Abigail is Three

Firstly, we never dreamed we would have another biological child after our two boys. We didn't think we could get that lucky.

But if we were going to have more, we thought we only wanted boys. We had two of them. We knew them. Boys were easy. Boys were familiar. Boys were steady.

And then we found out that our third miracle was going to be a little girl. We weren't actually that excited about it. We were nervous. We were concerned. We knew boys. Girls we didn't know.

Abigail was born. Nothing much changed. She was a baby. Daddy was still with his two boys a lot while I was paired with this new little bundle of baby. We fed the baby and played with the baby. But other than dressing her a bit differently, she was just the same as her big brothers to us.

And then she turned one.

And suddenly Daddy melted into a big puddle with those big wrap-herself-around-his-neck hugs. Her personality began to emerge, and we realized THIS CHILD IS NOT A BOY.

She is HIGH drama. She loves princesses. Her favorite colors are pink and purple. She wants to wear dresses. She likes Minnie and "Seeping Bootie" and baby dolls and things that are ... well ... girly.

She puts her hands on her hips when she tells her brothers what they should do. She wears a purple tu-tu bathing suit when she swims. (Oh, and she has recently taught herself to swim! Video to come!)

She is shy with people she doesn't know but not quite as painfully so as a few months ago. She will cry and sob and wail and make hand motions and push her blonde bangs out of her eyes and totally work her Daddy and even Mommy with her feminine ways any chance she gets.

Anyone who believes children are all the same is SO wrong. Boys are boys. And girls are definitely not boys.

She is obsessed with her little sister. Hannah is the first person she wants to hug each morning, and she kisses her and lays on her and helps give her a bottle and says, "Ohhhhh Hannah" whenever she sees her. (Her big brothers meanwhile are like, Cool a Baby. Can I go play with my legos and Superheroes now?)

People talk about the terrible-twos or three's, and I have to say that while Abigail is high maintenance, I do NOT want her to leave this age behind. I want her to be two or three forever. She is SO MUCH FUN. She is unpredictable and full of life and personality and huge smiles and big cries and the most amazing hugs and kisses I could ever imagine receiving.

Did I mention she eats almost anything? She likes to eat tomatoes like apples. (I'm pretty sure this is from our time in Turkey where Hatice would give them to her like a Turkish Grama would.) She will eat Sushi with JB and devours Macadamia nuts.

Daddy told her last week that he wanted to take her on her first date. He said, "I'm going to take you to dinner," and this little girl said, "And we go dancing too?"

Something tells me she could get Daddy to go do anything she asked him to do.

We are truly obsessed with Abigail. She melts us over and over again in so many ways on so many days.

Don't get me wrong. She leaves us rolling our eyes and throwing out hands up in bewilderment as well in so many ways on so many days.  

But mostly, we just want her to stay this little white-headed, big-eyed princess forever.

Happy third birthday little Aibgail Grace.

Thank you for being a girl.

Thank you for being our little girl.

(At Abigail's 3 year appt. -- which came a little late -- she was 36 pounds (84th percentile), 39 inches (79th percentile), and her BMI was 16 (78th percentile).