milestones

Dear Dexter – You’re 3!

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest
Dear Dexter
Happy birthday buddy, my big boy! My Batman-loving little man. 
You are so kind. Genuinely kind. This will carry you far in life, but don’t let people take advantage of your kindness.  You care about people and have a sincere desire to be nice to them. You want to follow the rules and do what’s right. You love making people smile and feel happy. You are also wildly unique and wildly … well, wild!  You love to run and jump and climb.  You are fearful of almost nothing (just jumping in the pool).  You trust others. You give the best hugs and the sweetest little kisses.  You still ask for “milk hot” when you wake up and most nights before you go to bed. I don’t care…I will fix your milk hot as long as you ask me to. You are rarely ever still but you love sitting in my lap to read stories so I take advantage of those special times.
One hour old – meeting big brother.
You are almost potty-trained. We just need to work on getting you out of diapers while you sleep. You have come a long way in a short time with tremendous growth in your independence.  You love to be outside. You are strong. You are tough. I have to remind myself that while you are MY baby, you are no longer a little baby. You fall and brush it off. You are a stinker and put me in my place sometimes. I will threaten you with a time out and you willingly run to the time out chair, laughing all the way.  You sit there and shout out to me “mommy, I’m in time out!” Then come to me tell me to ask you why you were in time out. How am I supposed to keep a straight face, Dexter?
One year old – you still use this cup. Ha.
Your blonde hair is getting darker every year but your eyes are still a beautiful medium blue.  You love all things Batman, along with other superheroes.  You are falling just as deeply in love with Legos as your brother.  Batman + Legos = a dream come true for you. You are a good eater with a wide variety of well-liked foods.  You would eat candy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I let you and I have to constantly remind you that we have to eat more healthy things than unhealthy things.  You are usually happy to oblige.  You like coloring and playdoh.
Two years old – bad haircut but still cute.
You wake up happy and go to bed happy.  You have a bright smile and a positive outlook to go with it.  You are silly and smart and want to be a lot like your brother in a lot of ways. You talk like a baby sometimes and it drives me crazy. You stuttered briefly for a few weeks but it went away as quickly as it started.
While you are three, you will start pre-school.  You will become 100% diaper free.  (Our house will be diaper free….I can’t even wrap my head around that!)  You will fall and get new boo boos for me to kiss. You will go to the beach for the first time ever.  You will get even better at numbers and letters. You will get taller and your hair will get darker. You will outgrow everything that fits you today. You will find something new that you love and get tired of something that you play with every day right now.  You will grow and change but you will stay the same.  You will continue to make us laugh happy laughs and smile joyful smiles. You will continue to brighten our days and fill our hearts. I hope you will still hold my hand and hug and kiss me every day.
Three years old – happy birthday, babe!
I can’t wait to experience every milestone and challenge that three has to offer, right by your side. Welcome to 3 sweetheart!  
Love,
Mommy

a busy 34th birthday week

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

What a busy week we’ve had!  Monday night the boys caught their first fish! My birthday was Wednesday. Thursday morning Dexter had his first dentist appointment and that night Ryan and I went to a terrible photography class…thankfully it was free!

My original birthday plan was to get together with 2 or 3 other couples for dinner, using my birthday as an excuse to have a fun date night out in the middle of the week. Quickly I realized that lives are far too busy this time of year so instead I suggested a ladies’ night to a some friends. They all agreed and plans were made to have dinner then go bowling.

On my birthday, Theo and Dexter were excited to present me with my birthday gift…

Be jealous – it’s a Wyldstyle Lego watch! 
They weren’t as excited to see what Ryan got me…
A new 50mm lens! It doesn’t zoom…I feel quite lost with this on my camera. It will definitely take some getting used to but I’m excited to play around with it. 
This is the part where I become a wuss.  The boys were excited for my birthday. They must think grown up birthdays are as thrilling as theirs…haha.  But it was sweet and cute. They couldn’t wait to sing to me and were asking about my “party” and cake.  Whoops, well… guilt had been creeping in for about a week over not spending that day with my family but I tried to push it away. When they started asking about my party and cake, the deal was sealed. I told Ryan I wanted them to come to dinner. I’m glad they did. It was really fun. 
After dinner, it was off to the bowling alley. We had so much fun and laughed a lot. I’ll spare you the several hundred photos we took to create hilarious action sequences. 
Lucky to have these ladies in my life – so glad they spent the evening with me. 

Whitney, Angie, me, Erin, and Brandy.
Thursday morning, bright and early, I took Dexter to the dentist for his first appointment. My loud, vivacious boy was so quiet and nervous! 

He did everything she asked him to do but didn’t say much more than “uh-huh” and “okay” the whole time.
No cavities!
More stuff to keep us busy – Mother’s Day, Dexter’s birthday, and his birthday party all within the next week.  May is such a busy month but we’re not complaining!  
xo,
~C~

their first fishies

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Last night I received an impromptu call from our friend who asked what we were doing for dinner, wanting to know if we would like to come over and grill hot dogs. As luck would have it, I already had pork chops marinating so I said I’d just bring them over and throw them on the grill with their hot dogs.

I like how Dexter is OBLIVIOUS to the world aside from what he’s focused on while little Mari is posing and smiling from the camera, which was a good 50 feet away. She makes me smile!

Dinnertime!
After dinner, Brandy asked the kids if they wanted to go fishing. Bianca was kind enough to bait the hook with a worm since no one else wanted to.

Success!

Worms! Dirt!

Just about as quickly as they cast the line, a fish started biting.  Perfect first fishing experience, even if it was a little misleading. Ha.

Theo was so proud of his catch!  To watch the smile on his face while he was reeling it in and admiring it afterwards was the cutest thing ever. He was happy. Reminded me of the moment I had at McCormick’s Creek when the boys were overjoyed to just be throwing rocks in the creek. 

Dexter’s turn.

Look at his little smile. He was loving it.  And as it turns out, Brandy is a pretty good fishing coach!

Again, within a few seconds, we had another fish on the line. 

It was such a fun, spur-of-the-moment kind of evening and the boys really enjoyed their first fishing experience. I couldn’t help but keep thinking how much my Dad would have loved to see them catch their first fishies. Bittersweet.
xo, 
~C~