Whoo-Hoo He's 2!

OK, chalk this one up to "bad Mommy".  I'll take it.  I have to own this one.  It's not that I didn't think of writing your birthday blog on your actual birthday.  Not that I didn't care.  Of course I did.  I just got sidetracked with all the ridiculous fun going on for 4 FULL DAYS in celebration of you.  And the 4 days after that....yeah, I got nothin'.  Just bad Mommy.

 

The two years of you have been delightful.  You were an exceptionally good one year old, so I'm expecting big things for age two!  You clearly have no idea that you are, in fact, two and not three like your brother.  You two are inseparable.  Whatever he does you MUST try and usually accomplish.  You're doing gymnastics together.  You play together.  You potty trained yourself a few months ago simply to not miss out on something big brother was doing.  You are unquestionably ecstatic about being Cade's {not so little} brother. 

 

 You are also quite possibly the best lover baby ever.  You give (and give and give and give) the best sweet kisses.  I also must confess that I may have never met anyone ever who gives better squeeze hugs.  You have this amazing way of snuggling right in so your body fits just perfectly against me.  I love those hugs.  Love.

 You have the sweetest heart.  Of course you have your moments...and they are some doozies...but you are quick to apologize.  You always share.  Maybe not the INSTANT you are asked, but always within a few seconds, you will happily give whatever toy you are playing with to Cade if he asks.  Almost to a fault.  I love that you love him.  I love that you share.  I love that you do it with a giving heart and a smile.  I just want you to know that you don't always HAVE to do whatever Cade asks...but you'll figure that out soon enough.  I mean - come on kid...you don't always need to give away your last cracker just because someone ate theirs first.  But it's sweet and it melts my heart.

 

 You were much slower to talk than your chatterbox brother, but you have the cutest sayings and inflections in your voice.  In the last 2-3 weeks you have started talking almost non-stop though.  One of your favorite topics is of course horses.  Specifically riding.  And it goes something like this..."Mommy.  Me.  Ride.  Mia.  Fun."  Except imagine it on repeat...again and again and again.  It's darling.  Exhausting.  But darling.

 And of course there is the spike.  Now that you finally have hair our general hairstyle of choice is the "spike".  It's been your nickname for a while.  It's fitting for your personality and we all enjoy it.  For a couple of days now you've been saying "mommy.  no spike"  which kind of breaks my heart.  I've grown exceptionally fond of the spike.  But that's OK.  You have curls now too and they are just as cute.  For now, we spike when you feel like it and we don't when you don't.  We'll see where it takes us.

 My sweet baby.  I love you to the moon and back.  You make my heart sing.  I so enjoy watching you make your way through life...following your brother, yet making your own path.  Part of my "pair" and still uniquely your own, perfect person.  You make me laugh out loud and smile on the inside.  You are all a momma could want and I wish you an amazing year of being TWO!

3???

How can it be?  I mean, really?  How is it possible that you, my sweet, perfect, first born son are 3?  I'm baffled.  The past 3 years have been filled with so much love, fun, adventure, laughter and chaos that I must have missed that fact that time was flying by so quickly.  

Sadly (this will totally annoy you one day), I'm one of those moms who likes to "relive" your birth every year...you know..the "I remember...blah, blah, blah...water breaking...blah, blah, blah...excruciating pain...blah, blah, blah...epidural...blah, blah, blah...talking on the phone while pushing...blah, blah, blah...perfect baby...you get the idea. 

Some day soon you'll roll your eyes at me for this, but give me this one will ya?  I loved that day.  LOVED.  You forever changed me for the better and watching you grow up is the most spectacular, bitter-sweet thing in the world.

I must admit that I have been doing a miserable job of keeping up this blog for you lately.  I'd love to say it's because we have so much going on, but lets be real.  Life is a lot.  All the time.  That's just how it is.  That's not an excuse to stop documenting it for you.  I want you (and your brother) to have a record of what was.  How it was.  How I felt about things...and you.  I was doing really well with the picture thing for a while, but that too has all but stopped.  I promise to get better.  I have to.  Because this birthday of yours has kinda thrown me for a loop.  This time last year we were getting on a plane and moving to London.  A YEAR!  How can that be?

So Cade...on this...your third birthday - here are just a few of the things I love about you:

You start every morning with a smile and sheer excitement.

You have a truly sweet spirit.

You are quick to say I'm sorry.

You adore your brother.

Your hair.

You have no volume control (ok, this one is a love/hate for me but it's really cute).

You still snuggle me.

You are mine.

And really, that's the most amazing part to me.  That God gave YOU to ME.  To love and teach and nurture.  It's the best job I've ever had.  The pay is lousy.  But the payback is immeasurable.  I love you.  I adore you.  I cherish you.  I just wanted you to know...

Happy birthday sweet boy.

Rant

I admit it.  It's true.  I rant a lot.  Usually about nothing - or everything.  Guess it depends on your viewpoint.  But today I have a good one.  Actually it totally sucks.

  What is this you ask?  Did I spill something?  Maybe the kids did it.  Oh no.  That would have been heaven compared to this...The abridged version of this story goes like this:  I started noticing that my once beautiful hardwood floors didn't seem quite right and so I did some research (via Google) on the only chemical cleaner I had ever used on them - Orange Glo.  What I found amazed and horrified me.  Seems that this ever popular floor "cleaner" has wreaked widespread havoc on hardwood floors for countless users.  Seems that it leaves some sort of wax build up that makes your floors look worse and worse over time and can only be removed by a  combination of water, ammonia and scrubbing on your hands and knees.  And I don't mean light scrubbing.  I mean grunting, sweating, blistered fingers scrubbing.  So far I've spend approximately 8 hours on the floor practicing my Cinderella act and I've cleaned  about 30 square feet.  That's somewhere in the vicinity of 3% of what I need to do.  Awesome.

 

In other less frustrating news - my boys are all fabulous and wonderful and perfect.  Ok, maybe not perfect, but pretty good.  We went to the stock show last month and had a great time seeing the animals and paying...I mean playing at the midway.

 

And just a few because I think they are darling and I hadn't pulled my camera out in a while.

Smarty Pants

I know they all do this...but I'm just so proud.

Cade - I'm in awe of you.  All moms feel this way about their kiddos I'm sure, but you amaze me with how smart you are.  How happy you are.  How perceptive.   How charming.  How stinkin' cute.  You melt my heart and I thank God EVERY DAY that I am lucky enough to be your mama.  Keep being you.  Don't ever let anyone or anything steal your joy.  It's who you are and it's what I love most about you.