Happy Birthday, Q!

My baby girl turned three today. three. 3. tha-ree. seriously, where does time go?

If you haven't picked up on it, she's completely obsessed with all things princess/pink/dress-up. For example:

and 

and she loves hobby lobby, but that's a story for another day...

I guess I had it coming to me. As a kid, I was an insane girly-girl. Not that it's related, but I was also terribly obsessed with cats (probably definitely to an unhealthy extent). I'm hoping Q skips over that similarity... 

...seems unlikely

Anyway, I've come to embrace her inner princess and I actually have fun with it! I mean, check it out - you can't do these sorts of things with just anyone:

painting our nails...and toes...and feet...

Plain yellow pumpkin turned golden carriage*

dollhouse furniture made out of egg cartons*

So, it only made sense to throw Q a dress-up tea party at our local teahouse (which, I will fully admit, was the boy's original idea. Nice thinking, sweetie!) 

Does it get more adorable than this? If so, please don't let me know because I don't think I can handle it. Unless it has to do with baby kittens. I'm still a sucker. 

How awesome would it be if every princess could sport cat glasses like that? 

Pass the scones, please (said with a raised pinkie, of course)

Thanks for making me a mama, Q! It's been the absolute best three years of my life. Hands down, no question. Except maybe the year I got two cats might come close...

I LOVE YOU!!!

* I know I live in Boulder and all and it's expected of me to live up to the stereotype, but seriously, how awesome are my recycling skills??

long blogging hiatus = lots of pictures for you

i feel kind-of bad that my poor second child has gone her entire first year of life without me capturing any of it on the ol' blog. so, here's a quick summary of my cheeky little monkey to catch us all up

isn't she ridiculously awesome? she and q get along great (about 3% of the time when it's on q's terms). but luckily, we're always right there with our cameras when they ARE getting along, in hopes of leading everyone (our future selves included) to believe that all they do is play lovingly together.

and you have to admit, it's pretty stinking cute to see. even cuter than this guy. and that's saying a lot

just in case you've been tossing and turning at night wondering my stance on the "nature vs. nurture" argument, having a second kid tipped me into nature's corner. there, now you can sleep better knowing that.

i mean, just look at the facts. how could they be so different so early on?

one likes to go fast on the swings

and the other prefers a leisurely ride

one has been obsessed with books from day one

and the other couldn't care less about them

one has made a hobby out of collecting and hoarding every one's toothbrushes. say wha?

(I had a great picture of this...until q dropped my phone in the toilet and i lost all my most recent pics...)

and the other collects dresses, tutus and dress-up items. and looks fab in them all

 

one can amazingly get herself into any nook, cranny, box or drawer she can find. like a little cat. she can also get herself out of anything. which has made for some fun nose-dives out of her highchair and the like...

and the other prefers getting her exercise through lots of fantastic dancing. she's very particular about her moves and who gets to be "on stage" with her or singing with her at any given time. i see choreographer in her future

one loves princesses

and the other one likes..whatever her sister likes...

one is a mini-him

and one is a mini-me

BUT, there's no question that they're sisters

q sliding down the slide

o sliding down the slide

(the video's weren't embedding correctly... man, this blogging hiatus has definitely taken a toll on my savviness. is that a word?)

both girls love shopping with mama

and check out those killer blue eyes!

 

so there you have it. lots of pictures of two adorable little girls who i couldn't be more in love with (insert sigh of complete content)

and now, a formal introduction...

ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to formally introduce to you the newest member to join the flagg family festivities

* drum roll please*

welcome to the world baby GIRL

Olive Grace

she's already awesome - so sweet and gentle. it's a nice reminder that it's possible to just sit and stare at something that's doing absolutely nothing for hours on end. and you know it's a little bit silly to be doing that, but you just. can't. pull. your. self. away.

and now, five reasons why having a newborn again rocks

1. we got to ditch our dogs for a little while. i'll tell ya, nothing lessens your loyalty to your furry friends than having kids. they slide down the totem pole of priorities pretty dang fast.

we pawned our pups off when the baby came and i'm sad to say that, other than quincy occasionally asking were milo is...and then immediately getting distracted by something else before we can answer, we haven't thought about the dogs once.

in fact, it turns out that having two kids is easier than having two dogs. so, if anybody's looking to add a dog to your family, we've got some good options for ya...

2.  the dinosnore! does ANYBODY remember these things other than me and my siblings???

dinosnores were these awesome neon-colored (rock on to the eighties) plush dinosnores with a ball or something rolling around inside of them. when you move them, the ball rolls and makes this weird "snoring" sound as if your fuzzy friend isn't a man-eating ferocious creature at all, but rather a meek little snoozer with an acute nasal problem.

i first mentioned a dinosnore right after quincy was born because when she breathed, she sounded like a dinosnore. the boy (and everybody else on the planet) had no idea what i was talking about.

fast forward two years,  my sis has a baby. of course, she remembers the dinosnores because she had one too. we reminisced about them and how bizarre it is that nobody's ever even heard of them. seriously, there's not even a wikipedia page for them or anything. i can't even add a link to the word "dinosnore" because there's nowhere to link it to. so sad

well, the boy, in hearing all of this talk, somehow miraculous finds me a dinosnore!! i almost started crying when i opened the gift. okay not really, but i could have! i have no idea where he found it - trust me, i've been looking for two years now. they don't even come up in google searches - it's like they never even existed. pure awesome.

anyway, now that we have another newborn, we get to experience the dinosnore sounds again. only this time, we can compare them to the real thing!

3. as adorable and hilarious as quincy is anyway, i think she's really stepped up her game this past week to try to make sure she's got our full attention. from putting hampers on her head and calling herself a robot to just being a ridiculously cute little stinker, she's definitely keeping us entertained and on our toes while the baby's sleeping (and let's be honest, even while the baby's awake, too)

4. for the most part, quincy completely ignores the baby, but for whatever reason, she's really fixated on the fact that she gets to eat big people food and all the baby gets to eat is milk. she mentions it with every meal and every time i talk about baby olive, she says, "no MY like olives. the baby only drinks milk."

...okay, so that's not really a reason why having a newborn rocks, but it's pretty cute nonetheless

5. come on, just look at her and how adorable she is! need i say more??