HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOROTHY!

On the one hand, I am all how can she be 4 already?  And on the other hand, it's like Of course she is four.  She's practically 14.

In some ways the Facebook memory posts of her in the hospital are slaughtering me in the wake of this miscarriage, but in other ways, they are making it easier to deal because we have come so far since the baby days.

She had a really awesome birthday yesterday, and I, of course, took pictures of all of it.  So here you go:

The children were wildly enthusiastic to start the day at the crack of 7 with presents and breakfast cake, obvs.

 Well, one of them was.

 Yay!  Presents!

 She didn't care about taking  picture with us.  Because presents.

 Cooper is an enthusiastic party guest, no matter the hour.

 OH MY GOD!  SHE CELEBRATED HER BIRTHDAY AT SCHOOL with Trolls plates and napkins at snack, and light up balls and googly-eye rings for her friends.  AND SHE WAS THE LINE-LEADER.

 At dance class, the teacher initiated a group hug for her birthday (which would have been my least fave present ever, but she loved it)

 Then a trip to Toys R Us to spend her gift card!  Major excitement.  MAJOR.

 She finally got a pee-its-pants baby.  Phew!

 She blew out a lunchtime candle (on scrambled eggs, which she ate all day because she told me she was the birthday girl, and she could have anything she wanted-- true), but I could not take a pic AND hold the plate, so here she is with her third and final candled meal:  pancakes.

 Then everyone took a bath or a shower right after dinner and piled on the couch with blankets to watch Sing.  It was super fun and cozy.  Even Beatrix joined in.

And now our baby is FOUR.  No way.