakes, we decided on having cupcakes instead. Elmo and his various Sesame Street friends are still a big deal in our house, so of course they had to make an appearance.

 
The two birthday girls before blowing out the candles, which Mary did all on her own (she has come such a long way since her surgery, making Mama and Daddy very proud)!

What are birthdays without a few presents to unwrap? Mary is still trying to understand this whole "birthday" concept, but interestingly enough, caught on pretty quick to "MY birthday present"! Her new stroller by far has been the biggest hit, no more having to take turns with jie jie to walk her "babies" around in the one stroller we already had.

Of course we didn't finish all the cupcakes in one day, so the girls were able to practice blowing out the candles for a couple more days. And eat copious amounts of blue and red food coloring...which the body doesn't digest - just in case you wanted to know ;)

Here is a short video of our birthday girl!

As we take time to celebrate our darling daughter's third birthday, we also take a moment to think of Mary's birth family and in particular birth mother. This too, may be a bittersweet day for her...and we wish that somehow, someway, we could let her know that Mary is doing well, she is happy and healthy and loved.