**three years old**

My sweet baby boy turned THREE years old this weekend. How is it possible that three years have gone by? I am having such a hard time wrapping my head around it. Yesterday morning, I whipped out his very first videos from those very first moments and had him watch with me, and not only was I blown away by how completely changed out lives have been since those very moments, but how fast it all goes by. It's so important to stop and catch your breath and just be in the moments while they are here....so easuer said than done, but definitely something I'm working on for the New Year. Being present, right here, right now.

Kaden really got some good giggles out of watching those videos, I also think it was good preparation for Baby Miller and all of the joys that come with being a big brother to a newborn! We talked a lot about what it might be like, and he is definitely showing much more interest, especially in how large my buddha belly is! Each morning he puts his hands on my belly and says "mama look at your BELLY!" He also asks each day if the baby is coming today...three months is such a long time to wait. I am thinking of doing an advent sort of calendar countdown like we did for xmas....if anyone knows of any ideas, drop me a line!

So for his birthday, we kept things a bit low key. He had mixed feelings about turning three, he was a bit like a middle aged old man, telling me he just didn't want to turn 3 right now. We took him to Noon Year's Eve on Saturday at the Children's Museum, which could have been really fun, except for the fact that there were 7 million children present. It was incredibly overstimulating, not just for him, but for me and Chad as well! There were children crying all over the place, and I think mainly because it was a nuthouse. We were there for two hours and got to see the "ball drop" and the fun area that they make to look like Times Square, but then we were all pretty much over it. That night we filled his room with balloons while he was asleep, and let him pretty much do what ever the heck he wanted the next morning. He wore his jammies all day, by request, even while playing outside, with a coat and boots. We had family over for a shindig, and he was blown away by all the thoughtful gifts from everyone. He kept grabbing another one saying "Is this for ME"?


~my half ass attempt at a train cake. I think my mama would be proud!


~Mamaw demonstrating Pin the tail on the donkey.








~we let him wear whatever outfit he wanted, he picked this snazzy getup.



~Zoo lights!








~completely spent and overstimulated at Noon Year's Eve.


~he was so smitten with a group of girls that were tap dancing in the dress up area, he couldn't take his eyes off their feet! I asked him if he wanted to give it a try, we found a pair of shoes that fit perfectly, and he got a bit nervous on the dance floor and couldn't find his dancin feet. Some jerkface standing next to me looked at me and said "boys don't tap", I almost ripped him a new one.


~playing vet.








~soaking up the beautiful day at Wash park


Happy New Year to you all! New year, New energy, New hope and New JOY!

Cheers to 2012!



*I had written a birthday letter to kaden, and then it didn't save before I posted it, so sad! I will rewrite for a post later this week.