Porter Made it to 3!

Porter is three years old.

And I believe we escaped this past year without any major incidents

(unlike the first two years of his life).

Sometimes I look at him and can't believe how much he has grown.

And then I have to remind myself that he's not going to stop.

And then I get sad.

And then he's grumpy or whiny or sassy and I can't wait until he grows out of that phase.

And that makes me think about him growing up and I get sad again.

Ah. Being a mother surely has it's pros and cons.

But a lot more pros with these two around!

We took these series of photos the day before Porter turned three

so Ty was almost 14 months.

They melt my heart every time I look at them.

Ty has a black eye in the photos from when he slipped in the bath tub.

The photographer asked if I wanted her to photoshop it.

I told her no. I want to remember life exactly how it was...

Chaotic, even dysfunctional at times, but full of love and joy.

This three-year-old is definitely full of love and joy.

He listens well. He helps his brother. He makes his brother laugh. He makes us laugh.

He has a kind heart. He is giving and caring. He is timid and careful. He is friendly and sensitive.

He is wonderful. He's SUPER!

This year we celebrated with a small dinner with family.

He got a few gifts and a homemade birthday cake.

I will never forget after almost everyone had gone home and it was dark out,

Porter sat at the dining room table playing with his new Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head

while we talked in the kitchen with Aunt Amber.

He suddenly started getting down from the table and saying,

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for my party, Mom!"

as he ran over to me and gave me the biggest hug.

It brought tears to my eyes to know that I'm raising a considerate and grateful child.

The above photo was his first try. Mommy tried for days to train Daddy how to do his hair.

And we talked to Porter about his photos at school and tried to get him to practice smiling.

They didn't turn out great so we had a redo.

I love that we captured this though. This photo shows more to me than a timid 3-year-old.

It shows me that Baxter is the one who feeds and clothes 

the children every morning while I'm already at work.

And it shows me a spirit of adventure and courage behind those big eyes.

In this photo I can hear Porter's voice and especially his laugh.

At this age he is still mastering potty training. We only have an accident about once a week.

He's proved to be great about getting shots.

He shares with his brother even though he makes it very obvious that it's really hard.

He has started saying his "legs don't work" when he doesn't want to do something.

He always asks us if we remember something. "Remember? Remember when?"

He says everything happened yesterday. "Remember when yesterday..."

He loves Buzz Lightyear, train tracks and legos.

We love this little man.