Reuters' Family Fun: Birthday Boy is THREE

I can't believe it, but my baby boy is now three. It was three years ago, that Wyatt was born five weeks early at Northside Hospital. His birth was definitely an adventure!! Due to being early, Wyatt spent the first 9 days of his life in the ICU at Northside.

Our baby boy is one of a kind. He is the most loving little boy I know. He is filled with snuggles, and says on a daily basis "hold me tight." He loves having a baby sister, and tries to teach her everything he knows. He also likes to discipline her. I often hear, "No sir" and "that's dangerous" when she is playing with something she should not be. Basically he is a little Mini Me, and says to her what has been said to him. It's really very cute. He LOVES sports. He alternates between his sport of choice. Lately it has been baseball. At other times, it's golf. Throughout his life, he has demonstrated a pretty amazing memory. Every day, Nathan and I are shocked with the things he remembers. While an infant (weeks old), he would instantly put his head down and want to dance when he heard the song Cruise with Me Baby. At 5 months, he would scream and cry when he heard a song performed at the Music Class because he got scared one time when I dipped him back. We could be in the car or be at home listening to his CD, and if he heard the first beat of the song, he would immediately recognize it and start screaming. Just over a year, he would cry if you didn't make the right turn in the stroller to go to the park and would point in the direction he wanted you to go. Around 18-19 months, he would recognize and identify every one's car on the road. He would point and say, "momma's doe" for every 4 Runner, "Nonna's doe" for every Honda Accord, and "PaPa doe" for every Ford Explorer. It was really quite amazing to us how he would remember the make of every one's car. He couldn't quite say car correctly though, it was more like doe. Just the other day, he pointed to a Cracker Barrel sign and said he wanted to go to that store to buy another airplane like the one his MiMi bought him. The crazy thing was that she bought that for him over a year ago when I was pregnant with Lauren. He was under 2 years old. He recognized the sign, and remembered the purchase. I could fill this blog entry with pages and pages of memories of the first three years of my little boys life. These past three years have been a blessing, and I thank God every day for giving me such a beautiful, kind, healthy little boy.

In celebration of his birthday, we basically celebrated all week!!! I love to celebrate Birthday Weeks, not just birthdays!!

The week started with a trip to Monkey Joes:

Followed the next day by a trip to the River to bike with Nonna:

Followed the next day by a lunch and play date with his favorite sitter, Janna:

Followed the next day by a playdate with some friends and the arrival of his MiMi & PaPa.

The week ended with a birthday party at the pool. Below are lots of pictures from his party!! It was a swim/baseball party. The party was mainly just family. When you invite family alone to parties, it still ends up being huge. I'm one of 5, and Nathan is one of 4. That makes for lots of cousins, aunts and uncles. Here is the party in pictures:

A highlight of his birthday was his cake. He loved it!! My mom made it for him, and it was stored in our fridge before the party. This is not an exaggeration. He went to the refrigerator 20+ times to check on it. I would walk into the room, and he would just be standing there staring at it.