Josh's Special Day

Today was J's 3rd Birthday!!! On the night before my kids' birthdays I love to talk about what I was doing (___________) years before RIGHT at this moment. Now that Maya is old enough to understand, she likes to hear about the details too. She knows that Josh came so fast that mommy didn't get any pain medication and that I told J he was a little stinker when they handed him to me. (Yeah, I'm a little bitter about that still!) I can remember what it felt like to become a mom to a little boy. My heart was so full of gratitude and excitement and LOVE, and my love for this little guy continues to grow and grow.

For the first 2 years of his life, Josh was always our "go with the flow" kid. He never cried or threw fits and was just a sweet little angel. He is still this way a lot of the time, but about 6 months ago he started to become more defiant and now he definitely has an opinion and voices it. I love seeing this side of him and watching as he has started to stand up for himself, especially because Maya can be so controlling and bossy! He doesn't let her get away with much anymore.

We had a great and BUSY day celebrating. After Maya got home from school we opened presents and had lunch. Then Josh and I had a lovely 1 hour nap while Maya and Nick played for awhile. (Nick took the day off.) Later in the afternoon we went to see The Lorax. Josh loves to go see movies so I wasn't too surprised when he chose that activity for his special day. We rushed home afterwards and had a quick dinner then headed off for gymnastics class. (Or "Nicknastics" as Josh calls it.) Maya was so cute telling just about anyone that would listen that it was her little brother's birthday. After that we came home and finally had cake and ice cream. It was such a busy day, but while we were eating cake Josh said, "that was a fun Birthday". So I'm glad he had fun...but I need to go to bed and relax now!

Thanks everyone for sending cards and gifts for Josh. He was so happy to have some things to open and play with. We ended up getting him some walkie-talkies which, as we've discovered, are too complicated for a 3 year old. Our 3 year old anyway! So Nick and Maya had a blast playing with those all day. At one point I heard Nick saying, "10-4 little buddy, I'm just spying on mom while she uses the bathroom...I think it was a #1. Over and Out." Then Maya responded, "Roger that, over and out." They crack me up! I'm used to not having any privacy in our house, so no worries.

Here are some photos.


We let Maya 'stay up late' (like, 15 minutes) to decorate with balloons and crepe paper. She felt so special she got to help and was extremely excited to show all of the decorations off to J in the morning.




Of course Grandma Debbie had to send a little something for Maya. Here she is with her new Minnie Mouse earrings. Only a few more weeks and she can start wearing new ones!!


Josh was good to let Maya help him open some presents.


My whole life right there! Love these three weirdos!!






Josh and his REALLY creative Birthday cake. I saw all of these super amazing cakes on Pinterest that I wanted to dulpicate, but I'm just not good at that kind of stuff. So here is what he got! A number 3 road with some tiny cars driving on it.


He was pretty satisfied with the cake, as you can see!

We love you Josh!