Dylan Turns 3

I can't believe my little boy is three. Where has the time gone? I was looking at pictures of him as a baby the other day and he was just so precious and cute! He is still precious and cute and I love him so much but he is not a baby and gets after me if I ever call him one. "I'm not a baby! I'm a boy!" We were able to celebrate his birthday at Jana's house with her family, Grandma and Grandpa Day and Jake and Michelle and their kiddos. Dylan requested pink cupcakes with sprinkles for his birthday dessert, so that is what we had. He was thrilled.

Dylan had been asking for a green garbage truck multiple times a day in the few weeks leading up to his birthday. Luckily, I was able to find a green garbage truck that has met his expectations. He is very happy with his new books and toys and is watching the new movie he got, Despicable Me 2, as I write this. As you can see from the picture below, he had a lot of help opening his gifts. Dylan loves his cousins and had such a great time playing with them for a whole week!

I have decided (let's see if I can keep it up) to interview each of my children around their birthdays. It will be fun to see what answers they come up with and how they change over the course of their growing up years. I interviewed Dylan over the last couple of days. Here are the ones he would answer. Direct quotes are in blue.

How old are you? Three in July.

What is your favorite toy? My tractors and my hummer and my super heroes and my garbage truck too.

What is your favorite animal? Kung Fu Panda Bear (He was watching a movie clip on the TV while I was asking him questions)

What is your favorite thing to sleep with? My favorite thing to sleep with is Patch and George.

What is your favorite color? Pink

What is your favorite fruit? Cookie Cereal (He's not a fan of fruit unless it is in a smoothie or comes in the form of a fruit snack or roll up.)

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Candy. But I didn't want candy with nuts. I didn't like it.

What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Milk. Milk is my favorite food to eat.

What is your favorite drink? Milk. I say milk!

What is your favorite dessert? I like brownies though.

What is a food that you don't like? Bananas. I didn't like bananas. I didn't like them.

What is your favorite TV show? Cody (Transformers: Rescue Bots)

What is your favorite movie? Curious George. I said Curious George. (He also loves the Despicable Me movies, Toy Story and Cars)

What are you really good at? I didn't remembered. (Dylan actually has an amazing memory. at two and a half he memorized I Stink by Kate and Jim McMullen. He not only knows all the words, he knows which words go on which page. He loves to read and is impressed with himself as he points out all the d's. "D for Dylan!")

What is your favorite song? Child of God, Sandman and Twinkle like a Star and Shining like a Star and the Rainbow Song. (These are all songs I sing to him before he goes to sleep)

What do you and your mom do together? But our castle was really shiny. (We built a castle out of Mega-blocks together)

What do you and your dad do together? We eat popa-sicles outside. We do it yesterday. (He has a tendency to add syllables to words)

When you were little, what did you do? Um, I get a sucker at nursery.

If you could go anywhere, where would it be? Um, traffic lights. Yellow, green and red too.

What do you think your parents are too strict about? Maybe a TV. Maybe shows make me feel better.

Who is your best friend? I don't know. I said Dylan. Dylan is my favorite friend. (He is referring to himself)

What are some of your favorite things to say? Maybe garbage trucks and cars too. (He likes to say "piece of hamster feces," "Can I play the iPad?" "Laina is crying Mom, can you get her?")

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play in the grass outside.

What is your favorite book? I Stink by Kate and Jim McMullen and construction site book. (Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site)

What do you want to be when you grow up? Um, bigger. I dreamed and I dreamed um bigger in my dream.

How I love this kid! He is so much fun to be around and loves to tease and make people laugh, just like his dad. He is a good big brother (most of the time) and loves to play with Elaina and give her hugs and tackle her. He is a lover of all things car, truck, tractor, motorcycle, etc. He loves hot dogs, popcorn, fruit snacks, cereal, chicken nuggets and french fries. He is my little cuddle bug and still loves to snuggle with me. Dylan loves to be outside. He loves to run, jump, and play rough. He hates haircuts, dinnertime, getting messy and being told no. He is a little nut and loves to make up words or say random things and then ask, "Is that funny?" He makes me laugh every day and I am so grateful I get to be his mommy.

Motherhood and Me

When I was toward the end of my pregnancy with Dylan I started getting really nervous about giving birth. One night Harrison and I were watching a nature documentary about lions. This mother lion went up in the hills and gave birth to five little tiny helpless cubs. It may sound weird, but I thought to myself, "If I lion can do it all by herself, I can do it with doctors and nurses and an epidural, right?" Thus began my journey into motherhood.

Ever since I was little I knew I wanted to be a mommy. It's a little scarier once it comes though. Being a mom came pretty naturally to me, but there were other things that were harder. I had a hard time adjusting to no sleep. I had a hard time adjusting to not having my own time anymore. I had a hard time adjusting to the fact that as a mom you have to give up a lot of stuff. You have to make sacrifices. Growing up I didn't think much of the sacrifices my mom made to make us kids happy. That's what mom's are for right? I've learned a little since then. I have tried to adjust my attitude to be more like my mom's. I never heard her complain when she gave up her afternoons pretending to be a stranger helping some runaway child (me). Or later on when she gave up her evenings to read me sparknotes while I worked on an art assignment. I never heard her complain about getting up early so she could have breakfast on the table before we went to school. We almost always had dinner together as a family. My mom has been a mom (as of today) for 13,201 days. Me, a measly 659.

I love the following quote because it reminds me that it's not really as hard as I sometimes think it is.

"As we give, we find that 'sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven' and in the end, we learn that it was no sacrifice at all." -Spencer W. Kimball

My mom is a great example of living her life in accordance with this quote. Every time I talk to her and express my frustration at not having time to do something I want to do she reminds me of this principle. Really, in the long run, our children bring us more joy than any hobby or craft. In saying that, I know how important it is to still take time for yourself. You still need to be able to be you and do things you enjoy. I think one of life's challenges for a mom is finding balance.

“Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for.”
-Rachel Jankovic (quoted by Elder Andersen in Oct '11 conference)

I made the choice to be a mom. I knew it wouldn't be easy. I have to remind myself of this quite often. So when I'm having days like this-

 I remind myself that it is in my power to turn them into days like this-

It's doable. I know it is. I love this little boy with all my heart. He makes my day. Every day. His giggle brings me joy. I love being his mom. I love how excited he is when I show him the ultrasound pictures of his baby sister. He'll be a great big brother. He is a good kid. He has his moments and I have mine, but we are buddies through and through. I know that everything is okay when he stops playing and comes up to me and rubs my arm and gives me a hug. Does it get better than that for a mom? Nope. I don't think so.

So here's to being a better, happier mom. And here's to the mothers in my life, especially the one who gave me birth, who taught me by example that motherhood is one of the best blessings there is.

Christmas Crafting

I made these trees at a "Pinterest" Christmas party I went to last night. I also put the wreath together a couple of weeks ago so my door could be a little more festive. If you want to make your own trees, here's the blog where we got the idea. Happy holiday crafting!

Dancing Dylan

Oh how I love this kid's dance moves! I think he gets them from his Dad. :) Don't just take my word for it though; see for yourself. I bet you'll love them too.

Dylan the Destroyer

Mess maker, mess maker, make me a mess. Makings messes is Dylan's favorite thing right now. He loves to destroy any order I try to create in our home. Thus the nickname, "Dylan the Destroyer." Here is proof:

He always gets food everywhere when he eats.

He totally destroyed the bookshelf in his room.

He loves pulling all my things off the shelf by my side of the bed.

Oh, and don't forget climbing in the cupboards!

Hi.

Dylan's new favorite word is hi. I, being his mom, think it's absolutely adorable every time he says it. I had to share. I tried to keep it short because I haven't had any luck with posting longer videos to my blog since I got my new camera which shoots video in HD. My ultimate favorite word he says is Da. When Harrison gets home from work and Dylan hears the door he gets to his dad as fast as he can with a big grin on his face and says, "Da!" Harrison gets a big hug from Dylan whenever he walks through the door. It melts my heart every time.