Henry's 3rd Birthday & Ice-cream Party

Well...my baby boy turned 3 this weekend. I feel truly blessed to be called his Mommy. Saturday I shot a wedding and afterwards, we went to Young's Jersey Dairy to celebrate. Henry loves feeding the animals and once it got dark outside, we headed inside for some of their famous homemade ice-cream. Sunday we had a wonderful ice-cream party with family and friends. Henry had such a great time and he told me this morning that he can't wait to have another birthday again...

Slow down there, baby boy, Mommy doesn't want your birthdays to come any more quickly.

Potty & Chore Chart

Henry has had a bit of an 'obsession' with money lately. Every time we go into a store he insists that he pay for everything and he will jump at any chance to earn a penny.

I figured I would use this towards my advantage and come up with a creative way to combine chores and earning money in an organized way.

Welcome the potty & chore chart!

We bought a piece of foam paper, broke out the finger paints, and decided to create a sticker chart that would allow Henry to earn stickers towards money for good behavior, chores, and going on the potty (which he isn't doing, don't let me fool you).

Every 3 stickers earns him a quarter and he can earn stickers lots of ways: 1 sticker for going #1 on the potty, 2 for going #2, 1 for putting away his toys or clothes, 2 for listening well when out and about, etc...

So far it has worked really, really well. Well...except for the potty part. We've realized that he is just not going to budge on this subject until he's 100% ready.

Making it was only half the fun and now Henry is thrilled every time we mention earning a sticker! I'm hoping this will be a great tool for learning new things like picking up after himself and chores now and in the future.

Do you have any fun ways to encourage your kids to do the same? How old do you think is 'old enough' to do chores around the house?

Over-Dramatic

The house is very, very quiet right now - something I am completely unused to. Both of my boys are asleep. Or, I guess I should say all of my boys are asleep as even the dogs are off snoring somewhere.
We had a busy day yesterday and while I kinda wish I was snoozing too, I am still coming down after 9 hours of work. And my stomach is grumbling which means I'm going to have to get off of my butt and cook some dinner here soon.
There's no napping for this Mama.
I knew I would write this post sometime this week. I wasn't sure if I would wait until Saturday or write it earlier or even later...but I knew that it would have to wait until I could be in the quiet, where my thoughts could bleed freely without interruption.
Henry is turning three. I am going to have a THREE year old.
I know that it may seem that I'm being a bit over-dramatic about the whole ordeal, and I assure you that that's probably true. But over-dramatic is the only way I can think to describe the way that it feels to think about three entire years coming and going since this little boy entered our lives.
Three years of ups and downs, of learning what works and what doesn't.
Three years of wiping away tears and giving hugs and kisses and holding him tight and wishing time to stand still.
But it never does. Time does not stand still for anyone - no matter how over-dramatically you ask it to.
I look at him as he's laying so peacefully asleep, curled up in his Daddy's chair, and it's all I can do not to go scoop him up and sniff deep the familiar smell of boy - dirt, sweat, and still that hint of baby. I love it. And I know one day I'll miss it.
I wonder sometimes how mother's do it. I even had the thought earlier this week that God must have created mother's simply for the purpose of praying for their children until they learned to pray for themselves. And as silly as that may sound to some, I seriously fear the day that my grandmother passes on because I know that a great prayer warrior will no longer be praying for me.
Honestly though - how often do you think of your child? How often do tears run freely in both joy and worry and love and hope and fear? For me - it's often. And it's both wonderful and terrifying to know that my baby has grown up this much already. And it's both wonderful and terrifying to know that he has a lot of growing yet to do.
Three years. I cannot believe it. Three entire years.
I hope I have not failed him as a mother in any way. I hope that he will look back one day and know that I gave my entire self to him so that I could see him grow and become something great and wonderful. I hope he will always remember that I love him and that I break and bleed and smile and laugh and live in a completely different way since he was born.
I hope one day he has a three year-old, and that he breathes in a deep understanding of what it's like to sit staring at a tiny face - so perfect and round - and pour love and wishes for wonderful things, but break because of the swiftness of precious time rushing by.
I hope he has a wonderful third birthday, and I hope that I can keep it together. Every year seems harder to grasp. Every years seems to come and go faster than the last. I want to bottle this time and keep it trapped forever so that I never miss even the smallest of details.
Am I being over-dramatic? I don't think so... as far as I'm concerned, there's no such thing as an 'over-dramatic' love, especially when it comes to that of a mother's.

Stepping Out

I am officially stepping out of my comfort zone and making an attempt to grow my business, and my dream of one day working 100% from home.
My husband always says 'you have to spend money to make money' and while I know this is true, I've tried to keep from spending anymore money than what was 100% necessary because honestly, we didn't have the money to spend.
So. I took on a wedding on Henry's birthday this year. It's been eating me since the day I accepted, but - the money from the wedding will pay for Henry's swing-set, birthday party, and make up for the money I will lose not working all weekend plus, it will pay for this big step forward...
advertising. Like. For real.
My friend Jessica and I are purchasing a booth space at a local festival at a local produce market and farm that is hugely popular in our area.
Our booth will have a two-fold purpose: selling our handmade crochet items and promoting my photography.
This means physically meeting people face to face and saying 'yes, I'm a photographer...' which is hard for me to say. I am still a baby in this world, I've just learned to crawl and now I feel like I'm attempting to run.
It's scary. It's stepping out of my comfort zone.
But it's exhilarating too - and a great, great opportunity for me. No one knows me here (seriously) and this is going to give me such great exposure that I may just be surprised with the response.
Only time will tell.
Here's the info on the event, if you live in my area come out and see us!

Thank you, friends, for your continued support in all that I dream and do.

Spoiled Rotten

Having only one child can have it's benefits, I suppose. Although our fight with secondary infertility is real (there, I said it), I've been praying and meditating and telling myself that if Henry is an only child - it won't be so bad. I mean, how many kids get a $350 gift for their 3rd birthday?

Okay, so maybe quite a few kids do, I don't know - but our kid typically does not. That's a lot of money and it was the cheapest one we could find.

Luckily we didn't have to foot the bill completely ourselves - my grandmother, Jeremy's parents, and even Henry (he used part of some money he had received from past birthdays and holidays) helped pay for his gift. But, we still had to pay the majority of it and we did so willingly because our little boy deserves it. He is such a light in our life and watching him play on his new 'park' is going to be the highlight of a lot of days, I know.

His birthday is still 11 days away, but I don't think he's even going to notice that he doesn't have a ton of gifts to open on the actual day.

He's spoiled rotten...and well, that's probably okay.

Independence Day

Our 4th of July was pretty low-key this year. We got up early and Jeremy spend almost 9 hours with his best friend building Henry's birthday gift while I cleaned house, weeded the garden (a 3 hour struggle), and entertained Henry. Then we headed to my sister-in-law's for a lazy cook-out that mostly involved us parent's sitting around talking and the kids being their crazy selves. We ended the night with fireworks on the levy and lots and lots of sparklers. Henry loved them the best. Usually I make a big deal out of the 4th, but this year I really enjoyed just keeping it low-key - it was simple and easy - exactly what summer should be. I hope you had a great holiday!

Unspopable water balloons - probably because they were made of regular balloons. The kids had a blast trying to get them to pop.

My last post touched on Henry's new obsession with lightning bugs. He caught this little guy early in the night and somehow managed to keep him in this little bowl until late in the evening when he got distracted enough to forget about him. It broke my heart to see him cry about it when he finally flew away, but it also warmed my heart to see the compassion and love he had for such a small creature. He is so sweet sometimes.

Henry's cousin Izabel loves to teach Henry new things. She was showing him all the letters on this little 'computer' and having him press each one. It was so cute.

Chasing Fireflies

I've been so in awe of Henry lately - in awe and feeling overwhelming blessed. There have been moments when I have found myself alone, lost in thought, smiling like a fool as the thought of his little face and words and expressions and actions cross my mind.
I feel like I've said it for the last year and a half, but this age is so much fun.

The excitement that he has at some of the smallest things - like last night as we chased lightning bugs around our neighborhood. I came home from work around 10 and he had a little Ziplock container with a lonely lightning bug crawling around the inside, refusing to light up. We didn't have the heart to tell him that it was probably a shade away from dead - the shaking and the bouncing only helping further the poor bug's demise. He immediately looked up to me and said 'Mommy! Lightning Bug!' and then shoved in in my face like it was the highest trophy and achievement an almost-three year old could have. He then willingly dragged me outside and we searched our yard for more fireflies - and when I took him to the darkest spot in the yard he grabbed my hand and said 'Mommy, hold me, hold me tight.'
And I did. I carried him around and we chased invisible little bugs who only lit up from across the yard and it seemed like magic because in a way - it was.
And those moments are the moments I remember when I'm alone, even for a minute. Because I miss him when we have to be apart, even for a minute. This age brings magic into my life. Magic and hope and innocence and pure joy. This child makes life new for me and I feel so lost in all these emotions sometimes that I wonder how a heart survives such joy - that maybe one day it will just burst with happiness.
The nights that I work I rush home in hopes that he hasn't fallen asleep, and even when he has, I look at his precious little face and I'm just - struck. Love struck. Awe struck.
I am his Mommy. God choose me to be his Mommy.
I am blessed.

I think about him turning three in just a couple of weeks and I can't believe how fast the time has gone and I wonder if I've truly appreciated these three years enough. And I hope that time will slow down just a little so that I can learn to appreciate it more before the time is gone.
And I think that all parents think this way and that is why when you have a baby you always hear: they are only little once and they grow up so fast and hold them while you can. And you brush it aside partly because you hear it over and over again and partly because even before you hold them in your arms, you never want to admit that one day they'll be too big to hold.
So I'm going to try to learn to appreciate this time more so that when he is too big to hold, I'll remember this magical age - so full of fun and excitement and learning. And maybe I'll be able to convince another Mommy-to-be that they're only this little once and to squeeze them tight and appreciate this time because it flies by so very fast.