A 3 year old is not a baby anymore!

It has been an amazing 3 years with this little girl. And her third year has brought on a lot of changes, almost all for the good.

3 years has meant that a day came that mommy has been waiting for ever since Emarie was born. That is, her very first day of school

 Pure joy on this face

 Complete with "Hello Kitty" back pack

 Standing tall like the big girl she is now

Taken on Emarie's first official day of school, January 12, 2011. A week and a half after it was supposed to occur due to her stint in the hospital that week.

3 years means you're no longer a baby, after all, babies can't go to school! (in my eyes and heart, she'll always be my baby!)

3 years has meant the onset of tantrums that were absent in the first 2 years and 11 months of her life. I won't say that it's the "Terrible 3's" though, because this child is still the most delightful thing given all that she has to deal with.

3 years has meant seeing a hole in the roof of her mouth that we hadn't seen since she was 3 months old! 

This is a picture of what the doctor said was "the widest cleft" he'd ever seen, and mind you this is a plastic surgeon that travels all over the world with "The Smile Project" before she had any work on it. She's about two months old here. When she was 3 months is when she got her first prosthesis put in, which was state of the art, and her surgeon is still one of the only ones that does it (Primary being the only hospital that does it)

 Here's a picture of one of her numerous prostheses. She had these changed frequently, but only in the O.R. so we never saw that massive hole again until now....

Aren't these pictures great??^ Really wish we could get her to open her mouth this wide now, because the pictures we have currently are not nearly as good! However, you can still see the hole, just can't see all of it or how much it's changed. Because yes, while it's still massive, it has reduced in size. It use to take up her entire mouth (meaning she just had her gum lines), and now is not nearly as bad. Course she did have her soft palate repaired when she was 1, so that is part of it.

Taken this weekend (one of at least a dozen pictures, this being the best we could get)

3 years has brought about her first ever stats actually ON the charts!!

Here's the rundown:

Birth- roughly 6 1/2 pounds, and 19 inches- around 7th percentile for weight, and I'm guessing close to the 40th for height, head did not register on the charts (and well that hasn't changed)

1 year- about 12 pounds (had dropped off the charts completely at around 3 months old) and about 23 inches (1st percentile) head still hadn't made it on the charts

Our birthday princess on the day of her first birthday party Dec. 27th 2008

2 years- about 17 pounds (still hadn't made her way back on the charts), 31 inches- 7th percentile 

picture we used on the invitations to her second birthday party

Ok, are you ready for it??

3 years- 29 pounds (she's since dropped to about 26 after being so sick)- which is about a whopping 42nd percentile!! 35 inches- 16th percentile

That's right folks, she went from a BMI index of 1.25% to 75.37% in the course of only one year! Which for those of you that don't know, that is basically the weight to height ratio, so yes she is for the first time in her life OVERWEIGHT!! Never thought I'd see the day!


Which afforded us to be able to say that if there were ever a time that she could afford to loose weight when sick, it was this time! And she did too, a whole 4 pounds (and has since gained 1 back)


Here are a few current pictures of our now 3 year old!

 Don't you just love how curly her hair has gotten?? And it's the cute, ringlet kind of natural curl!

Looks like she's saying a little prayer here *so sweet!*

All of these pictures were taken in Preston Idaho on Steve's aunt Angie and uncle Doug's front porch. Fairy wings and tutu made with love by The Freckled Flower Shop *which unfortunately is no longer in business :(* 


We will be having a little party for our princess at the end of this month. And we're asking you to all celebrate with us by donating in Emarie's name to the Chromosome 18 Registry and Research Society.


To donate, Click Here, you can then enter in your credit card info and do a donation of your choosing (about the amount you would spend on her birthday gift) and please state in the "honoree" area that it's in honor of Emarie Peters' 3rd birthday! We're asking for this in lieu of gifts this year since Em was so spoiled for Christmas. Of course we wouldn't object allowing her to open a few small gifts :) but our main goal is to donate this year! All donations are tax deductible and are going to help children just like Emarie lead the best lives possible!


Thank you for celebrating with us in honoring this beautiful and sweet girl's first 3 years!