Happy Birthday To You...and You!!

Well...it's official. The girls are now 3 Years Old. It's hard to believe that exactly 3 years ago, I was in the hospital with two tiny new babies, wondering just what the heck I was going to do. I didn't feel ready to be a mom. I didn't feel worthy of the two beautiful angels who were sleeping so soundly in the bassinet next to my hospital bed. I didn't understand how I was going to be able to share my love and time and energy between two babies at the same time.

The past three have flown by faster than I would like, but they have been a HUGE learning experience...together, AK , Roo, and I have grown and matured in ways I never thought possible. Often, they have been the teacher and I, their mother, have been the student. They remind me to be patient, forgiving, caring, loving, and sensitive to others, but also to have fun and enjoy life to its fullest. I love hearing their infectious giggles and seeing their beautiful smiles. I can't fully explain the feeling I get when I hear the words "I Yuv You mama" emanate from their tiny lips.

Simply put, my life....Doug's life...our family...would not be complete without Roo and AK. I love them more than I explain.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girls!! I can't believe you are already 3 YEARS OLD!!

The slide show is a compilation of birthday festivities and the girls trip to get their haircuts.
BIRTHDAY: We did presents and cake on Monday night, since Doug had his last night of class on Tuesday and he wasn't able to get out of going to class. Technically, we didn't have cake...Roo said she wanted cookies and AK said she wanted cupcakes, so I made both. The girls helped me bake them Monday evening, which was pretty fun...they like helping me out in the kitchen. They loved blowing out the candles...we ended up relighting them about 6 or 7 times because they got such a kick out of it. The singing, on the other hand, they didn't seem to care for...unfortunately, Doug and I aren't the best singers around. We kept the presents pretty low-key this year...we figured this will probably be the last year we can get away with being "cheap" ...(that sounds terrible, I'm sure). Regardless, the girls absolutely LOVED their presents...as would be expected seeing as how they personally picked out some of them earlier that day. You wouldn't have guessed they knew what they were getting by their reactions, though...they were so excited to unwrap their new princess dolls. It was a really fun night - I think all of us had a blast.

HAIRCUTS: The girls seemed very excited to get "big girl haircuts" (we have been talking about doing it for quite some time), but once we got into the place, neither of them wanted to go near the stylists booths. After some begging, pleading, and bribing, I finally got AK back into one of the chairs....she insisted on sitting on my lap the entire time, which made it quite difficult for the stylists, I'm sure. Once in the chair, she didn't cry at all...she was wonderful. Once AK's haircut was complete, we had to try the same tactics with Roo. I got her into the chair with me, but as soon as the stylist went near her hair with the scissors, she started crying "My hair, my hair...no want my hair cut, mama..." That nearly broke my heart, but I talked with her about it and she eventually calmed down.

End result, I think the haircuts turned out really cute. Each girl had about 4-5 inches cut off (I think...I didn't have a measuring tape handy or anything)...I cringed when I saw all the hair on the floor, but it was something that needed to be done. The cuts are a little different...Roo has bangs now (slightly), so hopefully that will make it a little easier for people tell them apart.