V is 3

Please enjoy some straight from the camera, completely unedited, red eye pictures from V's big day.


It made my day that he wanted to wear this for the rest of the afternoon and night!



After dinner with Mom Mom and Pop Pop it was time for presents.



And then time for cake.




He did a great job of spitting out his candles.





V appears to be having some sort of reactions to that much chocolate. But I will still treasure the rare shot of me and all my babies.

Happy Birthday to the little man that cracks me up in so many ways. He was the first baby we actually tried to have. He was my first completely natural, unmedicated birth. The first baby that I was able to hold on my chest right after he was born. So amazing. When he was a baby and still nursing he would cry when he was hungry, but when I held him and he would stop crying to wait for me to have myself ready to feed him and look at me as if to make sure it was me or perhaps say thank you. He loves his siblings and copies the older two. He is great at sharing for a 3 year old. Not perfect, but I'm impressed by his ability to share unprompted with smaller ones or even his older brother and sister. He can be so goofy and make us all laugh. He loves to sing and dance and has some moves that come from who knows where. He's a lover, a cuddler and has a sweet spirit that always seeks reconciliation with a "so sorry" as he's crying. I'm treasuring this time with him as it flies by. He is truly a joy in our lives.

Mom

I have realized that I never fully appreciated my mom until I became a mother myself. Actually, I'm sure I will appreciate her more as my children grow and I experience their years of adolescence and leaving the nest and everything before and after that. I remember being a kid and not understanding why my mom seemed to be the only mom who cared what her kids watched, listened to, wore, went, etc. Now I get it. The point is she cared. She may have seemed like the bad guy to us, but she knew the lasting effects of the choices she'd make for us when we were young. There are a few things about my mom I remember that I admire most about her: She always said Jesus was her best friend and we knew it wasn't a cliche',she meant it; She stood firm for truth and the right, even if it put her in a position to be rejected; she let me wear dresses that spun around even though she wasn't a "girly girl" herself; she always made birthdays special. Really this is a drop in the bucket of how wonderful my mom was and is. I know that when I lived at home I took it for granted. I wish I had a few more of her qualities, for example... being responsible enough to get to the post office in time so she would have her mother's day gift on mother's day! Anyway, I love you mom, thanks for following His ways, even when we didn't understand and probably didn't make it easy. I feel like I know you better now as a woman, a wife and a mother. Now I get it.

oh yes, did I forget to mention their sense of style?

don't you want to bite my brother's cheeks? chomp chomp!