Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

We've had a few good changes around here in the last week.

First, Ally turned 3 years old. I'm pretty certain she's 3 going on 13. She's smart and sassy and has developed what I have coined an "Ally-tude" but we are still crazy about her. She's also thoughtful and loving and full of fun. I love how she can sword-fight with the best of them while wearing her princess dress or how she can climb every bit as good as Cole but still wants to take care of her baby doll. She wanted a "Pink party" for her birthday. Everything has to be pink these days...

Aunt Darel made her cake which was a pretty impressive zebra cake she found on Pinterest with pink frosting. Ally loved it! This is evidenced by all the licked places on the top of the cake BEFORE the party.

 Ally was absolutely spoiled by EVERYONE. Grandparents, Great-Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles and the Eckhardts. It was pretty entertaining watching her open presents. She was so excited and just kept jumping from one to the next saying, "Oh my! Oh my!" I don't even know where she got that expression.
And yes, she is wearing her winter princess pajamas in 85 degree weather. There are some things I am just too tired to fight about these days. I've officially lost the pajama war. At least Ally wears clothes most of the time and certainly a lot more than Cole.

 Ally got lots of fun girly stuff, including the lipgloss that is gobbed on her face in this pic.

 And her Pretty, Pretty Princess game was a big hit. Although it was difficult to tell who was having more fun playing--her or Aunt Darel.



The day before Ally's birthday, Aunt Emily was gracious enough to cut my hair for Locks of Love. She did an incredible job! She cut 10 inches and I don't miss any of it. Brent on the other hand will need some intense psycho-therapy to deal with the loss. Just kidding.

And one of the greatest changes of our entire year has been saying goodbye to Ally's pacifier, affectionately known as her "nuki". I'm completely embarrassed that she's had one for so long but given everything going on, I wasn't prepared to deal with the consequences of her missing it. ie: less sleep and more whining.
It has turned out to be very easy because we gave her complete control of the entire process. For months we've been preparing her for sending her nuki's away on balloons after her birthday because "3 year olds don't have nukis". (I got the balloon idea from a dear family friend. Thanks, Patti!)
Ally talked about it a lot but I wasn't sure if it would be that easy to execute. I was going to do it the day after her birthday so she could sleep that night but in the middle of her party she told me it was time to send away her nuki's on her pink balloons so we quickly tied them all to the balloon bouquet and before we hardly got any pics she had let them all go. I was pretty nervous because it all happened so fast but she has done great. She hasn't asked for them once. It takes her longer to fall asleep but that's about it. It feels awesome to be free of that thing and we love seeing her entire face all of the time!

 Saying goodbye and watching the balloons carry her nukis far, far away.

This "Nuki Nuki" video has been a hit at our house with the kids, once again, thanks to the influence of Aunt Darel. The only thing more annoying than this video is having a child addicted to a Nuki! Thankfully, we are rid of both!