THREE!

No matter how much I think I'm planning ahead, birthdays around here always have a way of sneaking up on me. I started buying little presents here and there in June and socking away a few decorations weeks before. And yet, the night before Carolina's big birthday morning, I was still completely in the weeds, up to my eyeballs in icing with no presents wrapped and the dining room a total mess and completely devoid of decorations. Nacho ended up getting stuck in Chicago and almost staying the night, except for a redeye that delivered him to Newark at 1:30 a.m.  But even that somewhat chaotic last turn was just par for the course. I was taping up crepe paper streamers and putting the finishing touches on the "birthday room" as it's come to be known until almost 2:00 a.m. And then bed. Thankfully, the girls continued their sleeping in trend and woke around 9 a.m. It helps that we've been skipping more and more naps and they have made up with longer nights.  That's the way it's supposed to work, right? Finally after so many years of getting screwed in the sleep department, we've earned a few late mornings. Yesterday, the girls were out late at the park watching Shakespeare (or not) and waving glow sticks in the night sky. Elisa also took it upon herself to learn to ride a bike in the pitch dark and much to my surprise it didn't end in tears. It was a great evening. So I shoved them in bed around 10 p.m. and set to work. It was a lot of activity, but I loved it all. And so did they...

I even skipped my exercise class this morning just so I could see their faces when they discovered their table. And yes, I said their.  See, the thing is with birthdays around here in August, there's always a lot going on. Usually, we are packing up for our vacation to Spain and many of the last 6 years, we've celebrated Elisa's birthday there. So since we were sticking around this month (except for a week at the beach in NC), I wasn't sure how exactly to celebrate these two. They both wanted Frozen everything, so having a singular party made sense. But when? And now that Carolina is three, I knew she would be more birthday savvy and expect to have a cake and a candle at some point on her actual day. In the end, I opted to have a little donut brunch at home this morning with a few friends and we'll celebrate at the park with more friends later in the month.  Plus we had Birdie's bowling birthday party this afternoon so a calm morning at home letting the girls open their presents and play was ideal.  So much of what Elisa was getting was mirroring Carolina (think Elsa v. Anna) so it kind of didn't make sense to have her watch her sister open everything and wait two weeks to get her own version. And in the end, I think having a big decorated table with two piles (Elisa's was much smaller) made the most sense. I tried holding back a few things (the Jasmine outfit and jewelry) but in the end, I caved on that too. It was too fun watching it all unfold and for once, I felt both girls were very appreciative. There wasn't much bellyaching about anything and I received many, many unsolicited compliments on everything from the cake to the decorations to the presents. "Thank you, mom, for buying this for me" was Carolina's perfectly grown up way of telling me just how much fun she had today.

And boy has she grown up. In just the last two weeks, she's stopped drinking milk from a sippy at night. Like stopped. That was it. She was a little feverish and I quit giving her milk for a night or two and then she had watered down juice and then...nothing. Once again proving that for Carolina, transitions are non-events. The kid is so mild about everything. No great crying jags. No outrageous fits and tantrums. Even tonight when she got mad at me that I hadn't brought her cake to the park, she let the anger go within minutes and was over it. She couldn't be more different from her sister. Seriously, night and day. And that's the beauty of Carolina. She is such a complementary figure for Elisa. She projects calm and happiness when Elisa is losing her shit. And she does it without sticking out her tongue. She just is that way. She often tells me, "I'm happy. Mom, I'm happy" when Elisa is having a meltdown. And I try not to play that up, but it's hard not to notice how much easier she is about most everything. Meanwhile, Elisa needs that support, that calming, ever-bubbly little sister to hug and kiss and play with once she regains her own composure. Spending a night in a hotel room alone with them this week, I realized how absolutely perfect they are for each other. I came out of my post-swim shower to two girls racing across the room jumping on their bed, laughing and making each other fall down with giggles. They were in heaven. And most of the time, when they're on a roll, I try to sit back and let it go. The less I interfere, the better. So that's where we're at. Three and almost six. It's where I thought life would get really good again after having another baby. And I think I was right.