Happy Birthday Dear Miley, Happy Birthday to YOU!!!

My baby is three today. Sigh. She is such a wonderful little girl. She loves to run and play but still is shy. She LOVES to snuggle on my lap and twist my hair (or her hair if I'm not around). She's getting really good at doing Nick Jr and PBSKids games on the computer. She was my easiest child to potty train - it took her 2 days (Merrick took 3 days). She is willing to help and yet sarcastic when she wants to be. Even her tantrums aren't too bad. She never threw a fit about going into Nursery. She loves honey mustard and hot dogs and eggs and milk. She is so excited to start ballet next month. She loves to swing. She loves to watch movies over and over again. Right now she likes the Care Bear movies and cartoons. She can get along with Madelyn or Merrick whereas Madelyn and Merrick fight a lot of the time. She can't wait to swing her baby brother. She loves pigs for some reason. One of her favorite cartoons is the old Disney Three Little Pigs short. She calls the first little pig Miley, the second little pig Merrick, and the third little pig Madelyn. Poor Mom gets to either be the wolf or be the momma pig who must have gotten eaten by the wolf already. She doesn't like bugs, me either. Yet, she always ends up running into a cricket or something at night on the way to the bathroom. She thinks it is so fun to go into the produce room at Costco, you know the one that is really cold. She loves babies. She talks like a chipmunk! She knows what it means to be modest and she knows that Jasmin is not modest. She knows that we don't smoke and she knows that we should be nice. She often tells me during cartoons, "that's not nice". She started out broken and now you would never know. She is just an all around awesome child and she brings a lot of joy into our family.

So, here is a little synopsis of our smiley Miley's adventure to join us:
I had Merrick June 8, 2006. I had gotten strep throat in late December and was on some meds to help that. Then we went to Patrick and Meara's wedding in Texas on December 28. I finished my medicine there and thought the nausea was from the meds. When I got home I just wondered if it could be something else. So, on New Years day 2007 I found out I was prego again. I was shocked to say the least. Poor Merrick was still a baby and still nursing after all. My due date was in September and I got the 12 week ultrasound only to find out that she was really 16 weeks instead of 12. So,my due date moved up a month. I'll never forget my Mom comforting me by saying, "that's one less month you have to be pregnant". So, that was good. Madelyn turned 3 in May and Merrick turned 1 in June. Then, we knew that we would be moving somewhere. So, we started to pack up the house and put everything into storage. Michael switched from UOP- Atlanta campus to the UOP Military division. In between packing I still had to paint and we had to finish several projects on the house (like the baseboards for our laminate that we put throughout the house). Miley was born on the morning of her due date because she had to be born within 24 hours of the water being torn. They broke her left collar bone during birth. She was almost 8lbs 15oz, yet it was a fairly easy birth. Michael left for Phoenix four days after she was born for his new job. I got to stay home and finish painting the interior of the house, find a realtor, list the house, and try to sell it. Thankfully I had family close and they helped out a lot. Two weeks after her birth we moved in with my parents house and I would go back to the house daily to work on it. Then, after a few weeks we joined Michael in Florida for a month as he did his military events. When we got back we basically had one last Thanksgiving with my family - I was so glad that my sister and her family got to come down from Chicago. All of the Zelmer cousins got to be together again. Then, we packed up and drove to Phoenix. We stayed with Tedd and Emily for several months and were very grateful for their hospitality while our house got built. Finally in June 2008 we had our new house. Poor Miley was in transition for almost the first year of her life. Thankfully we settled down and she gets to have a more normal life now. Here are some photos of her little life:

Digital slideshow generated with Smilebox