Naomi Lynn

For Naomi's 3rd Birthday this year, we decided to really treat her like the big girl that she is and do something extra special as opposed to our traditional BBQ parties. We took her, Teddy, Levi, and their cousin Daniel to Village at Sandhills to play at Teddy Mountain. Each of them got to pick out the stuffed animal of their choice, watch them fill it with stuffing, add a button that either sang a song or said something when you pressed on its stomach, and pick out an outfit. Naomi fell in love with a white unicorn and chose a wedding dress (??? - That's what she wanted). When you press its tummy, it says "I LOOOVVVEEE YOU!" Teddy couldn't decide which animal he liked the best. Ultimately, he was torn between a big brown moose or a pink flamingo. He went with the flamingo and outfitted it with an airborne military outfit including the parachute. It laughed hysterically when you pushed on it. Levi slept the majority of the time so we went with an adorable teddy bear in blue jeans that sang "Hush little baby" (Not that he is ever too noisy, we just liked the soothing, gentle voice that sang it =]) Daniel picked out a puppy that sings "How much is that doggy in the window". We all had a lot of fun. The best was when Teddy caught us all off guard and stepped on the button that releases all the stuffing. It went everywhere! The girl who had been operating it ran over to the machine and kept apologizing to her manager for forgetting to turn it off. He had a great sense of humor and told us all not to worry about cleaning the rest of it up that it would give them all something to do since they hadn't been that busy. We then met Uncle Dan at Red Robin to grab a bite to eat. (He was being to macho to go to Teddy Mountain with us =]). I had been researching places that were "friendly" to those on a Gluten Free diet and had a special menu for items that were prepared specially for those like myself. I had the best burger that was in a lettuce wrap rather than the bun. Naomi was so mature and completely knew that the entire ordeal was all about celebrating her. She was so adorable when the staff came and sang Happy Birthday to her and brought her a special treat. We were a little concerned that it would be startling for her if we let them in on the fact that it was her big day but after watching her dissapointment each time they would clap and sing Happy Birthday to another customer, we decided to go for it. All of the kids seemed to enjoy her attention. When we were buckling her into her seat afterwards, she said "Now we get to go to Grandma's and get my presents!" She was soooo sweet and excited. We let them stay up late and play at Grandma's with her huge pile of gifts. Our gift to her was a Fisher Price Star Station. It is the cutest thing to watch her and Teddy sing a long with their michrophones and see themselves on the TV. Her favorite cartridge is ofcourse Dora. Naomi loves anything to do with singing and dancing and is also fascinated with Little Einstein's characters Annie and June that sing and do ballet. It is so hard to believe that our perfect, little princess is no longer a baby. It truly seems like just yesterday that I was packing all of my hospital gear in the car during commercials of the USC game we were watching in hopes that my husband wouldn't realize what I was doing. I waited until the last second of the game when they announced that we had officially won to tell him to get his keister in the car that we were heading to the hospital. I had it started and everything. I grabbed up Teddy and we were gone. My water literally broke one minute after they got me a room and hooked me up to the monitors. She has had us wrapped around her little finger ever since.