one, two, free!

He's the only child whose entire existence has been documented here on my blog.  I remember (vividly!) blogging with a laptop on my stomach, thankful for his in utero assistance as an impromptu desk.  His impending arrival was the subject of a blog post here and there... and here, too.  He came into this world instantly earning his nickname, Pudge, with all ten pounds of him feeling so solid and un-newborn like from the very first moment.  He made our family complete, even if we were scared to acknowledge that the children officially outnumbered us starting on 11/15/07.

Pudge a couple hours after birth

Pudge, two days old, and probably up to 17 pounds or something like that

He surprised us from the very beginning, and he still does each and every day with his laughter and goofiness and utter sincerity.  He's an awesome little guy, even when he is yelling, "NO!" at me or responding to my reprimands with "I KNOW!"  Yes, he's three now and he's willful, but he's still so damn cute that it's hard to get frustrated with him.  (Like tonight when he opted to leave dinner early probably because of the draw of some truck DVDs brought home from the library.  He was told that he couldn't touch them until everyone was done with dinner, so instead, he sat on the chair next to them, quietly stating, "I'm not touching these truck movies.  I'm just sitting here... not touching them.")

He's happy most of the time, and he so loves everyone in the family.  He adamantly professes his love, complete with giggles quite often, and thankfully he has shed his non-snuggly ways of the past.  I welcome his snuggles in the morning, especially now that he's out of the crib (finally!) and can get out of bed by himself in the morning... now it's just time to teach him to identify numbers-- there must be a 7 on that clock to join us!

Pudge turned three last week, and I may be late to posting it, but I do adore this little boy so and wanted him to have the happiest of birthdays.  Ask him how old he is, and he'll do the cutest "one, two, free" counting on his raised fingers, bringing a smile to our faces every time.

Pudge at 3, wearing his usual expression for picture taking these days

Pudge, ready to blow out his candles and consume the chocolately goodness!

Happy, happy third birthday to our sweet little guy.  You've always got your tongue sticking out and you're usually making a whole heck of a lot of noise, and you're basically a huge ham (whose prone to only short bursts of shyness at times).  You're loved by many and you spread smiles wherever you go.



With lots of love for Pudge,