Mia Turns 3! :)

On December 12th, 2011...my sweet little baby Mia turned 3.  It's so hard to believe that my little baby girl is already 3 years old. I have so much to say about my Mia....what she does for me on a daily basis, how much fun we have together, the precious things that she says, how well she is speaking, how compassionate she has become....I could go on and on. For now, I will go on to the pictures, and spend some time later writing down all of the things about Mia Evelyn at age 3 that I never want to forget ;)

Mia's first trycicle! Disney Princesses, of course!

Waking up the birthday girl!

Trying out her new bike!

I want to take a minute to reflect on Mia's birthday, and what we didn't know when I was taking this next picture. One of the very FIRST gifts that I bought for Mia's bday, months and months before, was this toy dog, a Jack Russell Terrier, because it looked just like my parents' dog, Bai Leigh. Mia loves Bai Leigh Dog!  I could not wait for her to open this gift!

 Several days prior, my mother had told me to say a little prayer for their sweet dog of 14 years, because her appetite had disappeared. We thought that perhaps she had eaten something that upset her tummy. Well, on Mia's birthday, after we had gotten to school, I got the very much dreaded call from my father, that they were going to have to put Bai Leigh down because she was very, very sick. It just could not wait another day, or she would suffer. It was such horrible, horrible news. Bai Leigh was not just our family dog, she was FAMILY. They didn't want to do this on Mia's birthday, but they just had no choice. The odd thing about this, was that last year, on MY birthday (Dec 16th)...is when I woke up to find that my sweet Harvey had passed away in his sleep. :( 

Our original plan, was that my parents were meeting Mia and I at our school at noon, and we were going to take her to Chuck E Cheese to play and have a birthday lunch. Well, my father thought it would be best for my mother to not be there, and she agreed. My father was always the one who took Bai Leigh to the vet, and they wanted things to feel as normal as possible for her, so mom came to still have our lunch, and to stay busy while my father took Bai Leigh. (ugh, the tears are flowing again)

Needless to say, Mom and Mia and I spent a few hours at Chuck E Cheese. Mom and I cried off and on when Mia wasn't looking and we played with her with smiles so that she wouldn't pick up on the fact that something was going on. I'm sure people thought my mom and I were nuts, seeing us crying the way we were while playing ski ball! Lol!

We made it through the day. It was a very, very rough day. However, sweet Mia had a wonderful birthday, and she never knew any different, and that was our goal. Sweet Bai Leigh is resting peacefully at my parents' house next to Harvey, my guinea pig Patches, my sister's dog Chloe, my neice's hamster, our first dog of 16 (or 17?) years, Sugar, a sweet cat of my mother's she called Prisspot, a guinea, and a few other sweet babies that I know I am missing. We have quite a peaceful little pet cemetary underneath some pretty shadetrees on my parent's property. They all have markers, and my mother has a map of where they all are, as far as who is next to who. It's a very special little place for our family.

Now...on to Miss Mia's 3rd birthday! :)



Mia and her dog...

Here she is, once we got to our classroom. Sweet Em, my close friend who owns the gym, and who hired me. She has become a very special person in my life, and very special to Mia as well! She is so good to my little girl. Here they are on the floor, opening what Coach Em got Mia for her birthday.

Em knows the key to Mia's heart...Disney Princess lipgloss, stickers and coloring books!

 

Mia loves Coach Em so much :)

Here we are at Chuck E Cheese :)

Sweet Nana...she was having a very hard day, and was heartbroken...but she still played with her grand daughter, and never let on to her that she was sad. We love our Nana! We love our Pepaw, too!!!