Christian at age 3

Christian Henry joined our family three years ago on February 2. I was blessed with this little angel from Heaven. He was the easiest and happiest baby I had ever been around.

And now at 3, he still is one of the easiest and happiest kiddos I know.He brings his Mama, Dada, and brothers so much joy and laughter!Christian at 3:

• You weigh 32 lbs (54%) and are 37.25 in (37%). You are three pounds smaller than Joseph was at this age and you are quarter inch shorter than him.
• You love clothes! Just the other day I moved all your shirts down to the lower rack just so you could pick out your clothes for the day. You have really enjoyed this. You love to change your clothes during the day, but this can be a problem because you don't get yourself dressed yet and I usually tell you no if you want to change. Unless, the outfit is soaked with something.
• You love to wear shoes. Your favorite right now are your cowboy boots and running shoes.
• You still suck your left thumb and have since you were 4 months old.
• You are an excellent sleeper...always have been. You can fall asleep anywhere. At Nathan's one year party, you were tired, so you plopped down on the recliner, during the middle of the party and went to sleep.
• You wear size 3T in shirts and pants.
• Size 10 shoe.
• You love your cars and superhero toys.
• You broke your arm this year, for the second time, this time falling off the trampoline.
• You really love movies now. Probably your favorite right now is Incredibles.
• You love coke and sprite.
• You aren't much of a sweets eater, but you do like your fair share of cupcakes/cakes and ice cream.
• You love salads.
• You love apples, pineapple, strawberries and blueberries.
• You love chips. Some of your favorites are Cool Ranch Doritos, Cheetos, Tortilla chips that you can dip in salsa or queso.
• You really enjoy playing baseball.
• You LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE your big brother. Today when I picked you guys up at the Y, your teacher commented on how well you and Joseph play together and how well you get along.
• You love to jump on the trampoline.
• You have been potty trained since October.
• You are starting to be such a great big brother to Nathan. It took you a while to learn how to be gentle with him and it took Nathan a while to learn that it was okay if you got near him. You two are starting to play together and wrestle so it's pretty cute.
• You call Nathan by his name now, after what was almost an entire year of calling him 'baby'.
• You love and will eat anything that has pasta.
• You love popcorn.
• Your favorite Shipley's treat is a sausage and cheese kolache and a blue or chocolate frosted donut with sprinkles.

*C-bear, you are an absolute delight to have in this house!

For the day of his birthday, we started off by making a trip to Shipley's where he was able to get one of his favorite donuts. Then after eating breakfast and watching Incredibles, we headed to Sugarland to meet Jeff and Marnie at Chuck-E-Cheese to celebrate his special day.

Nathan and Christian loved this little car. I don't know if you can tell, but right when I took the picture, C put his arm around Nathan.

Letting me know that he is 3!!!Some of my favorite pictures of the little guy.

Christian at his First BirthdayThen his Second Birthday (with a fractured arm from falling off a patio chair)Then his Third Birthday (with another fractured arm from falling off the trampoline)

I really hope this 'fractured arm thing right before his birthday' isn't going to be a trend!

Thank you Lord for blessing and entrusting us with this precious little boy. Looking forward to this next year and seeing what God has in store for you.

*If you have ever wondered where we got the name 'C-bear' I would love to tell you. When he was born, Jeff and I were really into the show Scrubs. In an episode, John Dorian calls his friend, Chris Turk, C-bear. One night Jeff came in and called Christian that and I loved it as a nickname for him. So now, we call him by that name quite often.

C-Bear's Third Birthday Party

For some weird reason, I really just want Joseph to grow up. I know that may sound a little weird, so let me explain. I love looking forward to the next things in life for Joseph. First, it was potty training, then it was getting into his big boy bed, then it was learning to ride a bike, and all the things coming up, like, starting school, playing sports, meeting new friends, going to high school, then going to college...etc, you guys get the idea by now.
But for the other two, I really want them to be my babies forever! When we transitioned Christian into Joe's room, I was sad. Then when we potty trained, I was bummed. Now, celebrating his third birthday! How in the heck is that possible? I don't mean to sound cliche, but I am convinced it was yesterday, I went over to my sister in law, Courtney's house, to hold Phillip who has just been born the day before and I was going in the next day to be induced to have Christian. It has gone by way too fast.
Tomorrow is C-bears actual birthday so I will be posting his stats, likes, phases after his three year check up. So for now, he are some snap shots of his (and Phillip's) special day.

I think this is going to be a new tradition for my boy's birthday parties; having a pinata to whack open. Poor kid, at a little bit of a disadvantage with his cast.

June was the one who whacked it open. You go girl!Christian listening to his card. When opened, it plays the song from Cars, "Life is a Highway.."His first pair of cowboy boots. Thanks Mimi and Papaw!!Still, at a disadvantage while eating. He gets the cast off Monday.
The birthday boys.We did a superhero theme for their party. We had a combination of Spiderman, Batman, Iron Man and Captain America. We had it at our house and had family, plus the Selby's (which we consider family :-) ).

I love when friends and family show my boys love!Nice thing about having a trampoline is that we don't have to do bouncy houses anymore!I must say, I love these low key parties. The boys have so much fun and there isn't too much stress on the parents. The nice thing about combining the parties is that you have help! So thank you Kyle and Courtney for making the yummy sliders!

I am curious as to what Christian will prefer next year. It was when Joseph turned 4 that he told me what exactly wanted to do for his birthday.

Happy 3rd birthday to my (one of my) superhero, C-bear!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

I am pretty sure I have already titled a post that, but I am too lazy to go and search to see if I have and title this post something else. This post may not be that interesting to you, but like I have said in a past post, I am really wanting to blog a lot more about the boys and the phases they are in for my records. I have a hard time sitting down, opening up a journal and writing down silly things they say or do.
The other night at Community Group, my friend Angie, asked if I have ever heard of Blurb.com. I had not and she told me that you can insert your posts on this web site and make your blog into a book. I was super duper excited because a few weeks prior I had been thinking about printing out all my blog posts and putting them in a binder and that being my journal for the boys and a keep sake for us to look back at and see what was going on in our lives during a certain time.
Seeing how printing all my posts since 2007 would take a lot of paper, ink and time, I decided to go check out Blurb.com. I loved the idea and web site so much, that I joined and started to transfer all my posts from 2007. It was so much fun reading and looking at all the pictures from then. I first started blogging when Joseph was about 8 months old!! Crazy! Now, he is 5 and now I have an (almost) 3 year old and 1 year old! INSANE.

One of the things I wanted to journal tonight was some pretty cute things the boys have said lately:

Joseph (5)
The other night we were at an intersection and Joseph asked, "Is this the road the airport is on?" Jeff and I, both very impressed, because it was, but we hardly ever take that particular way to the airport and you couldn't even see the airport from where we were.
Then on our way back from a friends house, the same night, we were at another intersection, and Joseph asks, "Is this the road the Y is on?" Again, we were both super impressed because again, he was correct and we don't go to the Y the way we were coming from and again, you couldn't see the Y. So, Jeff and I started talking to each other how impressed we were of him and his sense of direction (basically, gushing about how smart he was) and then Joseph pipes in, "Dada, am I a good knower?" *Sigh*

Joseph comes up to me while How To Train Your Dragon is playing and asks if I like the blue dragon. I say, "There's a blue dragon?" Joseph, "Yes, he comes with his girlfriend."
I kind of chuckle and ask, "Joseph, what's a girlfriend?" Joseph, "A girlfriend is someone you like a lot. Like, June." (She is Joseph's cousin and my boys love her! They pray for her every night.)

One night Christian was whining about something and I overheard Joseph say, "Christian, quit your honkin'."

Translations
Beard= Beer
Starve Wars=Star Wars
Life Saver=Light Saber
Smarshmellow=Marshmallow

Christian (3)
We have had this exchange a few times:
Christian, "NayNay bite me."
Me, "Aww, Nathan bit you?"
C, "No, he bite me."
Me, "He bit you?"
C, "Nooooo, *opening mouth and pointing to his teeth* he bite me."
Me, "Nathan bite you?"
C, "Yeah."

Translations
Beard=Beer
Starve Wars=Star Wars
Life Saver=Light Saber
Comemom= Come on
Milt=Milk
Joefuff=Joseph

Having boys, I have learned......

Every since I was young and dreamed of becoming a mother, I always wanted four boys. I was super athletic, active and loved being outdoors when I was growing up, so I thought I would do a better job raising boys.

Well, God has blessed me with three amazing little boys and as I type that, it puts on a little grin on my face just thinking about how blessed I am. When we talk about having a fourth, and that it could potentially be a girl, I get a little nervous. All I really know are boys: trucks, balls, loud noises, messes, etc, so the thought of dolls, playhouses, pink, bows and having to do hair, really freaks me out. Don't get me wrong, I adore all the little girls I know and I would be more than happy to watch your daughter for ya, but having my own, really makes me nervous.

Since I have three boys, I have learned a lot about the World of Boys these past five years. If you have a son, you may relate to a few of these or if you have all boys, you may relate to all of the following:

Having boys, I have learned:
*That decorations for holidays just isn't going to happen until they are all out of the house. They tend to take the decorations I have set out and use them as weapons or target practice.

*I posted this a long time ago as a status on Facebook, but thought I would say it again; throw pillows are horrible to have on the couch or beds because they are used for one of the following: weapons, walls to their forts or obstacle course, shields, or tissues/napkins.

*I am beginning to believe that the appropriate position for the toilet seat is to be up.

*They go by the rule, "If it's yellow, let it mellow."

*That peeing with your brother, at the same time, is the new thing to do.

*No accessories needed, all boys need are shorts, a shirt (some of the time), and as Joseph once said, "I don't need shoes, I have my feet." Reminds me of that Kenny Chesney song from back in the day (did I just say that?), "No shoes, no shirt, no problem."

*Every firm, straight thing (sticks, wood,etc) can be used for several things, some examples are: sword, bat, or spear.

*That by age 5, 3/4 of their shirts will consist of some superhero; Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, and one I learned last night, Flash.

*That they don't really care if they match or coordinate. They wear their favorite shirt, favorite shorts, favorite jacket and favorite shoes, no matter if it coordinates. Example below.....
*They like to build "blocks".....whatever that means. To clarify, it's not them stacking blocks, because that would be good and they would be learning, but no, to build "blocks" in this house means to get as many toys as you can find and put them in front or behind (my least favorite location) doors. Example.......this "block" is in front of a door, a little better than behind the door. *I don't think the words "Quiet" and "Walk" are in a boys vocabulary.

*If they see any type of furniture that is a foot or more off the ground, their goal is to climb to the top of it and jump off.

*Anything that is round shaped, is a considered a ball and most be thrown.

*Have to be super careful about how you ask questions, as an example:
(C, my almost 3 yr old, is in Joseph's bed during rest time, but is to be in his bed)
Me: Christian, you are to be in your bed and if I catch you in Joe's bed again, you are going to be disciplined. Joseph, please be an encourager to Christian and if see him doing something he's not supposed to be doing, encourage him to do the right thing. Do you want to see him be disciplined?
Joseph: Uhhhhh. Yes!
(Doh! Not what I was going for!)

*And as the next couple of pictures will show, it is very difficult to get one picture with them all looking and smiling at the camera.

.....Seriously, is it that difficult for you boys to look at your Mama and smile?

Even though it's nice to escape this male dominated house every once and a while for a pedicure, clothes shopping or coffee with some of my girlfriends, the World of Boys is pretty entertaining. And even though we have our fair share of chaotic moments, we have a lot of precious moments that I know will pass by quickly. I love these little guys so much and as happy as I am that God has blessed me with them, I am so glad they have each other. They truly are a "Band of Brothers," and my prayer for them is that they will continue to have the love, support and bond they have now, the rest of their lives.

Christmas 2011

Christmas Day 2011

This Christmas was like every other Christmas since we've had children....crazy. This was our year to be in Dallas Christmas morning, so that means we are running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to host a birthday party, attend birthday parties, get last minute gifts, do our family Christmas, do Jeff's family Christmas, come home and unload all the goodies from Marnie and Poppy, then pack up our things, and head to Dallas all between December 21-24.

The years that we go to Dallas, we usually do our Christmas the morning or the evening of the 23. Then every year, we do Christmas Eve morning with Jeff's family, which I love because it frees us up to head to Dallas and not miss Christmas with either family. Then about nap time, we head out towards Dallas and are there by 7 or 8 in the evening.

Even though it's crazy, it's a lot of fun watching the boys open their gifts and get excited about them. We hope that your Christmas was just as crazy and exciting as ours.

Here are some pictures from our wonderful Christmas.

Attempting to get one of the boys....

Mimi and Papaw working hard at getting all the awesome food ready.
NayNay on his new ride.

My brother-in-law Josh made Jeff and my dad these cigar box guitars. He did an awesome job!

C looking over the carrier that he and Joe received. This was defiantly one of their favorites!

Joseph opening one of his gifts.

Christmas at Marnie and Poppy's.

He was super excited about his new tractor.

And his Spiderman Mask.

We got the boys a trampoline for Christmas. Nathan loves being on that thing!

Until next Christmas....