Dottie's Birthday

Yesterday, my baby girl turned 3. She was born 6 days after my birthday, and I remember being afraid she would be born on my exact birthday, thus stealing my thunder. Well, she luckily came a week late, much to my chagrin. But when she did come and I held that precious little girl for the first time, I forgave her for making me wait so long. I couldn't believe that she was real, that she was mine, and that I felt so much love for her immediately.
I still feel so much love for my Dottie. She has become a little girl who speaks in complete sentences, loves all things feminine, and has the sweetest giggle.
We had a "princess party" for Dottie today. The day started with a visit to Chuck E. Cheese, since this was always the coveted birthday place for me as a child. We took Em, Craig, and our good friends Amelia (Dottie's b.f.f.), Bruce, Nicole, and Camille Anderson. Of course, I forgot the camera for this part of the day, but suffice it to say Dottie had a great time. Then we came home and had cake and ice cream with a couple other friends. The birthday was great fun, but short, since 2 and 3-year-olds have short attention spans. Here are the pictures from the day:

After we were done at Chuck E. Cheese, we let Dottie cash in the tickets she had won from the arcade, and she picked out stick-on earrings, 2 sparkly hair ties, and a lick and dip candy. Her tongue is still green from the lick and dip.

Amelia gave Dottie a Dora the Explorer book bag for her airplane trip to Pennsylvania. This is going to be a big help for me, and her. She can keep all of her goods in there.

Dottie got a purse set with purse essentials: fake makeup, sunglasses, cell phone, keys.

And here's the cake. A joint effort by me and Emily.

I wish I had more pictures from the anticipated day. She knew what her birthday was last year, but she got SO EXCITED about it this year. She's been talking about it for weeks now. And I must say she's been fulfilled. She's still on cloud 9.