A Day in the Life: A letter to my first baby

On June 3rd, we celebrated Gracie's 3rd birthday, her Golden Birthday! I can hardly believe that it has been 3 years since the day she was born. Out on this rock, somedays I feel like time just slowly creeps by and the week never ends but when I think about the things we've done, the time that has passed and where we are today, I realize how quickly it goes. In what seems like the blink of an eye, we went from living in Omaha, in our first home, just the two of us, both working full time to living on the island of Oahu, renting a house with 2 babies (well one "big girl" and one baby) and only Justin working full-time. Time flies. It's exciting and sad all at the same time. Without further ado, here's a letter to Gracie for her 3rd birthday.

To my first born, my first daughter, and my other partner in crime, Gracie,

It has been 3 whole years since you came into our lives. I will never forget the feeling of excitement, nervousness, love and joy I felt from the moment I had you. I still feel those exact feelings on a daily basis.

During the past year, you have learned to talk more, formulate sentences, ask questions, make decisions, play independently, eat by yourself, go potty and so many other "big girl" things. You are growing into such a responsible, independent, caring, respectful and loving little girl. You amaze me every day with the things you say and do. You are funny and witty like your daddy, and you are always cracking us up. You are a parrot these days. Always copying us and the people around you. You are curious and always wanting to know what happened or why we are laughing. You love to play with Strawberry Shortcake, Cars, Squinkies, princesses, Rapunzel, puzzles, paint, read books, play doctor, and help with your new baby brother, Griffin. You have such a great imagination, and I love seeing you use it. You are our little athlete who loves to do burpees, jumping jacks, squats and push-ups. You are probably stronger than Mommy! I love when you sing "I'm CrossFit and I Know It", "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", and "Big Girls Don't Cry". You definitely have your "trying 3s" and "terrible 2s" moments but you seem to find a way soon after to put a smile on our faces and make our hearts happy. I love sitting back and watching you. You amaze me. You make me happy. You make me proud.

In this next year of your life, I wish nothing but happiness, adventure and fun for you. We will enjoy our Hawaiian life and expose you to as much of it as possible. Even though you won't remember this time of your life, I hope that when you look at pictures and videos from our life here, it makes you happy. I can't wait to see what this next year holds for you and your growing mind.

Thank you for being so much fun and challenging me in ways I never knew I could be challenged in. Thank you for loving me unconditionally. Thank you for being such a cool kid and for being so active and intrigued. Thank you for being my best friend.

I love you with all my heart and soul and I always will. Happy birthday Gracie Rose. May you have many more happy birthdays to come. Love you big girl!

Mommy/ Mamacita/ Momps

We celebrated Gracie's birthday with my mom, sister, aunt and our Hawaiian Ohana on June 2nd. We had a Rapunzel Art Party because Gracie loves Rapunzel. Here are some pictures from the fun day...

Her birthday sign

The birthday girl!

Our backyard

Playing before the party

Gracie and 2 of her partygoers :)

Auntie Karena, Daddy and Uncle Juan

Uncle Jeremiah, Jacob, Auntie Mirna, Karena's Dad and the back of Auntie Janice and Jayden

Gracie with her Rapunzel cake

We love you big girl! Can't believe you are 3!

All done singing :)

Present time!

Our first family picture with Griffin :)

Modeling her fancy Rapunzel shoes that Grandma Linda got her

On Gracie's actual birthday, June 3rd, we took her to her favorite breakfast joint, Aulani Disney Resort. She had fun seeing Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and a new character, Stitch! She loved hula dancing with Auntie, making the fish swim and banging coconuts together to make music.

Daddy and Gracie waiting to be seated

Griffin zonked out which allowed us all time to sit and eat without having to worry about him.

Hugging her buddy Mickey

Tina gave Mickey a hug too!

Family picture with Mickey!

One more hug from Mickey

Minnie came to visit us at the table! Gracie's favorite!

Tina, Minnie and Gracie

My minnie mouse with her idol :)

Making her fish swim

Banging coconuts

Hula dancing with Auntie

Having so much fun! I love how happy this place makes her!

We got to meet a new character, Stitch!

I thought she was going to be scared, but she just loved him!

Trying to make a shaka...she actually flipped him off while trying to figure out her fingers :)

Gracie and Stitch

Mom, me, Gracie and Tina

Typical Hawaiian pose...SHAKA!

Justin jumped in with us

Aunt Rosie, Mom, me, Gracie and Tina

After breakfast, we beached it with the birthday girl. I don't know what we will do without the ocean and sand in our backyard when we move back home.

Buried and loving it.

Gracie and Aunt Rosie

My beach baby

Playing

Swimming with Daddy

After the beach and some naps, we waited at home for the sun to set. Daddy dropped Aunt Rosie off at the airport after we said our good-byes. We loved having her here and were so thankful she made the trip out for us. Once Daddy got back, the sun was gone and night had arrived. He bought a lantern to release for Gracie's birthday. In the movie Tangled, Rapunzel watches lanterns in the sky every year on her birthday. Since Gracie loves the movie and Rapunzel, we thought it would be fitting to release our own lantern this year. She loved it so much that after it disappeared in the sky, she wanted to do it again! It was so cute to watch her and see her face light up.