Me, Nathan, and Paul when we first got to Paul’s grandparents’ house for some delicious food followed by some egg-hunting… all following a beautiful Easter service at our church. Of course, it can sometimes be incredibly difficult to convince a three-year-old to sit still for a picture, but we were finally able to get a decent one in the midst of some squirming.

Nathan helping his great-grandmother dye some eggs. He totally loved it! At first, I was slightly trepidatious about Nathan being around food dye, but it worked out well… He was surprisingly calm and managed not to make a huge mess. And he thought that it was super neat to dye eggs multiple colors.

He was so excited about carrying around the basket full of eggs. I’m pretty sure he thought he was Big Stuff, and I must say that I wholeheartedly agree. And doesn’t he look totally dapper in his Easter outfit? Paul’s grandmother gave us the jacket, and she’s pretty sure it used to be Paul’s. So of course I had to put Nathan in it for Easter.

Nathan’s having a nice little chat with Daddy. My two most favorite men in the whole wide world, right here, both looking as handsome as ever, and both making my heart swell to approximately the size of a football field. I don’t even know how my heart hasn’t exploded out of my chest yet.

After the festivities, the little guy was pretty tired. He had a big day and really enjoyed going to church, gorging on a delicious Easter meal, dying eggs, hunting them, and then running wild and free outside.  Holidays are great around here, and I am super happy I get to spend them with my wonderful husband and child. I couldn’t ask for anything better!

I still can’t believe I’m the mother of a three year old!

My most recent haircut… decided to go really short on the bangs for a new look. I like it!

It really sucks that I’m having such painful arthritis problems. I’m only 31. That’s a little depressing.

So anyway, he gave me a Cortisone shot in my shoulder and guess what? Now I’m experiencing a Cortisone Flare. The injection site is swollen and all the surrounding tissue is so sore that I can’t even touch it. I couldn’t take a shower last night because I literally could not move my right arm because of the pain each little movement caused in my shoulder/upper back. Just putting on my socks is agony. I can’t even think about lifting Nathan at this point. Fortunately, these symptoms should only last 24-48 hours, but until then, I have to rest my arm, take Ibuprofen, and ice the area. That means I can’t empty the trash, so my house stinks because the trash is full. Can’t vacuum, mop, clean, do dishes, do the litterboxes, etc. I hate, hate, hate not being able to take care of things around the house, which is probably what got me into this mess. Instead of resting my injury, I just pushed through the pain and kept doing the housework. I HATE getting behind on the housework because it takes forever to catch back up. Well, I’m not going to make that mistake again. I’m going to take it easy until my shoulder feels better. Not sure how I am going to deal with a messy house in the meantime… too bad Nathan’s not old enough to be handed some chores!

I know, I know. Woe am I, right?

Enough with my kvetching and self pity. In other news, my baby boy has turned THREE YEARS OLD! I can’t believe it! We had a party for him at a pizza place this last Saturday, and it was great. Just about the entire extended family was able to make it, along with a couple of my friends and their husbands and children. All in all, I think there was about 25 people or so in attendance. My dear friend of nearly 13 years baked a special cake just for Nathan. It was HEAVEN. In fact, I have been gorging on cake for the past few days, and if I gain any weight, I shall blame it entirely on my friend and not my temporary lack of self-control.

Here is a picture of that sugary deliciousness. It was a double-layer vanilla cake, and she made the checkerboard design with sheet icing.

And yes, I realize that I had placed Francesco (the green, red, and white car) on a collision course with Lightning McQueen. Francesco had been removed by little hands, and I wasn’t paying attention when I put him back on the track. Oh well. Nathan didn’t seem to care.

Singing happy birthday to Nathan! He totally loved everyone singing to him and was as proud as he could be that he was finally three years old.

Blowing out the candle with a little help from Daddy. It looks like Nathan was so focused on blowing the candle out that he could have face-planted into the cake.

Reading the card from his great grandparents (Paul’s grandparents). Believe it or not, Nathan really likes cards. Ever since his party, he’s been looking at his cards, carrying them around, and playing with them. I let him play with them until he starts to get too rough, then I put them away for safe keeping before he mauls them to death.

He loves opening presents. Although he seems to prefer unwrapping them, he also loves digging into gift bags and flinging the tissue in all directions. Look at his face- he was really concentrating!

He liked the wooden car my brother got him. And oh, see the hat he’s wearing? That’s his train conductor’s hat, a gift from Paul’s grandparents. Nathan LOVES it and has been wearing it constantly since he got it.

When he thought there were no more presents, he got a little upset. Hey, it’s not a party until someone cries, right?

Ahhhh sweet relief. There were more gifts after all.

This one was from Paul and me. Look at Nathan’s mouth hanging open as he examines it… he loves this toy. He loves ALL his toys. He got some super cool stuff… in fact, he made out like a bandit. He loves, loves, loves every single one of his gifts and has been playing with them all nonstop! Everyone picked out the perfect things for him… there was not a single present that he was disinterested in. In fact, when we got home from the party, we didn’t even bother trying to get him to nap. He was too pumped up about all his new toys. The first thing he does when he gets up in the mornings is break out the new stuff. Which is really, really cool.

See, Paul and I don’t buy him a whole lot of toys throughout the year. Don’t get me wrong, we DO buy him stuff, but he is not spoiled by any stretch of the imagination. So whenever he gets gifts, it just makes his day/week/month. Now I just need to find the time to go through his room and pack away the toys he’s outgrown.

Wow… I still cannot believe I’m the mother of a three year old.

He thinks I’m hilarious. I’m enjoying this ability to make him laugh while I can… when he becomes a sullen teenager, I’m sure he will no longer find my antics amusing.

Sitting outside together, enjoying some beautiful weather. And oh yeah. Nathan loves having his picture taken. Every time I break out the camera, he grins and says, “Say cheeeeeeeeeese!” And of course he likes to scroll through all the pictures after I’ve taken them, exclaiming “There’s Mommy! There’s Nathan!” and even occasionally kissing or hugging the screen. I love this kid.

I can’t believe my little boy has grown so much… sometimes it seems like such a long, long time ago that he was a little baby. Other times it seems like just yesterday. I wonder how it will feel in ten years. Or twenty. Or thirty. I know I’m really going to miss him being little and all the sweet little things that come with it, especially the things like how a hug can make the world ok, how kisses have the magical ability to instantly heal absolutely anything, and especially the way he wraps his arms around my neck and tells me he loves me “so vewy much.” He’s at a tough age where he is testing every single one of his boundaries and purposefully not minding me just to see what I will do. But the sweet times totally make up for the frustrating ones.

I’m really going to miss these times when he’s all grown up. Even the hard parts. Because when he’s all grown up, I won’t be able to tickle his feet anymore or scoop him up in a giant bear hug and twirl around the room with him… and all the other sweet little things that come with this age. The good and the bad, it’s all part of it.  So every time he throws a temper tantrum or tries to assert his independence, I just tell myself that one day, I will look back at these days with fondness…

Racing! I can’t help but smile every time I look at this picture. He’s just so adorable with his curly hair and legs that don’t reach the pedals. It won’t be long before he can play this for real without having to sit in his daddy’s lap. (Before I took the picture, he sat in Paul’s lap to race because Paul’s legs reach the pedals. When they were done, Nathan was content to sit in the seat and pretend like he was still racing.)