Maddie's 3rd Birthday

 So much for planning to post the day of Maddie's Birthday, but better late than never! This year was Miss Maddie's golden birthday: she turned 3 on August 3rd. And she soaked up every minute of this birthday! We went to Donut Den that morning for breakfast, and she ordered her usual: 1 chocolate sprinkle donut and 1 pink sprinkle donut (she can never eat both of them, but it is very important to her to get 2 each time)We had a few visitors stop by to wish her Happy Birthday, and we went to lunch with Neel and baby Carrie. And after a quick nap, we went to get cupcakes at Bread and Company with Bebe. When we got home, Uncle Tee and Miss Caroline were waiting for us to give Maddie her present: a new addition to our family - Jim. One of Caroline's roommates has a Beta fish named Jim, and it has been all Maddie has talked about. We have talked about what Jim's favorite color is, what Jim likes to eat, what Jim is doing right now, and it went on and on. So Uncle Tee got her her very own Jim (he tried to explain that this was Jim's sister, but instead Maddie said "Oh, there are two Jims!"). Maddie was so excited, she could not even believe it at first.

And we finished the night off by meeting Mimi and Grand D and Anna Caroline for dinner at Yolo's. Maddie wanted to wear her "high heels" to dinner. This is a look I've been getting a lot these days, when she is not pleased with what I am asking her to do (in this instance stop so I could take a picture of her)

I gave Maddie the option this year either to have her party at our house or at Monkey's Treehouse (a indoor playroom w/ a treehouse and just about every other type of toy you can imagine), and without blinking an eye she replied Monkey's Treehouse! So that is where we had it. She was excited that day that the last thing she wanted to do was take a nap. We had been in a transitional period where she really still needed a nap, but she was fighting it and if she slept too long then she was up at night. So I've been letting her just play quietly in her room, and most days she plays for a few minutes and then she will snuggle into her bed and fall asleep. But on the day of her party, she absolutely did not want to take one. So she sat on her stairs screaming for about 30 mins that she was not going to sleep, and when I opened her door to wake her up from her nap for the party, this is how I found her: sound asleep on the stairs. :)

Here she is with her beloved "big girl cousins" on either side!

And the chaos begins of getting everyone cupcake wrapper off, getting everyone ice cream and a drink! I learned two things for next year: take the wrappers off ahead of time, and do not attempt cream cheese icing when it is 100 degrees outside - it was good but way too runny and therefore very messy!

It is amazing to think about how much Maddie has changed and grown in this past year. So much changes from two to three. At two, she wanted to help with everything but wasn't able to provide much useful help. But I feel like in the blink of an eye, she goes and gets her own snack now and can get a juice box out of the refrigerator. I turned around last week and she had buttoned her rain coat all by herself! She will go and get a bib or burp cloth for Emalyn without me even asking. If she hear Emalyn crying, she will go and put her toys back in front of her. She loves to help me cook and bake, and we have so much fun doing it together. And she has had had a lot of change thrown at her this past year: starting school for the first time, she moved to her new big girl room upstairs (and soon she will have a new big girl bed), she was potty trained, and the biggest change of all - a new little sister. We definitely had our moments, but overall I have been amazed at how lovingly she has welcome Emalyn into our lives. When Chris and I went to the mountains last month, she called Honey everyday to check and see how her baby sister was (and could have cared less about talking to Chris and while we were gone). They already have a very special relationship. Emalyn squeals and flaps her arms every time Maddie walks into the room. They carry on little conversations with each other by squealing back and forth to each other. I have so much fun taking her places with me these days. She went shopping with me last week, and we walked into the fitting room. She hopped up on the beach, and with each new shirt I tried on she would say "that one is pretty cute mom." Wow! What a change even from a few months ago...she truly is a little girl now! She even suggested that I get two of the shirts I tried on. Definitely my girl! :) But I think what has been the most fun thing for Chris and I to see is more of her little personality coming through these days. She has the sweetest little heart, so caring and compassionate. It was a wonderful third birthday, and she is already talking about her next party!

A Glimpse into our Crazy Month

Whew! Get ready for a marathon of a blog post.  We have had a lot of milestones this month: Maddie's first tea party, first 4th of July festivities with two kids, Maddie's first year of Vacation Bible School, Emalyn started sitting up, our first trip away since Emalyn was born, and our first slumber party at our house. Throw in there a quick trip down and back to Atlanta to get the townhouse ready for new renters, a going away party for Lauren and Matt, and all the preparations necessary for Chris and I to actually get out of town and now you see why it has been a month since I have posted anything!

Maddie was invited to princess tea party birthday party for Anna Claire, one of her friends from church. She was so excited the invitation told her to bring her baby with her.

Anna Claire's mom painted each of the girls their own plate and tea cup. They each got to make their own tiara (of course Maddie wouldn't keep in on), but she had a blast!

Then it was onto The Fourth:

The Youngs invited us to join the parade on Skyline. 

We went ahead and gave Maddie her birthday present a little early this year: a new bike!

Maddie started off riding her bike, but that didn't last for long. She dropped her bike off in Graham and Neel's driving and ran instead!

Here are the girls with "baby Carrie" in their fourth of July dresses.

We followed up the parade with an afternoon in downtown Franklin with Joe (Chris' boss) and his family and friends.

We have known for a while that "Miss Lauren" and "Mr. Matt" as Maddie calls them would be moving to New York City this summer, but time passed all to quickly. Lauren has been my best friend since elementary school, and we have gotten so spoiled these past two years having her in Nashville. We are going to miss them very much! The day she left, Maddie packed up her picnic basket and said "Okay Mom I'm ready!" (When did she get old enough to call me mom and not mama?) I asked her where she was going, and she reply "To New York with Miss Lauren."

That next week was Vacation Bible School at church, which made for a very busy week in the Camp household, not to mention it was from 4-6:30 which meant that I had to wake Maddie up from her nap each day to get there in time. Maddie loved it did not want to leave each night, and of course Thursday night was the only night Chris was not there to help me round the girls up. Maddie made her rounds giving all her friends hugs and telling them bye. And by this point I was hot (I know I was on the couch most of last summer in the beginning stages of pregnancy, but I really think this is the hottest July yet!) and tired and hungry and was ready to get the two girls in the car and head home. Maddie continued to stall, and I was done. So I resorted to picking her up and carrying her to the car,. which never turns out well. She's kicking and screaming, I'm trying to bend down and pick up Emalyn in her car seat which now weighs 30 pounds, and get my purse to get out to of there as quickly as I can. Thankfully, another lady took pity on me and carried Emalyn to the car. I'm half way down the hill to my car when I look down and Maddie has pulled my shirt down and my bra is showing for everyone at church to see. I set her down in front of the car to lock Emalyn into her seat, and Maddie runs away into the parking lot. (She never does this!) So I quickly set Emalyn down, run and get Maddie who is still screaming hysterically "I don't want to go home". I finally get Emalyn in the car. I try to take Maddie to the side of the car and talk to her, but of course at this point there is no reasoning with her! So I decide I've just got to try to overpower her and get her buckled (which is proving to be very difficult these days...she is getting strong) and get home. Sweat is dripping down my body at this point, but I got her buckled. I am calling Chris to prepare him for when we arrive home, and I look in the rear view mirror and Maddie, still screaming, has gotten her arms out of the harness of the car seat and is trying to stand up. I pulled over at a gas station, telling Chris he may have to come get us b/c I don't know if I can get her back in her seat. At that point, I lost it and told her she was acting ridiculous and that daddy was going to have to drive all the way out there just to buckle her in her car seat. Using the daddy threat worked, she immediately sat down and let me buckle her in. Lesson learned, next year there will be no waking her up from her nap 5 days in a row, that is just asking for disaster. But overall it was a great week. The highlight of Maddie's week: Daddy dressed up as Adam and was the story teller one of the days (yes, my sweet husband still loves me even after I volunteered him to do this).

Here Maddie is singing The Butterfly Song, her new favorite song.

The long awaited first trip away! I was bound and determined to have Emalyn taking formula so that Chris and I could get a little break from being mommy and daddy and just be us for a few days! My mom and Millie and Woody divided up Maddie duty, and we dropped off Emalyn with the Hills in Knoxville on the way up to Ashville to meet two of my best friends from college. It was such sweet time being able to catch up with Emily and Rosemary. I feel like with the addition of Emalyn, there is less time in my day to stay in touch with my friends. So it was a wonderful, relaxing weekend. I still woke up each morning at 6, but it was so nice to be able to roll over and fall back asleep!

Sweet Maddie had done so well until Saturday night when Tee and Caroline came to babysit her for my mom to go to a wedding. She absolutely lost it. I tried talking to her on the phone, and she was just frantic. "I want my Bebe." So my mom ended up staying home from the wedding. That night as she and Maddie were falling asleep Maddie said to my mom, "I happy now, Bebe. You can go to your meeting in the morning, and I go with Uncle Tee." When my mom asked her what made her so sad, she said, "You see Bebe, my mommy and my daddy are both out of town, and I not want my Bebe to leave me too." Sweet little thing! I was so proud of her that she was able to communicate what was wrong (of course not in the heat of the moment, but at least she is thinking through it).


And on Friday night, Maddie got to have her first slumber party. We had two of Brian and Sara's kids over to spend the night. We started the night with dinner at Chick-Fil-A

Then it was home to bake sugar cookies and watch a movie

They did get in bed until 9:45, but I was really impressed we only had to go upstairs one time and it was because my child would not stop talking. We could hear John Miller through the monitor saying, "Maddie, I am trying to go to sleep if you don't stop talking, something bads gonna happen." We were up by 6:15 the next morning and at Donut Den by 7:00.

Okay, I have to admit I have been working on this post for over a week now. But I knew I had to get it done before our big day tomorrow: Maddie's turning 3!