Janie's 3rd Birthday Party

Janie had been planning on having her birthday party at the trampoline park for a while before her birthday came along. Very opinionated. So, we went ahead and scheduled our very first birthday party {between both girls' birthdays} at a "party place" and of course used Altitude Trampoline Parks!

The good thing about scheduling birthday parties like this is that you don't have to worry about a whole lot. They provided the food, water, and even paper plates if you want. And we had two helpers coming around to serve and see if we needed anything. We brought in cupcakes, which I had special ordered at Target and thought were a great price {less than $1 per cupcake} for personalized treats. The only other cost was party favors. I did order balloons to make sure there was something pink but that wasn't even necessary.

We invited the friends in her class in addition to other close friends & family. Janie had a lot of fun jumping and playing with her friends! I found that I spent a lot of time talking with and greeting the adults and Justin spent a lot of time playing with the kids and neither of us took many pictures. I tried once or twice and the kids were just a blur playing, which is how it should be I suppose.

It was nice to not have to worry about planning or prepping a whole lot. Usually, I am working really hard the week or two before a birthday party to get things all ready and this time I think it was the night before, maybe two, when I realized I hadn't put together party favors! The trade off is the price and the amount of time spent preparing and cleaning... We have some time to contemplate it all before the next one!

We had fun celebrating your third birthday, Janie Belle!

Happy Birthday Janie

Our sweet baby girl is now three years old. She lives the "sugar and spice" poem that someone, somewhere came up with about little girls. She is definitely made up of both of those things. Janie constantly keeps us on our toes and surprises us with just how sweet and spicy she can be. I will make a long post all about her past year a bit later, but did want to share how we celebrated her special day.

Since her birthday falls on a holiday, we typically celebrate with friends & family after her birthday. But we wanted to do something special for her on her actual birthday as well, so we took the girls to the park to play.

What a big girl!!

We also got some cupcakes to share and enjoy. We made sure to sing "Happy Birthday" and have her blow out three candles! They ended up acting like trick candles even though that was not my intention {video too large to upload}. And thanks to Target's New Years Eve collection at the dollar spot, we got some glittery hats, too!

Me & my girls.

We are so in love with this little girl. Happy Birthday, Janie!

Three Years

Our baby girl is officially three years old! When I look back on pictures of Nora as a three year old, she looks so much bigger to me than the way I view Janie right now. I guess I just like to think of her as my forever baby, even though technically she is not. I actually told her stories about how she was as a baby recently and she found it quite humorous. She even started "acting" like a baby, which I didn't find humorous, but another way she has exhibited that she is, in fact, not a baby anymore.

Janie Elizabeth is THREE!

{Leslie Eure Photography}

It's amazing how you can watch your children grow, every single day, right in front of your eyes, yet not see them grow at all. They just change ever so slightly in each moment that it sweeps right by without you realizing it... until finally it hits you - they are GROWN. Or, at least more grown than you remembered. It's sad but glorious all at the same time.

Writing these reflective posts about the girls' milestones is helpful for me to see the growth that they've made over time. Especially since the girls are so close together, the memories tend to blend together. I love having it documented, if not for anyone but myself, so that I can look back and see the growth over time.

Janie as a three year old is so much different from Nora as a three year old. Nora was cautious and {generally} quiet, loved learning, and was a creature of habit. Janie is fearless and unpredictable. She has the most incredible voice projection and seems to not have a care in the world about learning anything that she doesn't deem necessary {ie. the letters in her name}.

To kick off the documentation in true second child form, I can honestly tell you I have no idea how much she weighs or how tall she is. In fact, I can't even remember who took her to her well check appointment. It's safe to say it wasn't me or I would probably remember... but I can't even guarantee that! Here's what I do know: there are no concerns about her growth, she can ride the cheap carnival rides at festivals and such {so she is at least 36 inches tall}, and she wears clothing true to size {so she is most like average for her height & weight}. How's that for official stats!

Janie is, for sure, a spitfire. Although we have not received any official "notes" from her school about poor behavior, we have had a few conversations with her teachers about behavioral... challenges. She really isn't bad... she is just motivated a whole lot differently from her big sister. At home we have struggled with finding a consequence that continues to work. We only have to implement consequences every now and then, but it seems like the same one never works twice.

One night I was determined to get her to eat a bite of chicken before she went to play after dinner. Although we have a pretty strict and consistent dinner routine, I don't typically force my children to eat what they claim they do not want. They know that they just don't get anything additional to what is on their plates. But this particular evening, Janie had eaten close to nothing. Also, she likes chicken just fine. She just apparently didn't feel like eating chicken at this given moment. So on this evening, Janie was told she had to eat one bite of chicken before she went to play. She was told repeatedly that she could play after she ate one bite of chicken. We sat there for thirty minutes. Nora got to play {she finished her whole plate, brussels sprouts and all} while we sat there. I thought for sure she would cave and I. Was. Wrong. She didn't get to play, though she also didn't seem to mind.

Another time, the girls had a bit of an altercation which landed Nora in a time out and Janie owed an apology for kickstarting the whole thing into action. Janie informed us that, well, she didn't really want to apologize yet; that she would do it later. And in the most matter-of-fact, calm & sweet way, as if it had been an option to apologize now, or later, or not at all! Needless to say, it comes across a little shocking at times. But, like I said... she is unpredictable!

We also cannot forget the time she fell asleep in the hallway because 

she wouldn't stay in bed! Yes, that's a dress over her pajamas. 

And yes, she is still sucking on that thumb...

All that said, though, she is a sweet little girl. She is very affectionate. She smiles all the time and has a very contagious personality filled with joy. She is always so happy to see mommy after a day at school. She gives the greatest hugs and will tell you she loves you every day. Although she can be stubborn and sassy at times, she has a splendid way of erasing my frustrations with her sweet & caring ways.

You just cannot stay mad at that face! 

Sweet, cuddly girl!

Continuing with the trend of crazy hair in the family... Janie's does not disappoint!

She is quite opinionated about how she likes to wear it, but it typically has to go up to avoid looking

like this at the end of the day...

Janie started the official Pre-School class around her birthday! I felt a little guilty for not taking pictures, but it was at mid-year, so it seemed a little different. Since then, I've noticed that Janie is beginning to recognize some of the letters in her name. She can spell her name out loud but doesn't always know what an "A" is all by itself. We've noticed that she can remember and tell you stories that she's read from books so incredibly well, but she just hasn't had an interest in learning letters until really just recently, where Nora started a lot earlier wanting to learn the names of letters. Janie is able to count to about 20 now and does well in her class at school.

Also, after about five or so months of making small attempts, Janie has mostly grasped the idea of using the potty! She had more trouble at first, but over time it has gotten increasingly better. She started going through naps with no pull-up on and then about a month or so ago she asked if she could wear her undies all night. It was a risky move, but she did well with it! We have not put a pull-up on in quite some time. She has had some accidents, but we are pretty happy with how she has done overall with her potty training in the most recent months.

Janie's favorite things to do are to play dress up with her sister {or by herself} and read books. She still loves to wear skirts or dresses everywhere she goes, including to bed. She loves the twirl factor and is very ready to begin her own dance lessons next year, or possibly this summer if we can find something for her. We will make an attempt to do her very first swim lesson this spring. Let's all cross our fingers that that goes according to plan!

Things Janie loves at 3:

dressing up

twirly dresses

kitty cats

puppy dogs

Ford

doughnuts

piggy tails

Sofia

show and tell

dancing

eggs

Chick-Fil-A sauce

ketchup

twirling

reading books

Cinderella

bread

fruit

Things Janie does not love at 3:

sleeping

most vegetables

fireworks & loud noises

pickles

We are most certain that Janie will continue to keep us on her toes as she grows and grows. We are looking forward to it, sweet girl!

Two and a Half

It is becoming harder and harder for me to get away with calling Janie my baby girl any more. Not only is she actually getting farther away from being an infant, but she will actually call me out on it {if she's in the right kind of mood}. The truth is, though, that she is an actual full-on toddler and I have got  to come to terms with that!

My cute girl!

Some times I am reminded by her behavior. She is not past throwing a tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants. Or yelling "NO" or even on the rare occasion, hitting mommy or daddy. She picks and chooses when and what she wants to eat, even though we are very consistent about offering her one meal, one time. She is persistent about what she wants to wear. It is always a dress; a dress to school; a dress to play; a dress to sleep in! We get in more arguments over whether or not she can wear this or that dress than most other things. 

This was the day before picture day. We picked out her dress for the next day.

Then, I wouldn't let her wear it to bed. The crying followed!!

On the other hand, though, Janie is incredibly sweet. She loves to give hugs and hold hands and rock a bye. She has the perfect blend of sweet and sassy in her personality.

Her reaction to things she is scared of...

Planting a seed at school.

Sweet movie date!

Janie is also speaking in full sentences, all of the time. Besides her tongue thrust, her speech is extremely intelligible. Her stories do not always make sense, but the words can be understood! We have always been impressed with her ability to put words together.

We made a valiant effort to potty train Janie this summer, but I am not convinced that she is 100% ready. She shows signs at times and uses the potty often, but she does not recognize she needs to go and then turn that into action. At least at home. I think we will try again later, closer to her 3rd birthday to see how she does then. Unlike her sister, she did not seem to have any anxiety with using the potty, which I found to be awesome while at home, but also unlike her sister, she didn't flip over to undies only after 4 days... which was not so awesome.

Potty training!

We did make the big change to a big girl bed this summer, which Janie has loved and also done great with. She doesn't get out of her bed when she wakes up, which is fantastic, and the transition didn't affect her sleeping in the least.

Other updates since her 2nd birthday...

Uses sentences to speak As I mentioned above, Janie's speaking is still amazing. She is stringing sentences together to tell stories. And although they may not make any sense, they are still stories with lots of words! She will also repeat phrases she hears, which are super cute, like "That's a great choice!" and "That's so wonderful!" She is highly encouraging and so very darling!

Knows basic colors & shapes One of the biggest differences between Janie and her sister is the amount of academic knowledge they had retained at the same age. Janie is a smart girl and I am by no means concerned about her, but she is just more interested in feelings & social situations than she is with learning new math & literacy concepts. I know that Janie knows her colors & some shapes, but I'm not sure she has made vast improvements with new numbers, letters, etc.

Can count to 12-ish I can honestly say I have NO idea how high Janie can count these days! Second child excuse! I do know that she can count to 5 very well. And she can hold up 2 fingers to tell people how old she is.

Sings ABC's Janie loves to sing her ABC's and does so well, but still doesn't know very many letters, even J for her name. I think she may know A & B, but not consistently. We will work on it as we need to, but as I said before, we are not super concerned as we believe she is doing just fine for her age!

Enjoys playing with baby dolls & dressing up Janie's most favorite thing to do is dress up. She loves all things that have to do with dresses. I don't think I will buy her an actual shirt for a while, unless there is a skirt to match it to! She also loves wearing shoes, especially ones that are not hers. She also loves picking out her own clothes herself, which can be extremely difficult for me to relinquish control of!!

Dressing up at school...

...dressing up at home!

Playing at school... closer to two & you can tell!

Loves reading books to self & others We read every day. She loves books and remembers the parts of the books waaayyy too well. If you even for a second try to skip a sentence, she will call you out on it. She also loves to read books to herself and actually retells the stories pretty well. That's one thing that as a teacher I know kids pick up from listening to adults read: sentence structure, inflection, vocabulary, etc. But watching it happen so young is amazing. While we waited for her sister to finish her hour-long dance class, the only thing Janie did was read the same book over and over. And by herself. She refused to let me read it even once!

Reading books at dance class.

Sings songs & sometimes makes up her own We recently went to a birthday party for a friend and Janie seemed to love singing and dancing on the stage. She loves singing and dancing at home. And by dancing, I mean twirling. She sings in the car and in the bath and in her bed when she's all by herself but thinks no one can hear her. And her little voice carries... So what I'm saying is that these last few things have not changed much!!

Pretty picky eater Janie will actually try a lot of things, but sometimes she eats tons and sometimes she doesn't eat anything. So I think the picky part is not as terrible as it was a few months ago, but she is pretty inconsistent. She never asks for anything different, though! And for the record, she can still eat her body weight in eggs!

Sucks her thumb This. This is the thing I've been worried about for a looooong time. Now we are in the stretch to three years old and I'm not sure how we will break this habit!! I'm sure her tongue thrust is all intertwined in this problem. And her overbite... {sigh}

Janie loves her school & her friends! Her concentration face is amazing...

Obviously enjoyed this activity...

THAT FACE!

Uses utensils Janie is great with eating. I mean, she still spills and can be a messy eater, but uses utensils well! She even used her toddler knife once. 

Drinks from a cup (sometimes) We totally let daycare handle this, but Janie can drink from a regular old cup now. With no help from us!

Likes to brush her teeth Janie likes to brush her teeth all by herself now. Which means she likes to suck the toothpaste off the toothbrush. So, we let her try and then we intervene. We are not yet to the point where she can do the brushing independently, though she likes to think she is! 

Has 16 teeth Yes, I stopped counting teeth awhile ago. She has molars. She had her first visit to the dentist this summer and did awesome! Her teeth were great. 

On her half birthday. What a sweet little smile.

Falling asleep with daddy!

Janie's Donut Shoppe Party

We celebrated our little girl turning TWO years old this past weekend! We had a blast with our friends & family. Janie loved everything about her party day. Here's a bit about how we spent the day with our sweet girl...

When I first began planning for Janie's second birthday party, I thought about all the things that she really loved. This list included Cinderella, her stuffed bunny, and donuts. I looked on Pinterest for ideas of things that I loved within the different themes I was considering and finally decided on a donut shoppe party. She LOVED everything about her donut party and Nora even asked if she could have a donut party for her next birthday!! Oh my.

Janie is TWO!

We decorated the house with little donut garlands and signs, most of which either already had or I was able to borrow from a friend making it easy on me to make everything look snappy. I have used this "Happy Birthday" banner at every single one of the girls' birthdays so that was a good investment! The one donut garland I made I used paper & string that I already had at the house. Otherwise, I spent just a few dollars on some Target Dollar Section chalkboards, flowers, and balloons.

Neither child was super cooperative for these pictures...

Sweet Nora!

Dress: Matilda Jane | Headband: Little Bow & Arrow Shop

The birthday girl, Janie! 

Dress: Little Bow & Arrow Shop

Of course for food, we had donuts!! We made donut towers on platters & cake stands, a donut hole bouquet, and her cake was made from donut holes as well. For variety, we also put out yogurt, cut fruit, and pigs in a blanket. We kept out an assortment of milk as well as water & coffee for the adults to drink.

I felt we needed to have an official activity, for the first time since I've planned parties, since many of our guests were a bit older. We set up a donut decorating station with icing & sprinkle varieties for the kids to get creative with. I even made some cute little donut shoppe hats for them to wear while they worked. So cute!!

Janie was a little more reserved when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her at the party than when we did with just our family and didn't really get into having the attention on her. She also didn't want to blow out her little candles. Nora to the rescue!

She loved opening her gifts and wanted to play with all of them. She was dressing up in new clothes & playing with Peppa Pig before the day was finished!

Janie had so much fun at her party. We are very thankful for our great friends & family who show so much love to our little girl. It is hard to believe that it has been two whole years since she was born. We love her so much!!

Sweet family... 

...and friends!

And finally, a Janie photo shoot...

TWO!

We "donut" know what we would do without our sweet Janie Belle!! ;)