Preston's third birthday par-tee

This little stinker turned three on Saturday. Three! My chubby little baby is now a curious, goofy, smart, cuddly boy who is obsessed with golf. So it's only fitting that we celebrated his birth with a golf "par-tee." While it seemed crazy in the midst of its planning, execution and clean up, the party itself was lots of fun. The weather was perfect, Preston wasn't sick (after battling ear infections for the past six months), and no one was hit in the head with a golf club, which was a big concern of mine when you mix three year olds and golf clubs.

For months, Scott had been planning, plotting and stressing about how he would make a golf course in our backyard. All of his research (he actually watched YouTube tutorials) and Lowe's visits paid off, I think, because the one-hold golf course he created in our backyard was perfect. And it wasn't just for the kids because Scott and my dad had a great time playing on it after the party. I have a feeling the hole will be there for the rest of the season because Scott and Preston both enjoy having it around.

Meanwhile, I got a Chandler Mrs. Pacman claw hand from cutting out the banner, flag, cupcake toppers and the rest of the decor from an Etsy printable I bought.

The party was more like an Oprah's Favorite Things but for Preston. We had golf, his favorite people, his favorite foods, and his favorite music. This was Preston's first birthday party with friends his age in addition to the adults who play such a huge part in helping us raise our precious boy. We integrated lots of Preston's favorite foods into the party. While we had chicken salad and pimento cheese sandwiches, we also had chips and crackers of all kinds, guacamole, veggie straws, pickles and fruit salad in the style of Chick-fil-A.

As party favors, all of the little golfers got their own plastic set of clubs to play the course with and a foam visor to decorate with stickers. At our craziest, Scott and I had pitched the idea of getting caddy bibs for each kid's parent with the child's name on it or finding a tiny green Master's blazer to put on Preston at the end. But we had to winnow down or else risk being those parents.

We had a great weekend celebrating our boy. I love him to pieces!

As a bonus, Preston's party mix, in case you ever want to throw a party for a boy who loves golf, funk, Disney and Jack White.

Monthly Charlotte: Months 4 and 5

Month 4

Weight: ~16 lbs
Height: ~26 inches
Likes: Blowing spit bubbles, rocking in her chair, drooling all over everything
Dislikes: Being put down for too long
Accomplishments: This month she rolled from her belly to her back with Preston cheering her on in the background. She also makes a sound I call Chewbacca baby, gurgling and rattling whenever she has a lot to say.

Snow day snuggles//Happy Valentine's Day!//My tiny Valentine//Visit from Grammy and Pops

Month 5

Weight: ~17 lbs
Height: ~27 inches
Likes: When her daddy swishes her around in her chair, when Preston talks to her, phones and the baby monitor, tags
Dislikes: Stuffy noses
Accomplishments: Charlotte can sit up with some help, although she's still a little top heavy so she's prone to tipping over.

First Easter//She rocks a lot of polka dots//Cool kids//The best travel companion//Preston wanted her to sit by him//Bird dress

Bonus! Chewbacca baby in action

Chewbacca baby (Press ▶️)

A video posted by Jennifer Hannigan (@jmhannigan) on Mar 5, 2015 at 3:04pm PST

Easter dresses past

Growing up, my mom made many of my sister's and my dresses. Currently, several of the ones she made for us as babies and toddlers are hanging in Charlotte's closet waiting for her to be big enough to wear. For Charlotte's first Easter, Mom made her a dress all her own. How precious is that little poof of purple? I just want to eat her up like an Easter Peep.

But I digress. Her dress made me think back on all of the Easter dresses and many others that I wore growing up. Here are just a small percentage of the dresses Mom has made us for various occasions over the years.

There was always lace — lots of lace. Even our tights were lacy, and Courtney and I often stripped them off in the car after church, unable to take one more moment in that itchy, lacy prison.

Another key accessory — the bow. The bigger, the better it seems. And, in dresses such as these, the curtsey pose is a must.

This one always sticks out in my memory. I thought the lace sleeves were extremely sophisticated for a fourth grader such as myself. But the real winner here is Courtney's dress. The Victorian collar, the broach! Nothing can compete with that. 

Remember in Anne of Green Gables how Anne Shirley so desperately wanted puff sleeves? Well, Anne would have died to have this dress and its incredible puff sleeves.

I feel like this was near the end for me and the handmade Easter dress. By about the sixth grade I requested a store-bought one, but not before Mom made us these coordinating linen dresses. The turkey decoys are just an added bonus because what woman doesn't want to be flanked by her daughters and fake turkeys on Mother's Day?

Elsewhere on the blog: The awesome Pink Power Ranger costume my mom made

Monthly Charlotte: Month three

Weight: 14 pounds
Height: 24.5 inches
Likes: Talking to her brother, taking baths, kicking her legs, rocking, blowing out a diaper right before we leave the house, and the band One Direction
Dislikes: Being woken up, having shirts pulled over her head, getting drops in her nose
Accomplishments: She is holding her head up very well during tummy time and can bear weight on her legs. She "oohs" when you talk to her and has really animated "conversations." She giggles now and seems like she's close to rolling over.

Oh, sweet Charlotte. There are few things that upset her, and even when she's crying you can get a smile out of her. She is ticklish all over and kicks her legs with excitement whenever the word "bath" is mentioned. She also has started singing along with Scott — her favorite song being "Best Song Ever" by One Direction. Those boy bands get them from an early age, I guess.

Preston is a very doting big brother. He begs to go wake her up in the morning and always greets her with a "Hey, Charlotte!" and wants to know, "What's Charlotte doing over here?" Whenever she's without a paci, he's quick to find one and declare, "She needs it!" She's always eager to flash him a smile and talk to him whenever he comes around.

We're finally settling into a groove with how we function as a family of four, even though there are still some bumpy spots. Charlotte started daycare this month. It took her a week or two to adjust to napping with other crying babies in the room, but she's starting to figure that out, too. She's gotten popular with most of the staff, and everyone there seems to call her Miss Charlotte — like she's a Southern lady in the Civil War era. All she needs is a hoop skirt and a burning plantation. She'd probably smile about that, too.

Monthly Charlotte: Months one and two

As previously promised, like I did with Preston, I'll be taking monthly photos of Charlotte throughout her first year. I love being able to look back at Preston's and see how he grew, changed, and what he had learned to do that month, especially since I did a horrible job of maintaining his baby book (I started filling it out when I was eight months pregnant with Charlotte). It amazing how much can happen in a year. I'm looking forward to seeing where the next 10 months take Charlotte!

Month 1

Weight: 9 lbs, 9 oz

Height: 22 inches
Likes: Her pacifier, car seat and vibrating rocking chair, lights of any kind, and her big progther
Dislikes: Having her picture taken with a giant sticker stuck to her shirt, being cold, and being hungry
Accomplishments: She was deemed the "best baby in the nursery" by the lactation nurse the day after she was born, so that'll be included on her college application one day.

Charlotte turned one month on Thanksgiving day. At her two week old appointment, she weighed 9 pounds 9 ounces. She does not, however, have the Harris head, putting her only in the 50th percentile for head circumference. She's always grunting, switching between sounding like a piglet to a 1920s mobster ("Meh, see! Meh!"). If she were a 1920s mobster, she'd be called Hiccups Hannigan because she's had the hiccups almost every day of her life.

Just arrived//Little sister, big brother//Going home//Preston sharing his pacis//Post-bath cutie//Fun with Preston//So stylish//Four generations

Month 2

Weight: ~11 lbs
Height: ~23 inches
Likes: Baths, firmly grasping people's hair, staring at the ceiling fan, being sung to by her brother
Dislikes: Being taken out of the bath, being hungry, Scott's sneezes
Accomplishments: Charlotte is holding her head up a little better every day. She also goos and coos at us when we talk to her, and we've started getting real smiles (not gassy, dream smiles) out of her this month.

It's crazy how much babies change from the first month to the second. While she still has her monster chubby cheeks (which get kissed at every possible chance), she is a lot more alert and interactive. When she looks at me, it feels like she actually knows who I am rather than seeing me as a food source. She's the easiest baby and the happiest baby. There wasn't much need for adjustment when she came along. She was always supposed to be here and fits right into her little place in our family.

Daddy snuggles//Unimpressed//Christmas morning//Matchy, matchy//Family of four//The baby whisperer//Her first Christmas//Meeting Santa//Ready for church

Hello again

Whoopsy daisy. Looks like I took a bit of a break from blogging. It wasn't because I didn't have much going on. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I had too much happening and not enough time, energy or motivation, really, to blog it. But I plan on resolving that posthaste.

So, allow me to catch you up with what's been happening.

When last we spoke, I was pretty pregnant. There is no photographic evidence of this, which is no accident. I felt so cow-like this time around, I didn't want any photos taken. I kind of regret that now, especially for Charlotte's sake. If ever she wants to know what I looked like pregnant with her, she'll just have to picture my face on a blimp. That's pretty accurate.

However, it's too late for pregnancy pictures now because in October, the little lady arrived.

Our family went from three to four with the birth of sweet Charlotte. And life is grand.

We're slowly figuring out this "two kids" business and loving watching them get to know each other.

We've also celebrated seven years of marriage ...

... and Christmas.

Poor Preston got sick in the midst of all that.

And suddenly two months had passed. (More on that later. I can't drop the ball on doing monthly updates on Charlotte like I did with Preston. Then she'd really have a second child complex.)

Things are wonderful, busy and a little more spit-up covered, but we're so happy and slightly sleepy. It's a good little life we're living.