
My Tessabean will turn three in a week and a half. Life with this kid has been making me smile so, so hard lately. I'm sure I'm damning myself to a terrible tantrum by writing that on the Internet. She has a way of making me eat my words, as we have the very best of times and the very worst of times with her. But, mostly, she is so funny and smart and affectionate and confident and sassy that I can't believe my luck that she's mine. I sometimes feel like she's a present that I get to unwrap every day all over again (the days when she's not throwing a humiliating fit in a quiet coffee shop).
Over the weekend, Tessa got to go to her friend Polly's house for the first time for Polly's third birthday. This was one of the best days of Tessa's short life thus far, as there were plenty of dress-up costumes and pink things and cupcakes, and, of course, Polly, who she loves. Polly's dad,
Rich Kalonick, takes pictures for a living, and I am so grateful that he captured these shots of Tessa and Polly and their fellow princess-loving friends.