Happy 3rd Birthday, John David!

JD at the park

I can't believe my baby is three!  Happy birthday to my amazing, helpful, and adorable John David.  You amaze me everyday with how sweet you are.  You are full of life and energy and are always busy.  You sure keep mommy and daddy busy.

Here are some of things that describe you now.

You are a great sharer.  You would give away your last snack if someone asked.

You are always smiling!  And it's contagious.  Your laugh is amazing and one of the best sounds in the world.

You have a bedtime routine that only you know.  You change it nightly.  But one thing that doesn't change too much is rolling up your blankets.  Your blue and yellow blanket are your favorites and they need to be rolled up just so, sometimes your baby and lovie go in there sometimes they don't.  You often refer to your baby as your baby sister, which throws some people off.

Balloons are among your favorite things to play with.  Don't let the balloon hit the ground keeps you busy for a while. 

On 2nd base!

You love to throw balls and often get in trouble because you throw them when we aren't looking.  You have quite the arm!  You wind up, and have a pretty good aim too. You like to shoot hoops and catch the ball.  You will be our sports star.  I asked Ms. Tina at school how come you don't have as many bruises as Austin does, she said, because he jumps off the play ground equipment and you stay by the basketball hoop and shoot hoops outside.  If there is a ball, John David is nearby.  At the balloon place, you are always by the ball.  You just love to play, catch, and throw!

JD with daddy

The way you say AAAAGAIN is hilarious.  We are going to the park, "AGGGAIN"  I have to go to the store, "AAGGAIN"   Mommy's getting some coffee, "AAGAIN"

JD with mommy

Bagels, pancakes, applesauce, oatmeal squares, burgers, cheetos, are among some of your favorite foods.  These are staples in our house, must haves!

making me coffee

You love to help cook and can be found in grandma's kitchen on the weekends helping her make pancakes.  They are delicious.  You love to make my coffee and are so good at it, my coffee has never tasted so good.

You're not big on TV. You have shows you request, but you very rarely watch the whole thing, maybe a few minutes here and there.  You'd much rather play with your balls.

As far as potty training goes, you will go on the potty, sometimes without me knowing, but you do it when you want to.  I'm sure you'll be in underwear all day soon. 

When we go to the park, your favorite thing is the swing.   And you love to go up in the sky.  You won't let me just push you, you freak out if you aren't going high!  

You are so much fun.  I love playing with you and have a blast.  I look forward to all the years we have to play!  I love you and hope you had a fabulous birthday!!!!

Happy 4th Birthday, Austin!

Austin James Artinghelli 4 years old!

Me and happy Austin!

4 years ago, my life changed, as I welcomed my first son into the world, my Austin.  I can't believe 4  years have passed, in the blink of an eye.  I no longer have a baby, a toddler, but a little boy, a little boy who knows exactly what he wants.  And let me tell you, he is not afraid to tell you what he wants.  I did a similar post last year about what he was up to and I thought it would be fun to do it again so that when I look back, I can truly remember his milestones.

Austin and daddy, so happy about his car!

He picks out his clothes.  He knows exactly what he wants to wear and more importantly, what he doesn't want to wear.  He hates long sleeve shirts.  In the winter, he would only wear short sleeve shirts, and now that we are going into summer, all he wants to wear is sleeve less. He loved to wear jeans in the winter, that's all he'd wear, so I'd have to wash his jeans all the time.  Now, he wants to wear shorts all the time, even when its cold out, but not any shorts, he likes the swishy shorts or basketball shorts but without the string.  I tried to get him to wear a pair with the strings and he lost it.  He has a few favorite shirts, Batman, Lightening McQueen, Alligator, Dinosaur, Spiderman. 

Austin giving JD a thank you hug

His favorite TV show is Fairly Oddparents, and I just don't understand why. He will no longer watch Little Einsteins or Handy Manny.  But, I still like Handy :-(. He loves to go to movies and is looking forward to Monster University (so am I).

He is always counting and telling me colors.  He is learning his letters and just amazes me all the time.  I can't wait to get out the alphabet puzzle and really have him tell me all the letters.

Austin points out everything when we are driving and is known for saying the following "hey, mommy (or daddy), remember when we were at that place, oh that's chili's, that's the hot dog place.  MCDONALDS!!!!"

I am proud to say Austin has mastered potty training!  I never thought this day was coming, but somehow, it just clicked!  We need to start working on potty training at night, but I'm not going to stress about that one ;-)  It will happen.

Dogs, Austin loves dogs.  Whenever we are at the park and he sees a dog, he needs to run up and pet the dog!  I have taught him to ask first and he is so cute.  He tells the dogs that he has a Buster at home.

He is quite the explorer.  When we go to the park, he always is walking around and looking at things, especially by the park at the house.  We go for walks by the pond and he loves to look at the duckies and fishes.  He loves to climb trees and pick up sticks.  But after our last incident, we are all a little weary.

And BATMAN!  I'm not sure why, but he is obsessed with Batman!  He is always wanting to wear Batman.  He has numerous shirts, now shoes and wants a Batman Party. All he wants for his birthday is a BATMAN cake! ;-)

Even though he is a go getter, full of energy, demanding little boy, he knows just the right moment to cuddle, give kisses and smiles. 

We worked so hard to have you Austin and I'm so thankful to have you in our lives.  You are teaching me patience daily as I'm trying to teach you as well.  You are clever as you know how to get what you want!  I can't imagine my life without you!  I hope you had a great birthday!