My baby's three!

It's so hard to believe that my little girl turned three today! She's growing up so fast. She had her checkup and she's in the 95 percentile for her height! She's talking a lot which means Jacob and I have to be extremely careful what we say and how we say things because she copies everything we say and do. She's going to school three days a week and making new friends. I can't believe how fast it's all happening and I'm so grateful for a smart, beautiful, healthy little girl who adores us!

For her birthday, my mom had a small party at her house for family and a couple friends. Juliana opened up her clothes from Nana and Nanny first before everyone showed up... Tea party with all the stuffed animals...

Opening her presents... Today, Juliana got to celebrate her birthday twice. First, we had lunch with Nana and Nanny...

Scary smile!

Cuddling up with Nana...

After being shy when the staff sang her Happy Birthday, she blew out her candles and the three of us ate the cake!

Then tonight when Jacob got home, we had a frosted chocolate donut for her after dinner, which she thoroughly enjoyed!

God truly blessed us. We adore this precious little girl... Happy THIRD birthday my beautiful little girl!

Another award!

Thank you fellow blogger, Jill for this wondrful award!

To all my friends and family

I got this from a good friend and had fun figuring it out, so I wanted to share with all of my friends and family. I hope you enjoy it too :-)
On a side note: although it's rather simple, I got this as a recent review for my blog, yay!

God's Hug

Lord, you lift me up,
You raise me to a place
I never knew existed,
Of peace and serenity.
You gather me up
Inside your loving arms
And hold me close
Out of harm’s way.
Your eyes never leave mine,
Your touch never cools
And your strength
Never weakens.
This moment,
Right now,
Makes me feel ashamed
Of all the times I doubted you.
I feel sad that I questioned
Your guidance
And became angry at you
When things didn’t go my way.
I’m guilty of lying,
Of sinning of my own fault
And I ask you now
For forgiveness.
I know from your smile
That you see past the sins
And focus on my loving heart
My kind nature.
Before you go, God,
Will you hug me just once more?

More Fall Fun

We went to a Halloween party yesterday and Juliana got to dress up again! She's so proud of her Alice in Wonderland costumer...

Busted out the sweater because it was cold! She loved riding on this horse, but no ideas because we have no place to put one!

Decorating pumpkins...

Happy girl :-)

We've been trying to get her to stop sucking her fingers and it's not an easy task. Her solution- cover her face and maybe we won't notice!!!

Parenthood

Parents

Here’s to the joy of being a parent,
Of watching our children grow,
Learning all about the world
And growing up before we know it.

Here’s to the ups and downs
Of dealing with a toddler,
It’s the best of times
And the worst of times.

Here’s to the little kisses they give,
Their warm hugs,
The conversations that don’t always make sense,
And the endless questions.

Here’s to the tea parties,
The dollhouses and books,
That brings us back to our childhood
And make us feel young again.

Here’s to the blessings they bring us,
The responsibility of raising them
And teaching them what they need to know,
Before they’re too old to need us.

Here’s to being a parent,
The most important job in the world,
The greatest gift God can give us,
To watch our precious angels grow.

Cutie patutie!

Just some cute pictures to share! Wearing Nanny's glasses...
Wearing ALL of her necklaces, bracelets and rings!

Pumpkin carving

One of the things we had missed about New England while we living in Singapore was the change of seasons. Fall has always been my favorite season, with the foliage, cooler weather, apple picking, apple cider and pumpkins. I especially missed how the holiday season feels more real - there's something about hot and humid weather that takes away from Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Yesterday, we headed up to my mom's for dinner and she had bought two pumpkins with Juliana. Jacob got the task of carving them and Juliana paid attention for all of ten minutes! She did help a little with digging out the seeds though and loved the pumpkins after they were done. Since I haven't found my camera yet, I took these pictures with my phone and they came our bright and blurry, but it's all I've got!

It's been a while...

I haven't been getting around to blogging as much as I used to. I guess since we're not living in Singapore, I feel like I don't have as much to say- but really, it's all the same except back in the US!!

We finally moved into "permanent housing" after I spent July at my mom's with Juliana and then the three of us spent August and September in a hotel for a week then a temporary apartment up until our move the third week of September. We're renting for now, to see how we like living in Massachusetts- it's a nice townhouse in Malden, much different than the top two floors of a high rise! For one thing, we don't have people living above and below us, only next to us. It's also nice and quiet at night time since we're in a condo complex off a side road. You wouldn't know we lived in a city, which is great.

Juliana started classes at the Little Gym and it's just the same as it was in Singapore except a different group dynamic. She still impresses me with how adventurous and strong she is, especially on the bars! She has an amazing grip for a little girl and I love going to the classes with her and watching her on the beam and bars. Reminds me of my days as a gymnast :-) We're thinking of enrolling her in dance classes after the holidays since she loves to dance and enjoys copying Angelina Ballerina. She's even taking up prancing around on her toes!

Another new addition to Juliana's life has been preschool three days a week. Day one, I cried, because even though she's been asking to go to school for a while now, she had a rough time being dropped off the first two weeks and although this week was much better, she still got upset when I was on my way out the door. One saving grace is that she has found a favorite teacher, so when we show up, she goes from hugging me to walking over to her with her arms up waiting to be picked up. I hope another week or two will help her adjust to being at school, because it breaks my heart to see her sad when I have to turn around and leave :-(

Other than the move, Jacob's new job and the new additions to Juliana's life, it's been good to be back. I continue to miss a few things about Singapore, but we've been able to spend time with family and friends which is what we missed most about being so far. It's going to be especially nice to see them all for the upcoming holidays, especially for Juliana.

I will try to keep this updated since it's also like a journal for our life and add more pictures as soon as I figure out where the camera disappeared to - Juliana will be three soon, so I better find it before her birthday!