Melanie is now 3 years old. She's been partying hard for the last 3 days.

Friday - I invited over a few of her friends, sorta impromptu. They hit a palm tree pinata and ate cake. The pinata bat was almost too heavy for Mel (and the other 2 three year olds) to swing. As the kids in line got older, the blows were more impressive. I put Kayleigh and then Thomas at the end. Kayleigh got one piece of candy to come out. On Thomas's second swing, it exploded. There was lots of candy, cake and new sand in the sandbox. But not her birthDAY yet.

Saturday - Aunt Lynne had us all over for a birthday party for Melanie. Dinner was fabulous - ribs. And all good food. Yum! The kids (which here includes Chad) and dogs played and played outside in Aunt Lynne's backyard. They had frisbees, bubbles and various ball tossing gizmos. I sat up in the sunroom in the most comfortable reclined chair with a soft pad covering it. And didn't move until I absolutely had to (I had just spent hours outside at the Family Fun Fair at the school, volunteering and with the kids. Too much sun for large me).

She got some cute presents, including these cute green rain boots. Which she adores. And tromped around in. But still not her birthDAY yet.

Sunday - It's her official birthday. But she wouldn't believe it. Maybe like "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" story. She wasn't going to be fooled. Or maybe she's smart enough to realize that if it's finally her birthDAY, the parties will be over tomorrow.

Our neighbors came over for dinner. Which was supposed to be grilling outside. But the weather turned cold. We decided to do it outside anyhow. Chad made a fire in the fire pit. It was like camping - uh, camping back west that is, where it actually gets cold at night. We sat around the fire eating grilled salmon and a whole lotta food. And at the end, Melanie got one more birthday song and blowing out the candles (she got to go through it 3 times this weekend, and she laughed and loved it each time). The neighbors had brought her a nice present. And later, EV dug up a present we'd bought her a while back (and EV never forgot about that present) and wrapped it herself by putting it in a gift bag (sorta) and covering it with colored paper (not tissue paper). Very sweet. It was a My Little Pony toy, EV's favorite. No wonder she remembered that present so well.

She seemed to be a very happy birthday girl. She's working on getting her fingers right for showing 3, in case you ask her how old she is. It was certainly a fun birthday weekend for all of us. She got a birthday card in the mail from her great-grandma Hansen. I am sure that Grandma Hansen has never missed one birthday or Christmas of Melanie's. The kids get sooo excited at those cards in the mail.

The weather here warmed up several weeks back. At that time, my ankles disappeared. Today I had to stop wearing my ring. It wasn't even my wedding ring - it was a larger, replacement ring. Then last week I discovered a painful, purple spot on the back of my knee. Something different happens with each one of these pregnancies. Something's screwy with my circulation this time. I often wake up with my hands numb.

I'm shocking to see. I just keep my eyes down as I walk through crowds. The hardest place to go, ironically, is the gym. I get confronted there more than anywhere. And people ask the funniest, and often overly-personal questions. Unfortunately for them, I'm also irritable. Fortunately, I have the best doctor. He's no-frills. Yes, it stinks. No, you can't change it.

My kids are great about the whole thing. I didn't tell K & T till I was on month 4, and they hadn't complained much about all the extra sleeping and being sick. And after they knew, they just went along with it. Helped around the house more. Helped with Mel more. When we found out it was a boy, the girls were a bit disappointed but Thomas was just ambivalent. I really don't think he cared either way. Now he says he's excited, but I wonder if it's not just b/c people keep asking him all the time. He was baptized last December and it occurred to me that when this brother is 8 and old enough to be baptized, Thomas will be 16 and old enough to have the proper priesthood to baptize him. (I thought of that b/c Chad had baptized his sister and it seemed like such a special thing). Hopefully they'll get along 8 years from now.

Well, it's still 4 and a half weeks away. The weather is getting beautiful and we all want to be outside all the time. K, T & EV have soccer games every Saturday. Now's the time to get the gardening done. And it's been raining a bunch so the grass is very green and the flower beds are easy to dig in and weed. It's hard to stay inside and put my feet up. Chad's been out, working very hard all over the yard. With all this green grass, it keeps needing to be mowed. And he's getting the garden boxes ready.

It reminds me of that primary song "Whenever I Hear the Song of a Bird" - it's Spring and inspiring. I can sit outside in the shade and just enjoy everything. In a couple of months, it will be too hot. A couple months back, it was too cold. I want to take my kids and wrap them up in hugs and not let them grow up. I want to enjoy everything all at once. Very odd feelings for someone with no ankles.