TWO

My baby is two years old. I guess he is a toddler now, by the books. But he will always be my baby boy. I've experienced so many emotions about this special milestone over the last few weeks. The night before his birthday I repeatedly reminisced about the nerves before giving birth, our labor and meeting of our first born, and the journey of parenting this precious boy every day since. I thought about the memories we've made, his growing personality, all that we as a family have learned. It's been a wild and special ride and to say the last two years flew by is really so, so true. It feels like it was just yesterday we were nervously giving him his first sponge bath in our hallways on top of a bath towel thinking, oh my gosh, how do you bathe a newborn again?!? 

So where was I? Last week we celebrated his birthday. It was such a fun day, since Dan was able to take the day off and spend it with us! We started the day with waffles and then a daddy and Noah park date, while I had a MOPS meeting and took the babe. We played outside on his new balance bike (the kid looks hilariously adorable in his huge toddler helmet), gave him extra milk with a dash of chocolate milk, went on a long walk, played with his new wooden "big rig" and "digger" trucks (total consignment shop win!) and ended his special day with a trip to his favorite place: the local fro yo joint. 

We gave him so many hugs and kisses. For me, it was my way of secretly asking him to never grow up. Yes, we are definitely in a stage of growing independence, refusing to eat certain foods, and some defiance. But I'd argue that even still, this is my favorite stage so far. He is SO MUCH FUN. The conversations we have with Noah are priceless and it's so amazing and fun chatting with him each day. ("Noah hungry. Noah have 'pean-butter sandwich'. No regular milk. Chocolate. Please mommy"...."Hi kids. Hi birds. Birds outside. Noah go outside. Hold birds".) 

I could write a whole book on the many ways this kid amazes me each day, but I won't.... Although I REALLY don't want to forget this stage he is in, which is partly why I attempt to jot things down on this blog of mine. To remember. To be able to picture these fleeting moments years from now. So, I'll end it with this: motherhood makes me cry haha...like all the time. I cry over the happy things. Over new memories. Over hard days. Over growing babies. Over outgrown clothes. Over kisses on my nose. Over the first unprompted "I love you". Over proud parent moments. Over embarrassed parent moments. Over giving a timeout. Over special brother moments....I'm just a huge crying mess sometimes and that's okay. These little people have made me an even bigger softy and it's sort of hilarious/embarrassing. With three men and a male dog in the house, I guess someone needs to display some estrogen every once and a while ;) 

Happy birthday, little man. You have blessed our lives with your wit, kindness, energy, curiosity, hugs, and contagious smile. We love the person you are and who you are becoming each day. 

Thanks for bringing so much sunshine and joy to our lives and teaching us what life is all about!

Love, mommy.