Happy Birthday, Gracie!!

Gracie's 3rd Birthday! I can't believe our baby is 3!! She's such a joy and loves life. We had a wonderful birthday party on Sunday with family. I figure this may be our last family only birthday party as Gracie learns that parties can include friends too =) Before opening gifts Gracie did a little jig while Jamie and Jackson played a little Rock Band. I wish the picture was a video, becuase it is so fun to watch Gracie dance along with the music. You can kind of tell that she's "moving" in the picture. Gracie wanted a cash register for her birthday and she was so delighted when she opened the gift that was the cash register. She plays with it 24/7 it seems. It even comes in the car with us. She loved everything she got, but she is really into her new princess dress-up things and her craft cart. When she woke up the morning after her party the first thing she said to me was "Can I put that on?" as she was pointing to her new princess dress. She also wants to make a craft anytime we're downstairs. I think she's just really excited to have her own scissors and glue stick!

Other big news in the Cook household: We are paci FREE! On Monday, Jan. 5, 2009 (this is a big deal) we collected all the paci's we could find (9 to be exact) and put them in a ziplock bag and headed to Toys R Us. Gracie picked out a new baby doll and handed over her paci's to the cashier to "pay" for her new baby. The first few days were pretty rough at nap time and bed time (those were really the only times she got the paci anymore), but after a few days she has settled into a paci-less life nicely. The past few nights she's actually gone to sleep easier than before and is sleeping great at night. She has even stopped her one middle of the night wake-up to go to the bathroom and I couldn't be happier about that! We'll be doing plenty of middle of the night wakings come May!

Gracie is still very excited about having a baby brother on the way. She always wants to know if the baby is awake or asleep and loves to talk to and touch my belly. She is so tender and likes to give the baby a kiss, especially at night.

Enjoy the pictures!