He turned three

My baby boy turned three yesterday! 

Its such a surreal thing because you really do feel like you just had them yesterday! 

I cannot believe how quickly three years has gone and it, of course,

makes me realize how the years will fly by! 

It is so fun watching them grow, but it makes a mama's heart ache too! 

You want them to stay little, but they just won't…

However, he'll always be my baby boy! 

Last weekend I told him we were going to have a birthday party. 

He's been so excited about it since then! Always asking questions!

"We're gonna have a party mommy? And cake? And ice cream? And presents?"

"Gonna see a friend? And grandma's?" 

So excited about his birthday and all it entailed. 

This is the first year that he really got it, so that made it more exciting for everyone! =) 

We invited family and friends over to help celebrate! 

He was very excited about gifts and after pulling the first one out, he said, "Open it mommy!" =)

^^^Checking out his train set from his grandparents!^^^

^^^Having a bit of a meltdown in grandma's lap because he wanted them opened right away!^^^

^^^Really, it involved me opening the gifts, mostly^^^

^^^Enjoying some new toys!^^^

We ordered Braden's cake at the end of last week and it was perfect!

We knew he'd just love Thomas and it tasted so good with the butter cream frosting. 

We will definitely be ordering it again! 

He loved the cake so much, but more so as a toy. 

I'm pretty sure he only took one bit and just played with the train. =)

His excited face or focused face above gets to me every time! 

I do not understand what is going through his mind! 

Little miss sure enjoyed the cake though. 

And then she crashed hard for the rest of the day! =)

Can you guess what gift Braden loved the most? 

He seriously played with his new train set from before the party ended until bed time. 

I couldn't believe it and told him I would have got him one a long time ago,

if I knew he'd love it that much! 

I didn't even know a three year old could have that long of an attention span! 

It was the first thing he ran to play with this morning when he came out of his room. 

Forget breakfast, I wanna play with the train! 

I would say he had a great birthday! 

Out of control toddler

i love this boy with my whole heart.
he was my first baby, the one who made me a mama.
he's special in that way. lately though he's been driving me a bit bonkers.
his listening skills are in need of some major work.
he simply doesn't listen to me. whatsoever.
when i speak to him he pretends he doesn't hear me.
sometimes goes as far to put his hands over his ears.
he runs away. he throws himself on the floor. he screams and throws things.
he hits and kicks his sister.
he feels so out of control and i'm at a loss of what to do about it.

i try everything.
i talk calmly. i put in him in time out. i swat his bottom.
i try to redirect him. on and on the list goes, but nothing works when mom does it.
with dad it's a whole different story.
i feel like a big fat failure when it comes to this boy. 
he feels out of control to me and i pray this is just a phase.
i pray that we can figure this out because he feels out of control, but so do i.

i hate feeling out of control.
i hate feeling frustrated and angry.
i hate how i act during these times and i'm sure no one else likes it either.

motherhood is hard. can i get an amen? 

Braden Stats

I do monthly updates on Maeva which I love.
I know years down the road I'll love looking back and seeing her growth.
I feel super guilty, however, that I haven't been doing this with Braden.
He grows and changes to! He is becoming quite the little comedian.
Today, I just want to write about his growth and the little boy he is becoming!
I need to do this more because I want to remember seeing him change as well.
I won't be offended (totally ha) if you don't read this because this is more for me than anyone else! ;)

Things Braden Loves
Cars and airplanes
Watching airplanes with daddy on youtube.
Being outside (he'd live out there if we let him)
Watching Tow Maters Tall Tales. Really, he's obsessed.
Eating. Mostly junk food. Oreos. M&Ms. Anything chocolate.
His sister. He giggles he's so happy sometimes.
Talking on the phone.
Reading

Things Braden Doesn't Like
Nap-time or Bedtime. Usually this involves lots of screaming.
The word "no". This usually causes him to throw himself on the floor.
The vacuum cleaner. If I ask him if he wants me to vacuum, he will shake his head and say no.
If I turn the vacuum on he will scream and run to his room.

His Favorite Books
Anything Dr. Suess.
He especially loves Hop on Pop.
I love Dr. Suess for him because he easily picks up on the words.

Things Braden is Learning
His letters! 
He knows so many of them so well! He can easily repeat them.
He even points to them on his play mat and brings his letter magnets to you, saying what they are!
Some of his numbers. 
He will say 1 & 2. Usually that's where it ends even though he can say others.
He gets stuck on 2. Maybe because that's how old he is!
So many words! 
He can say: sleep, clock, what, on, in, out, yes, drink, food, hop, pop, eyes, too, toes, sis, dad, mom, aunt Lauren, shoes, car, truck, duck, let's go, light, sit, I, have, poop, thank you, ball and more!
I was a bit worried about him talking because he wasn't talking a ton, but it's getting better.
I even heard him say, "I have a ball" the other day!
I realized that he does put words together, but they at times are slurred!

Things I enjoy doing with Braden
Seeing him learn new things.
Taking him outside.
Reading with him.
Taking him places, which I don't do often enough.
Kissing and hugging him.
Lots more!

I know there's so much I could write about him. So much that I'm not even sure I can remember it.
He's a funny kid, always doing things to make us smile and laugh.
If he knows we're going to laugh at something he will do it over and over. I love that!
That's it, for now, I guess, but I'm going to try to do updates on him more often!

St. Patrick's Day

I don't normally post on weekends, but wanted to document the kids in their cute clothes.

I love Holidays with kiddos... even if it's just because I like to dress them up! ;)

We had a good day today, a great weekend really.

My husband didn't do anything else, but be at home with us.

It was nice because he is often so busy with work + school + flying.

It was nice to have him more to ourselves!
Today we...

Slept in a bit (and I got to nap)

Had starbucks (shocker)

Went to church (for the first time in forever)

Stopped by Target

Had culvers for dinner 

And had green ice cream (food coloring) just because we could! 

All small things that ended up making a great Sunday! 

Did you have a good weekend? A good St. Patrick's day? 

Braden's shirt is from Messy Kid Designs. I just love it. 

It's great quality and a simple craft! 

Something I will keep forever! 

Favorite Reads + Time Outside

I've been keeping up with blogs a lot better now that I've decided to share my favorites of the week on Fridays. Here they are!

The ugly side of the online community - Lindsay writes some tips on how to deal with the ugly side of the online community. I'm sure every one deals with it, I know I have! This was a good reminder on how to deal with it!

Desire to Inspire - I like this post by Amanda for the truth it speaks. Do our judgements lead people to God? No. That's a truth I needed to hear.

The 1 Command... This post by Ann Voskamp just spoke to my heart. We need to love reguadless of our differences. I want to love like that. It's a beautiful thing and it's what God wants.

I want to be awesome at humility  I related to this post by The Tiny Twig because I've been there.
I've felt like I wasn't enough because I can't always keep our place clean. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

I hate goodbyes - This post by Kristen is about google getting rid of GFC. She looks on the bright side and made some good points! I'm sort of, kind of (only a little bit) glad it is going. Kind of.

4 benefits of not dating in high school - Even though I'm not in high school I enjoyed this post by Erin. I, myself have wished I hadn't dated in high school or even college. She had some very good thoughts here! She's so inspiring!

What did you read this week that you enjoyed? Please share!

In Them I See Jesus

I see Him in the pureness of their skin.
So soft and beautiful.
Gentle to the touch, with a scent I want to inhale.

In their eyes.
So bright and full of joy.
A glimpse into their little souls.

In the way they love, especially the way they love one another.
Joy is what their love is.
It's full of giggles, grins, hugs and kisses.
It's full of hand holding and playing together.
This love, I never tire of it and I never will.

I see Him in the way they trust.
Easily they come into your arms for comfort,
Knowing they will find it there.
Easily they forgive in an instant never bringing up the wrong again.

I see Him in all they do, all they are.
They are the little children, my children,
Who show me more of who I should be, more of Jesus.

Pieces of him

Motherhood is tough. It is serious business. 

I feel like it's even more tough when your little ones are boys 

(maybe I'll think differently when Maeva is his age).

Braden is ear piercing loud.

He loves to run through the apartment screaming.

Back and forth, back and forth he runs, shrieking at the top of his lungs.

It causes my heart to beat fast and my ears literally hurt.

He's fearless.

He sees no reason he shouldn't jump off the top of the couch,

climb on top of the counter, 

walk into the middle of the street, 

climb out of the tub on his own. 

There's no reason... giving Mom a heart attack definitely isn't a good enough reason! 

He is stubborn determined. Oh so determined.

You're not going to give me more junk food mom? I'm gonna yell about it.

Or better yet, I'll just get it myself even though I know I'm not suppose to climb that high.

Always, always determined about food!
If we want him to say a word, he'll just shake his head no, but he's getting better at that.

His favorite word is, "No, no, no!"

If you want him to do something or not to do something, it's probably going to be the opposite. 

He has to want to do things all by himself!

Could drive a parent loopy, I tell ya! 

He's energetic. Always ready to run, yell, and play. 

Just last Friday I took him to a little monkey business and even after 2 hours he was still going... 

I can't believe how much energy this little one can have!
How about you give me so of that, little boy?
Momma needs some! 

There's so much about having a boy (or children in general) that can be so hard. 

Somedays (okay, most days) I feel so completely worn out in every possible way.

But there are great things about this kid, great moments. 

I absolutely love how much he loves his sister. Giggling when he sees her and hugging her.

He gives the best hugs and as he is giving one he says, "Awww..." It's the cutest, sweetest thing. 

He's so lovable and kind that way. 

I love seeing him learn new things, things I didn't realize he even knew. 

Just last night he said the word desk. Had no idea he knew that word. 

He's picking up on so many things, which isn't always a good thing! ;)

He's so forgiving. Way more than I am. 

He's the first to hug me when I've gotten upset with him. 

The first to kiss me. 

Makes my heart melt. 

There's so much to this little boy, so much inside him.

We struggle a lot, battle a lot, but he's a special little boy and I love every piece of him! 

A Promise to Myself

"I'm an awful mother."

"I feel like a bad mom." 

These are things I've caught myself saying and feeling a lot lately. 

I'm a bad mom because... 

I feed my toddler far too much junk food

I let the tv be on all day, far too many days

I don't play enough with my kids

I don't do crafts or fun things from pinterest

We don't go outside enough

I get frustrated easily and am impatient with my children

I've screamed and spanked...

The list goes on and on

I know I'm not the only mom who has said she's a bad mom, feels the same way I do. 

I'm not the only mom with those things on her list of mommy failings. 

I find it sad though that instead of building myself up, I am tearing myself down.

Calling myself a bad mom isn't going to help me.

Honestly, I feel like it makes me worse as a mom when I do that. 

Instead of saying, "I'm a bad mom," I will say, "I can do better." 

So, if you're feeling like a bad mom, realize more than likely you aren't and do something about it!
Realize you can change, you can do better! That's what I'm promising myself! 

Fun in the tub!

I had an activity I wanted to share on the blog for about two weeks,

But I was having some technical difficulties, so here it is now! 

Sometimes (most of the time really) I struggle in figuring out what to do with my two year old. 

I ask myself what can he do? what will he do? what can hold his attention for more than 5 seconds?

The answer came to me - balloons and the tub! 

^^^added towels because he kept on slipping^^^

If you can't tell, he throughly enjoyed this. There was a lot of squealing and balloons everywhere! 

My first thought was that he would pop them and there would be water everywhere. 

I was okay with that, it's what I had planned for, but he's two, so he doesn't throw hard enough,

Plus it's in the tub, so it just didn't work that way. Fine by me, less mess! =)

This lasted at least twenty minutes.
It was fun to see him enjoy something so much. 

The only issue is now he thinks its okay to throw EVERYTHING in the tub. 

Stuffed animals, books, his pillow...

And of course right after bath-time when I had forgotten to drain the tub!

I think this is a great activity for a toddler to have some fun and get some energy out. 

Maybe some mom's think I'm crazy because it could be a huge mess, 

But sometimes I don't care about that and just want my kiddo to have some fun!