How is she three?

*This post is exactly one month late.*

Unbelievable that three years ago my water broke 7 weeks early while on vacation at my parents house. After an incredibly long and painful week in the hospital, Anna finally came. I had a 5 lb 1 oz baby to care for in the NICU for a week before I went "home" to my parents house, and then really home to Texas a few weeks later. She didn't stay little long. She really has grown up so fast.

In preparation for her birthday, I asked if she wanted to go the the zoo. "No," she said, "Chick-fil-a!" Gratefully we only live 10 minutes from the ONLY Chick-fil-a in Wisconsin. And it's in a mall. So after feasting on delicious chicken, waffle fries, and fresh lemonade, we headed to the "play area" which consisted only of lame coin-op toys. Apparently none of the malls here have real indoor play areas. Somehow they still enjoyed themselves, climbing off and on everything in sight.

She would have loved to have a party with friends, but since we only arrived here 2 weeks before, we didn't really know anyone. So we headed to Flabbergast, a bouncy house place, to celebrate.

It took her a while to work up her bravery, but by the end of the night she was trying everything on her own.

 Back at the house we opened presents...

 From Paul and I...she is in love with Lalaloopsys.

From Hattie...Strawberry Shortcake is her other favorite toy.

 From Grandma Dame...she calls her "Punzel with the long, long hair."

And just a few days ago we got these three vintage Strawberry Shortcake dolls in the mail - our awesome Ebay finds. My mom has some and Anna LOVES them whenever we are in Oregon. She is thrilled to have some of her own...and we won the bid for only $12!

Paul's mom made Anna this awesome quilt. She LOVES it! It was a fun birthday for our little girl.

Things I love about Anna:
- She laughs at herself easily
- She is passionate
- She has beautiful big blue eyes
- She says all of her 'K' sounds with a 'T' or an 'F' sound. So she says things like, "I don't like it when Niels fries," or "I will fall and frat (crack) my head," or "Niels is so toot (cute)."
- She could eat quesadillas for every meal if I let her - as well as fruit snacks
- She'll do just about anything, especially if she sees Hattie do it first
- When she gets really intense about something, her eyes get ridiculously big so that you can see the whites all the way around her eyes
- She corrects me whenever I call her Nana, Anna Banana, my bug, squirt gun, Nana Cake, or any other name we have called her over the years. She emphatically reminds me that she is Anna, and that all those other names are wrong.
- She loves all dairy products. And I mean, she really loves them.
- She loves friends - she is always asking for cousins or our Texas friends to come and play
- It can be infuriating, but she loves to contradict you just for the sake of contradicting you. Somewhat annoying, but cute.
- She has always played well by herself. Maybe it's part of being the second child, but she'll often disappear upstairs for hours with her toys, content to be alone.
- She has tons of personality, yet is very sweet and kind.

Just on Sunday she told me that she wanted to go pee on the potty. So that afternoon I whipped out our recently purchased princess potty and let her try, not really putting my heart into it or encouraging her much. To my surprise, she went to the bathroom successfully 5 times that day! So Monday morning I kept at it, giving her juice and milk a lot. The result: 2 accidents, 8 successes, and 1 successful accident (she made it to the potty but forgot to pull down her pants). I think one of the reasons she has done so well is because the potty plays a song when she pees - that's motivation enough for her! So throughout the day I would be randomly surprised by the melody of a successful trip to the potty. I never had to remind her - she just went on her own! Hopefully it continues to be this easy. 

Happy birthday Anna! We love you!