The Precious Pratts: Joelle is 3 Years Old Today!

I am not sure exactly where to begin...... it seems like only yesterday that I was waiting in the recovery room, after my C-section, for Joelle to make her first real appearance to me. I remember Steve coming in and I looked frantically past him to see my baby girl, but she was not there. A few minutes later my wait was finally over. I had seen her in the operating room, but they took her away right away to do all the testing and to clean her up, so I really did not get more than a quick look at my beautiful baby. I have been looking forward to this birthday and dreading it all at the same time. I love the fact that Joelle is growing up and turning into this intelligent, mature, and outgoing child, but every year that passes makes my memories of her infancy harder to remember. I think that since she is the only child I have been able to experience that with, I want to remember and relish every moment that I can. Joelle went through a lot this year. In January she began getting ear infections that would NOT go away. She was on medication non stop for 4 months. And thank goodness she took her medicine and rarely complained. In April she finally got tubes in her ear. I was worried about how that was going to work since she loves swimming in the pool. She did great. She wore her ear plugs and never fussed about them. She was a trooper! In early December we discovered after months of dry coughs that she probably had some type of allergies. So, here we are again with tons of medications- she takes a pill every morning and a liquid Zyrtek every night. Sometimes she still wakes up coughing and I have to give her cough syrup just so she can sleep. It is at the point now that she will look at me and say,"Mom, I need my medicine Mom." She is such a good girl. She deserved to have a GREAT birthday. We went to an indoor amusement park! Joelle was so excited for her party. On the drive over to the park, she fell asleep in the car! I took her out of the car and she cuddled like she was going to go back to sleep on my shoulder, and I said, we are at your party. She looked at the building and her eyes lit up. She was so excited. We walked in the door and she did not know where to go first. There was a carousel, mini roller coasters, a train ride, and lots of video games! She had a blast. I will let the pictures do the talking.