"The days are long, and yet the years are short"

It's a phrase that many parents are familiar with, and if you're not, I'm sure after reading this you're sitting there going, "Oh boy, is that right!"

image courtesy of babysavers.com

Last weekend, we had a visit from a friend who was in town for a wedding and needed a place to stay. We opened up our guest room for her, and she had some down time and we were able to catch up for a bit during her visit as well.  Sunday morning, we were hanging out in the playroom; the morning was pretty much identical to nearly any other weekend morning.  The kids were both awake by 6:30, had already watched a bit of TV and grew tired of that, so they were just playing on the floor, probably dragging out a bunch of toys.  Our friend joined us and as she told us details about the wedding the night before, the kids of course did their kid things: they flew all around the playroom, dumping blocks, zooming cars, becoming superheros...all the while asking my friend to "watch me!" or "listen to this!" or "did you know I can..."

About an hour or so went by and after watching me break up a fight between the two (I don't even remember what it was about now, I'm sure something trivial like who got to use the Batman figure and who had to be the bad guy), I sat back down, my friend said "wow...time goes by really slowly, huh?  It feels like it should be much later than it is."  This was probably around 9am.  She wasn't saying it in an insulting way, and I didn't take offense to it at all, because frankly, it summed up a lot of what I think on some days.  I reiterated the quote above to her, and tried to explain how yes, some days feel like they are literally crawling by.

But then....

....then you blink and you see that somewhere along the line your tiny baby turned into a toddler.  Your first baby is in elementary school.  You no longer have any cribs being used in your house. You have an attic full of baby clothes and carseats and highchairs and tiny stray socks that you randomly find mixed in with other stuff that are only small enough to fit a newborn.  You stumble across a teeny, tiny hat while cleaning out a closet and you have to close your eyes to imagine when one of the boys was small enough to wear that.  And then of course, when you think of that, you immediately think of the newborn baby smell.

Then you open your eyes, and you are looking at a 6 year old and a 3 year old.  And they're not babies anymore, not even close. They're wound up, and running in circles, and they're certainly not sleeping peacefully in a baby bouncy seat anymore. They may be yelling at each other, or yelling your name that they need something.  You may have to break up a fight.  And you may even think to yourself, "is this day ever going to end??  It feels so long!"

But they're yours.  They're yours, and when they're not wound up or fighting or asking for things, they do things like run across the room and give you a hug so big it's like they're never going to see you again.  They tell you they love you out of nowhere, in between bites at the dinner table.  They tell you they love spending time with our family, and that when they're in school they think about you on the playground.  They do all of these things that they couldn't do in the baby phase, all of the things that melt your heart on a daily basis and make you realize that even though the days will drag sometimes, the years are flying by and it's worth it to appreciate the phases they're in now.

So right now, I look back on the baby days with fondness, and with the realization that baby things are packed up in the attic and not needed anymore.  But before I know it, I'll be looking back at THIS phase, and saying things like "I remember when Jake was just learning to read all by himself!" or "Remember when Liam first moved to the preschool room?" as if those things were just yesterday, rather than years before.  

All of that being said, I leave you with this poem that's sure to tug at your heartstrings. 

source: bellebebes.com

ahhh....the start of summer.

Days spent in the pool, running through the sprinkler, having squirt gun battles, and (my personal favorite) eating ice cream.  School's out, summer is just around the corner!

Oh, I just can't wait to be THREE!!

Liam turned 3 last month, but due to a bunch of other obligations and out of town trips, this was the first weekend we had a chance to actually celebrate.  We haven't started friend parties for him yet, so it was just going to be us and the grandparents over, but that little boy was set on having a Lion King birthday party (although that was a last minute change, he had been asking for Frozen for months)  As timeless as the Lion King is, it's not super popular right now, so I couldn't find any plates or decorations or anything, so I had to improvise with some stuff found on Pinterest. 

the sign says "Remember Who You Are"

I printed off some coloring pages, Liam made a little masterpiece:

And I found him this adorable Lion King shirt clearanced at Children's Place...little guy, big roar!

Nana and PopPop had brought a street hockey set that the boys opened the night before, so there were family games of hockey taking place at the party:

Nana joins the game

Pappy and PopPop get in on the action

Doesn't he look so grown up here??

We decided to make it easy on ourselves and order the always delicious taco party pack from Mad Mex...it was a hit, and it was nice to just be able to sit around and relax with the family instead of manning the grill or preparing sides.

After dinner, it was time for Liam's favorite part of any party...the cupcakes!!

After that, he opened some fantastic gifts (thank you, everyone!)

Happy birthday to our little lion!! :)

Liam's 3 year check up

It was a few weeks late, but yesterday was Liam's 3 year check up. Drumroll for the stats, please...

Height: 38.5 inches (73rd percentile)
Weight: 33 lbs ((63rd percentile)

Looking back at Jake's 3 year check up, he was 37.5 inches and 30 lbs, so Liam definitely still has a little bit of height and weight on him :)

Everything else was good, he amazed the doctor as usual with his talent of holding perfectly still like a statue during the exam, not flinching at anything that's done to him.  While I'd love to think that it's due to an awesome parental upbringing, I think the truth is that he's in it for the free pretzel and sticker he gets on his way out of the office if he was well-behaved during the visit. 

His left ear tube is somehow still in place (he lost the right one a year ago) so I guess it's still doing its job.  He had one ear infection in recent months, but it was in the right ear so at least there's still one tube in there. 

He's been transitioning into the preschool room over the past week at daycare, and he's set to go there full-time next week.  (*GULP*)  Some days this week, well...let's just say he wasn't thrilled with heading over there even for part of the day.  He adores his teachers in his current classroom, and repeatedly tells us that he doesn't want to leave them.  The other day he went over (after throwing a massive fit in the morning over it, the kind where he turned his entire body into a noodle and collapsed on the floor in a fit of his own tears.  Parents, you know what I'm talking about) but once he got there, the teachers said he did a great job and wasn't upset at all.  As I was buckling him into his carseat after school, I said "So I heard you had a great time at preschool today!  Are you excited to go back tomorrow?"  His response was a deadpan "No, mommy.  I am never going back there again". 

Well then....

The other aspect of his transition is that they expect him to be potty-trained for preschool.  Thus far our level of success there has hovered somewhere around a zero.  Ok, ok, so maybe not that bad...but not good.  He can go on the potty.  Sometimes he does it.  But more often than not, he simply chooses to not do it.  I'm pretty sure he's been using it as a stall tactic because he told me that if he didn't go on the potty, they wouldn't move him to preschool.  Therefore, I'm hoping that two things happen next week: 1. he realizes that he's going there, regardless of the potty status and he will just cave in and start doing it and 2. that he's inspired/motivated/peer pressured into going once he's over there since pretty much every other kid will be potty trained.

Fingers crossed for me, please.

Our little 3 year old monster!