Ryan's 3!!

Ryan turned 3 on the 11th! How crazy is that!? He is getting so big!! He has been anticipating this birthday for months now. In fact- he keeps asking me if I'm sure that he's really turning 3 and not 6 like Ty is. He always lets out the biggest sigh when I tell him that he really is going to turn 3 this year. Ryan loves his older brother. Loves him. And wants to do anything that will help him to be just like Ty.

He awoke to a stack of presents on his birthday and immediately tore into them while still in his jammies. He was super excited about his new baseball bat (watch out Kate), some new dinosaurs and his Star Wars shirt, which he insisted on wearing (knowing him like I do though- I had already washed the shirt before I wrapped it).

Ryan was also really excited about his cake- I know I use that word a lot when I describe Ryan- but there is no other word that really fits him. He's excited about everything! He'll unwrap his presents or look at his cake and he starts jumping around saying "coooool!!" Anyway- he had a Star Wars cake this year. I ordered the cake topper off of a website that delivered everything as promised and quickly- which was awesome! But- while it said the topper was "edible"... it wasn't awesome by any means. Ty and Ryan ate it because they got to eat Yoda and Darth Vadar- but the rest of us picked it off and just had cake with buttercream icing.

I love my little boy so much and I can't believe how grown up he is. He is officially potty trained- which really only took him a few days to figure it out, and he rarely has accidents at night anymore. He can count to 12 by himself and knows most of his alphabet song- for some reason he leaves out a few in the middle. Ryan is also beside himself with excitement over the fact that we are letting him go to preschool in the fall. He has been so jealous of Ty this year and keeps asking me when it's his turn to go to school too. His wish is going to be granted and we have him all signed up.

Ryan also has the cutest little tongue on him. I know that sounds strange and those of you that don't know him probably won't understand. The rest of you know exactly what I'm talking about. He uses adult expressions and the way he talks just leaves you smiling. He is such a special little boy and I am so grateful that I have him for a son. When I think of how close we were to losing him last year- it makes my heart stop. I didn't know I could love him so much.

I remember when I was pregnant with him- I was worried that I wouldn't love him as much as I loved Ty- because I really loved Ty. But the second the Dr showed him to me over the little blue C-section curtain in the Operating Room- my heart instantly grew and I loved him just as much as I did my older son. I can remember how that heart stopped when the Dr came in at 2:30 in the morning the next day to tell me that little Ryan had been taken into the NICU because the air sacs in his lungs wouldn't stay inflated and he had caught pneumonia from the fluid he inhaled. I was all alone in that dark little hospital room and I remember praying to Heavenly Father that my baby would be alright. It was so scary to see Ryan hooked up to all these machines- he even had his own nurse- around the clock he had his own nurse. I guess that's how you judge how bad off these little ones are- the scary cases always have their own nurses. Little did I know that he would again have his own nurse in less than two years.

Little Ryan has scared a few years off my lifespan- but the time that I do get to spend with him is a little piece of heaven. I love him. And he loves me. He tells me at random times- it's always out of the blue- I'll be folding laundry and he'll come up to me and hug my leg and tell me that he loves me.

Love you too big boy.