Suddenly Six!: Three years old

My sons turned three.🎊

I find myself celebrating and marveling that three years have indeed passed; but I also breath a sigh of relief. 😌

Birthday kings at preschool

Frozen Yogurt on a Frozen night to celebrate!

These have been tough years. There has been so much change, but sometimes it's hard to recognize unless I take moments to reflect and remember.

Sometimes I pace the house like a caged animal, watching the hands on the clock, desperately trying to pass the time.

If it wasn’t for pictures, (and Facebook) and people who remind me that in fact a lot has happened and things have changed (and improved!) in these three years, I admit that perhaps I wouldn’t be able to recognize how far we’ve come.

Not too long ago...no cabinet was safe

My family was here visiting most of January and every time they come, we always talk about those first days and weeks, with the bottles, and the swaddling and the crying.

I tried to embrace and cherish those baby years. There were some sweet moments; but most of the time I was trying to get through.

Knowing now that stages will pass and we survive, I feel as if I can more fully embrace and appreciate the stage I am in.

For example….

I mentioned before that this Christmas the boys got “big boy beds” aka, toddler beds. We never transitioned Evie into the middle “toddler bed” stage. But with the boys, we have a longer term vision of some sort of bunking system and we thought that a year in toddler beds was a nice transition to that, considering their age.

They have been doing fairly well in their beds. For their birthday they each received their own bedspreads from Grammie and Grandpa.

They each sleep and keep their beds very differently; their sleeping habits actually reflect their personalities.

Caleb can hardly fit into his own little bed because everything and everyone is invited. He has every and any stuffed animal, book, train toy, blanket and puzzle piece nestled in bed with him.

Levi’s bed is just as full, but he tends to discriminate a bit more. He wants only certain stuffed animals with him and if one of his regular companions is missing, he notices and there is no peace until he is reunited.

James, on the other hand, really prefers one bear and one blanket. Any other pillow, toy or object he angrily tosses out and it is rudely uninvited. His bed is really desolate compared to the other two. And that's the way he likes it.

Recently the boys have suddenly been wide awake at 3 am, charging their bedroom door, running down the hall together like a frantic herd of cattle, screaming into the dark, “Monsters!”

Hearing the commotion I jump out of bed. It usually requires John to convince them it's not yet morning, and their monster hunt has to wait until daylight.

They will usually scream and try to convince us that 3 am is a perfectly acceptable waking time. Eventually they climb back into bed and calm down. I however, have a hard time falling asleep again. John can easily pick up right where he left off in his sleep cycle. I toss and turn. Sometimes I never get back to sleep.

But, as I mentioned at the beginning, if I learned anything from these three years, its that these stages become memories and honestly, even though I’m tired from my 3 am wake up call, I can already chuckle at their monster hunts.

My three year old men.

How I love them.