O happy day: Three

It is so hard to believe that our sweet spunky Ryder is three! Rydee, Rydee Bear, Tinies, sir-snacks-a-lot... the list goes on. While you were not the one who made me a mommy, you were the first baby boy I felt kick inside of me. You were like a much needed breath of fresh air that showed me my body wasn't in fact broken. God chose you to be our second baby boy and we couldn't be more grateful.

You love playing with trucks, playing soccer, golf and basketball outside, coloring, Paw Patrol, monster trucks and anything with sugar. You absolutely adore Finn and sometimes I forget that you are in fact 18 months younger than him, because you are just the best of friends. You are newly obsessed with baby Jude and want to be two inches from him at all times. I usually have to remind you to "be gentle" and "don't lay directly on him", because you just squeal with excitement anytime he does anything. "Look at him smiley face!" is what you say when he smiles and your face just lights up. You love lining up your cars, trains, basically anything that looks like it needs order. I have no idea where you get that from...

You are my snuggler and I couldn't love it more. There are times when you want to crawl in my lap, tuck your hands down by your waist and bury your face in my shoulder just like you did as a baby and I melt every time.

You are sweet and loving and compassionate and like to ask "mommy are you happy?" To which I always reply "Yes! I'm very happy!" We sing Jesus Loves Me and Amazing Grace before bed and you sing every word to both. We have made great improvement in the wake-up time thanks to your OK to Wake Clock. It has somehow managed to keep you content in your bed until turning green at 7:30 every morning. When it does, you stand up (still in a crib) and say "my tick tock's green!!!!" into the monitor for us to come get you. Yes, you're still in a crib. Finn was in a crib until 3.5 and that was only because we needed his crib for Jude. There's a good chance you could be in yours until kindergarten.

You love running errands with Jude and me after we drop Finn off at school, but that's mostly because it means snacks for you. Now that it's finally warming up, hopefully we'll start going to the playground again too. You love playing Finn's guitar and watching anyone else play the guitar. This has led to a love of watching Crowder videos on YouTube and you now know all the words to I Am.

You don't go to the doctor until next week, but we've had our share of sick visits thanks to your ears recently and you're up to 28lbs and 34in. If I could take one thing from you now, it would be that you got your mommy's ears. Your first set of tubes fell out after a good run of about 21 months. Within a week, you had a full blown double ear infection with a fever over 103. This could mean a second set of tubes, but only time will tell and thankfully we have warm summer months ahead instead of a cold winter full of sickness... so we will see.

When you come in from playing outside in the afternoon, you always say "mommy, what'd you make me for dinner?" I'm not sure why you ask, because 95% of the time you're not going to eat it anyway, When I describe what you like to eat, it sounds like I'm talking about Will Ferrell in the movie Elf. You've never met a baked good you didn't like and you could eat your weight in pancakes. You also like hot dogs, peanut butter and jelly, mac n cheese and fruit. Needless to say, you go to bed hungry most nights. I'm hoping you grow out of your pickiness soon, but you're also pretty stubborn about it... I have no idea where you get that from either.

We love you so much, baby boy! Here are some of my favorites from the past 3 years.