Birthday Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the birthday girl. We had a wonderful party yesterday (5/22) at Memory Square Park next to our house with lots of friends and family, and then a nice morning today and a lunch picnic at another park in town with Olivia, Treyden, Carleigh and Doug. We did a terrible job taking pictures so there are only a few... Grandpa took lots more yesterday.

Happy birthday to our sweet Mazie James!

Party at the park...


Water balloons!


Playing with a special little piano from Grandpa Gil and Grandma Ann.


Great Aunt Kerry got me a great puzzle that I can do all by myself!




Nanny and Papa got me a doggie day care sandbox -- it even has a pooper scooper!


Walking to breakfast today, on my ACTUAL birthday (that's what I called it)


Picnic at the park... it's Carleigh's birthday, too!


Mommy and I made special ice cream cone-cupcakes (great idea, Aunt Jen)!

Happy Birthday to Mazie! Three Years Old!

Dear Mazie,

Today is your third birthday. So hard to believe that three years have already gone by since that amazing, wonderful night when you were born. Your daddy and I have loved every minute of those three years... even when you've been difficult (rarely), parenting you has been the most wonderful experience I've ever had.

Last night for a bedtime story I told you the story of your birth. Actually, I started with the part where, years and years ago when they were just friends, a boy named Caleb told a girl named Katie that he thought it would be a good idea for them to get married and have kids together. You interrupted the story to say that you wanted a story with Mazie in it. I told you to keep listening, and you did. I told you how Katie thought Caleb's idea was kind of silly at first, but eventually decided that he was right, and they got married. They talked about having kids all the time, but they had other things they needed to do first and so they waited. Then one day when they were on an airplane Caleb told Katie he thought it was time to have a baby. Once again, Katie wasn't sure about it, but after thinking about it a little bit she decided he was right about this, too, and pretty soon they learned that there was a tiny, tiny beginning of a baby in Katie's belly. Over the next nine months Katie's belly grew and grew, until finally on May 23, 2008, Katie woke up early in the morning and felt her belly squeezing the baby and getting ready for the baby to come out. Ahya was already there waiting, but Nana wasn't planning to come to North Carolina until the next day, so Katie and Caleb called her and told her to get on a plane. All day long my belly kept squeezing and squeezing, and the baby kept moving down, and in the afternoon we went to the hospital and Nana met us there. Daddy and Ahya and Nana helped Mommy breathe and move and get ready for the baby, and then it was time for Mommy to start pushing... and I pushed, and I pushed, and I pushed, and then all of a sudden with one last push the whole baby came squirting out, and Daddy said, "It's a girl!" and then you were on my chest and I looked at you and you were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. And I was so, so happy, and Daddy was so, so happy, and Ahya was so, so happy, and Nana was so, so happy, and it was the most wonderful moment of my whole life.

I told you this story lying face to face next to you in bed, and the look on your face at the end of the story was so full of joy and pride and love and tenderness, and you reached your sweet little arms out and wrapped them around my neck and I told you that I loved you and you told me you loved me too. And then you said in a gentle little whisper, "Soon another little baby will squirt out of you."

There's just no way to tell you how much I adore you. You continue to be the brightest, sweetest, most wonderful child I can imagine. Your vocabulary keeps growing and growing, and we love to hear your stories and have conversations with you.

Your fourth year will bring a big change for you and our family as we welcome BabyBrotherSister in a few short months. I know this will be an adjustment for all of us, but you have amazed us so far with your attitude and enthusiasm toward this new addition. You already include Tiger in conversations about our family ("We're all here! Mommy, Daddy, Mazie, and BabyBrotherSister!"), and seem genuinely excited about the prospect of being a big sister. The other day you were lying across my lap and hugging my belly and singing a song that included things like, "I don't have any kids to play with at my house right now.... We don't know if you're a boy or a girl, but if you're a brother I'll play with you, and if you're a sister I'll play with you." Again, I know that it will be difficult at times to give up your spot as the sole focus of our attention, but I also just know that, like pretty much everything else, being a big sister is something you are going to excel at. I can't wait to watch you grow into this new role.

I love you entirely, my sweet little girl. Happy birthday.

Love,
Mom

Mother's Day

Mama,

Thank you so much for being my Mama. Here are some things that I love about you.

1. I love that you let me crawl into your bed in the morning and snuggle with you.

2. I love that you make me yummy breakfast.

3. I love that you let me get dressed all by myself.

4. I love that you take me to school some mornings.

5. I love that y0u let Daddy take care of me some mornings.

6. I love that you let Ahya take care of me some mornings.

7. I love that you leave work early everyday to come pick me up from soccer or Livi's house.

8. I love that you take me to dance class, swimming lessons, yoga, parks, Livi's house...

9. I love that you make me delicious and nutritious dinners.

10. I love that you play games with me.

11. I love that you take baths with me.

12. I love that you read me stories.

13. I love that you lie down with me...for a little while.

14. I love that you do all of this every day.

15. I love how much you love me.

16. I love how much you love my Daddy.

17. I love how proud of me you are.

18. I'm proud of you too, Mom. You are the best mom in the whole world.

Easter

Today was my third Easter. On my first and second Easters, I wore a pretty dress and Mom took pictures of me in front of our house in Madison. To keep the tradition alive, we took some pictures this year in front of our Colorado house. We'll try to keep doing this each year... next year, BabyBrotherSister will be in the pictures with me!

Easter 2009



Easter 2010



Easter 2011






We had a very nice day. The Easter bunny brought me a couple of little presents and hid some eggs for me at my house. (These eggs were filled with Goldfish crackers, which I was very excited about... Mom and Dad are going to see how long they can hold out before I insist on sweeter fare in my eggs.) Then we went over to Uncle Ian and Aunt Michelle's house and I got to play with my cousin and have another big egg hunt at their house. (The Easter bunny apparently puts candy in their eggs.) In the afternoon we went to a movie, Rio, with my parents and cousins, and then I took a nap and now we're just hanging out!

Happy Easter!

- Mazie

Introducing... Tiger

Hello, world.

This is Mazie's "BabyBrotherSister," as she likes to call me. I'm about 22 womb-weeks old, due to make my grand entrance into the world around August 17, 2011. You'd think Mazie or our parents would have mentioned me in one of their posts in the past few months, but chalk it up to second-child treatment, I guess. I know they do think about me a lot, though, 'cuz I hear them talking about me all the time.

As many of you know, when Mazie was in here (Mom's uterus), Mom and Dad called her "Peanut" (hence the blog name) and gave her a special sort of spirit animal: an elephant. A little while after the family found out that I was going to be joining them, they asked Mazie what my special animal should be, and without hesitation she said, "A tiger!" Dad thought that was great, because he was thinking, "Tiger, tiger, tiger..." in his head. So that settled it. "Tiger" I am.

Just like my sister, I haven't been too hard on Mom. She was a little queasy and pretty tired right at the beginning, just enough to make her feel pregnant, but since week 10 or so she's been feeling good. In the past few weeks she's started to feel me move a lot, and Daddy got to feel his first kick on his birthday (March 21). Mazie still hasn't gotten a kick yet... she doesn't quite have the patience to sit still and wait for it. Soon enough I'll get strong enough to really put on a show for her. Mom's been telling her stories about when she (Mazie) was in here, and the one Mazie loves to repeat is about the time that Dad had his face on Mom's belly and Mazie kicked him right in the eye!

Anyway, gotta get back to my growing, sleeping, and moving routine.... Here's what I looked like on March 30:


They tried to get a fancy 3D pic of me but I was a little shy... I kept my hands in front of my face. Just practicing for the paparazzi.



And here's what Mom looks like now:

Mazie's Dance Performance -- A Success!

Last night I had my dance performance for the "Creative Movement" class I've been taking at the Rec Center. I had a great time and showed no trace of the stage fright that struck me during the Jungle Book. Look how cute we all are!

Thoughts from Dad

I'm constantly amazed by Mazie and all of her thoughts. Last night we had dinner with Deserai, Jason and Anderson. They just lost their family member, Keeley, the beloved golden retriever, to cancer. Not too long ago (July '10) we gave one of our dogs, Roxie, away to another family before we left Wisconsin. On the drive home, we were talking about Roxie and Mazie asked, "Is Roxie sad?" We said, "Oh no. Roxie has a new mommy that loves her very much and gives her all of the attention she needs." Mazie then thought about it and said, "But...is she sad about us?"

I told her about "missing" someone and that Roxie probably missed us and was sad when she thought about that, but she is happy most of the time. She asked Katie and I if we missed Roxie and we told her that we did.

At some point all of this stuff just becomes normal and you expect a human being to think, feel, communicate, etc. It's just so crazy to watch a 2-year-old go through those stages. As Katie said, "I expected these types of conversations to happen when she was 5."

I'm not sure what goes on in that little brain of hers, but she always seems to be using it.

That's her Dad talking though....