24 things at 33 months

Whew! We've been busy! In the last 45 days, I met with my sister at Panera to talk about putting our house up for sale, we sold our house two weeks after it went on the market and we bought a house within two weeks of that. (We actually technically bought two houses, but that's another blog post.) I'd love to update you on all things house related, but that will have to wait until we have better pictures of our new house! I love saying that! Look out Nebraska Furniture Mart! It's been too long :) 

And since it's been wayy too long since I last blogged as well, I thought it was high time for an update on all things Faith related. She is turning into such a 3-year-old. 

So to my dear Faithy:

1) You don't seemed all that jazzed to be a big sister. Every time we bring up "the baby in mommy's tummy" you either say "I have a baby in my tummy, baby Susie" or change the subject. On the plus side, you are very impressed by my belly button (or lack thereof) and can't stop commenting on how "clean" it is. Regardless, I do think you'll be a great big sister anyway, despite this:

2) You need a sibling. The other day you showed off your pink pop tart to Howie. Newsflash, he doesn't care what color it is, just that you drop a few crumbs his way. I'm glad you two are bonding though.

3) You continue to have a sweet tooth. This resulted in a cavity a couple months ago. In your play kitchen at grammy and papa's house, you will share all the food except the doughnut, pie, brownie and ice cream. You even refer to Casey's as "the doughnut store."

4) Your one liners are hilarious. The other day, you were in the bathtub and I called you a big fish and pretended to be scared. You laughed at me and said, "Mom, it's just a kid." Other zingers of yours include: "I'm too busy" and "What are you guys talking about?"

5) You are a perpetual summer baby. Not only do you refuse to wear pants underneath your skirts in the wintertime (we've given up trying) you also want to wear your swimming suit around the house. You made me put mine on too (that was a scary sight). When dad came home from school the other night, we were hiding under the blanket and when he pulled it back, the "swimming suit girls" were there in all their glory. I think it's safe to say we took him by surprise.

6) You are getting good at the iPad. You like the Toy Story app, drawing food (what else?), matching games and Fruit Ninja which you call Boots and Apples.

7) You still have an obsession with all things pink and purple and princesses. I'm thinking it will be easy to plan your 3rd birthday party.

8) You are starting to understand holidays. Anything with a heart signals "Balentine's Day." Snow signals "Christmastime" (boy is that confusing in March) and eggs mean "Eastertime." We have been hiding plastic eggs around the house so much that I feel you are going to be the Rocky of the local Easter Egg hunt.

9) You and I cook muffins every Saturday morning. You are a pretty good helper in the kitchen, except when we try to make homemade pizza and you eat all the black olives!

10) You know how to bargain. Our nighttime routine has become a series of stalling tactics. After 3-5 "one more book's," you then either ask to go potty or for a drink of water. Then you want me to recite either Goldilocks or 3 Little Pigs. Next it's "Rub my back and say prayers with me." After that, "one more hug" - 5 more times. Finally, we blow each other a kiss and you say, "love you, mom." It's probably my favorite part of each night.

11) You are going to be a singer/actress. You have the pipes for sure. And if things don't go your way, you can cry at the drop of a hat. You usually add the line, "that wasn't berry nice," or just a simple "Mommy yelled at meeeee."

12) You officially have two "lovies" and have for quite a while, but I don't think I've ever written about them. Their names are Raffe and Gloworm. If they aren't in your bed at night, neither are you.

13) Your favorite pasttime is for two things to "talk together." Whether it's Eric and Ariel, two of my angel figurines or your personal favorite, my hand puppets, you love the art of conversation, which is no surprise as you will chat up pretty much anybody.

14) You are pretty close to being able to dress yourself. You can do the bottom half, but it's those tricky shirtsleeves that get you. I'm excited for summer as I'm betting you'll be wearing a dress every day and can practice and perfect this skill.

15) You continue to impress and amaze me every day. I took you to a local Kidz Explore event a while ago and was taken aback that you could do this all by yourself. You are learning how to fly right before my very eyes!

16) You love to get out your puzzles. Notice I didn't say "do" your puzzles. We have about 15 puzzles, 3 of which you can do by yourself. Let's just say dad and I are getting good at 25 piece puzzles of fairies and puppies.

17) You inherited your dad's musical genes. To my credit, I played piano and flute/piccolo (and tried trumpet and guitar) but it comes very naturally to your dad. And you too. I hope you take music lessons of some sort.

18) You have approximately 3 things you'll wear to bed. One is a nightgown, the other is an Iowa State basketball jersey that's too big and the third is a Superman t-shirt of your dad's. Despite the millions of pairs of cute pj's we own, your skirt/dress obsession carries over into bedtime.

19) You are very close to your grandparents. Whether it's skyping with Grandma Cindy:

 goofing off with Grammy Janny:

 or bossing Grandpa John around on Saturday mornings (no pictures because I'm usually at yoga and Dad's on a run) you love having them around. 

20) Your latest hobby includes taking food out of the pantry and lining it up on dad's guitar case. The main ingredient in most of your "meals"? Sprinkles.

21) You had a bigtime mommy's girl phase where only I could comfort you. With a few snow/sick days and probably the fact that I'm pregnant, you are slowing becoming more of a daddy's girl. With images like this, I'm OK with that.

22) You are not butterflies and rainbows all the time. Proof. 

23) Unfortunately, you've picked up on the word "idiot."We've gotten good about not using profanity around you, but some words are harder to stop saying than others. We've since caught others using this word around you (ahem, Grandpa ;) and are starting to put them in timeout for doing so. Though we don't like you saying it, it is kind of funny to hear, "Are you A idiot?"

24) Last but not least, we'll end on a positive note and I'm positive you have the best smile in the whole wide world! Love you!