Age 3

We have made it to year 3! What a great year! This year we have gone to Ireland (Zoe spent an entire WEEK at her grandma's!), said goodbye to my sister and her family (and then hello again on two trips to Florida!), moved to a new home that we LOVE, made LOTS of new friends, learned Zoe will be getting a new cousin in 2016, made plans to visit NYC in a few weeks, and of course, taken lots and LOTS of pictures!

Sometimes I look back and I'm stunned at how blissfully normal, and peaceful our life is. We are truly blessed and I'm so thankful for this life and time with friends and family I love and cherish. I hope Zoe one day recognizes how lucky we really are. Here's a look back:

Zoe with her cousins in Florida

First Pedicure. This is in Florida with her cousin!

In March and August, we visited my sister in Florida. She moved just outside of Orlando, not far from Cocoa Beach. Not that we needed an excuse to visit, but white sandy beaches are a nice bonus! Zoe absolutely loved visiting the beach and playing in the sand, but time with her cousins was really what she wanted!






When we got back from Florida in March, Andrew had converted Zoe's crib to a toddler bed since she had been climbing out. He built the toddler rail, since we never purchased the one that goes with her bed. Not long after this, we also broke the binky habit! It required a lot of persuasion and a little magic from a "binky fairy" but we were successful! We also started potty training around this time, and while Zoe is still not "night trained," she is completely potty trained during the day. Yay for not buying diapers!













We made several trips to Bartlesville to visit my family. Including this lovely lady's birthday party in March. It's always so wonderful to visit with family. We live a bit closer now, so hopefully can stop by more often!












Zoe got her first "pets" this year. Small turtles named Myrtle and Henry. She enjoys feeding them worms!

We had a ton of fun this summer. We have a pool in our neighborhood now, so Z swam almost every day. We also went to the splash pad at Myriad garden's with my mom a few times. I won a giveaway at a local photographer's page, and Z took some adorable "Princess and the Pea" photo's. We also attended the annual summer party with the company Andrew works for. This year, they chose to do a baseball game. I think Zoe may have enjoyed wearing the baseball hat a bit more than actually watching baseball.

Fall brought Halloween and a special announcement. We dressed up as a "pumpkin patch" to go trick-or-treat around our neighborhood (and Zoe's school). Basically, Andrew and I just wore orange and stuck some green leaves to our head, but Zoe wore a really cute orange tutu. We held a green vine (rope), which helped keep Zoe from wandering off! Z loved trick or treat. Not  necessarily because of the candy, but because she enjoyed going up houses and yelling "trick or treat!"



And the special announcement? Alana and Jacob (Andrew's sister) stopped by one random Monday evening with a surprise announcement, that are were expecting. We can't wait for baby L to get here! Zoe is convinced she's getting a girl cousin. Hopefully we will find out soon!

We had a delicious and relaxing Thanksgiving this year, that was followed by
a HUGE ice storm. We got more than they predicted and ended up losing power and trees. We moved Zoe's birthday party to Thanksgiving weekend this year, so it put a bit of a wrench in the works. Despite all of that, we still ended up throwing Zoe's birthday party even though most of our guests couldn't make it. It was lovely, and Zoe had a wonderful time regardless. See more Here. With winter, comes my favorite time of year. I love the holiday's for a lot of reasons, and am looking forward to the coming month. Several months ago, we booked a Christmas trip to NYC to do all of the "traditional" things. We are really looking forward to it! Z wants to see all the "big buildings," and we have promised to take her to see santa while we're there!



Here is this year's update:

Favorite Thing to Do: We recently got Science Museum Passes. She LOVES going, and especially loves it when Otto the robot is out and about!
Favorite Food: Pizza. Typical kid, right? She really loves it when we order a pizza and sit in the living room floor on a blanket, and watch a movie while we eat!
New This Year: Zoe has made a lot of new friends this year. After my sister moved, we found that Zoe needed the social interaction since she was no longer able to play with her cousins on a weekly/daily basis. We have found some new groups and things to do that have allowed her to make some new friends. In addition, Zoe has been attending a children's day out program once per week that she LOVES. She begs me to go to "school" everyday!
Growth: Zoe has grown so much this year. She is now a little girl, rather than a toddler. She seems to grow and change each and every day. Just last month, she shot up at least 2-3 inches within a 3 week period. We jumped from 24month clothing right into 3T!
Sleep: After switching her to a toddler bed in March, she started getting up 8-10 times in the evening before finally going to sleep. She sleeps though the night without issue (thank goodness), but our evenings were consumed with putting her back to bed multiple times. We finally came up with a solution that is really working for us!! Now if we could only get her to potty train at night...
Speaking: I knew she was a verbal child when she first started speaking. I was right. She speaks really well for her age. She knows and says things that surprise her daddy and me all the time. Just the other day she pointed to a flag banner and started naming the colors of each flag, then told us it was a pattern! It's so wonderful to watch her learn!
Movement: She is surprisingly good at soccer for such a little thing. I love watching her play. She loses interest pretty fast, but can dribble and kick the ball better than I can!
Behavior: Zoe has always been sassy and nothing has really changed. She has an attitude that I have no choice but to admit comes directly from me. That said, she also knows how to turn on the charm, and can be really sweet when she wants to be!