Declan at 34 & 35 Months

Dear Declan: 34 & 35 Months

• You weight 29 pounds
• You wear 2t shirts and are wearing 2t jeans - we aren't having to tighten them up as much as we had to last year so thats great! 
• You sleep from 7:00/7:30pm - 6:30am during the week and a nap from 12:30-2:30; on the weekends we keep you up until 8 or 9 and you usually wake up right at 12 hours but will just play in your bed and let us sleep in for a little bit longer. (thanks for that!)
• We've moved you to pull ups size 2 so you can start learning to use the potty. So far, its not working.... you still don't want to do anything with the potty.
• You started PreK3 this month - So far you are doing great and you really like it.
• We took a trip to Chicago and spent the weekend! You did great and you loved every bit of it. And one of my dear friends lives there so we got to hang out with her a lot!
• We went to a local Pumpkin Patch with Mooh and Pooh and you picked pumpkins, rode the ponies (three times), and got to feed a bunch of animals. 
• You spent the weekend with Mimi and Poppi while we celebrated our 8 year anniversary in Eureka Springs.
• We have been going to Church almost every Sunday and you love it! We pull in the parking lot you and you say 'I see it, I see it!"
• We went to Dallas and hung out with your cousins and your Papaw meet us there and hung out with you while we went to a concert.
• We just found Paw Patrol and you love it so much. You went from not having anything to having a ton in the past few weeks!

You have grown up so much the last few months and getting an attitude!  You know that when I say something you know that you need to do it right then, you fight me but you do it. You say "yes, ma'am" or "no, ma'am" and whine/cry. You have a problem with eating, you don't want to eat unless its junk food. We don't let you eat a lot of junk food so you get mad at us and then you just don't eat. We need to fix that. I just don't know how right now! 

Declan, I don't know how its possible but you have 1 month until you're THREE... 30 days. Until. You're. THREE. I can't believe it. I need time to slow down. I need more days with you while you're still young. I need you to stay this age for just a little bit longer. You're so innocent at this age. You love the littlest things and you love them the biggest. 

{35 MONTHS}

{painting the ocean}

 {first day of prek 3}

{pumpkin patch with harper}

{trip to chicago}

{water park at millennium park}

{the bean}

{adler planetarium}

{cardinals vs cubs - cardinals lost}

 {you were tired and wanted to lay down}

{family picture}

{waiting on the carousel}

{farris wheel}

{field museum}

{illinois state capital}

{34 MONTHS}

{grandparents day - we took m & p to hurts donuts for the first time}

{build a bear - you got chase from paw patrol}

{trip to dallas}

{waiting on pizza}

{playing with papaw}

 {playing with cousin taylor and brenley}

Happy 34 & 35  month birthday baby boy!

I'll love you forever

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living

My baby you'll be.

xoxo

ac

How I met him.

The first of 2008 my roommate came home having drinks with some friends from work. She asked me to go to a local bar and have a drink with her because there was going to be guy there she liked. I didn't want to go because I was tired and I didn't look like going out. She ended up talking me into going and we got down to the bar, we grab a booth and a drink. The guy she liked showed up and he ending up sitting next to me. The drink ended up just putting me to sleep. Her friend kept pulling on my sweatshirt to hold me up so I wouldn't get in trouble for falling asleep. About an hour later we drop her friend off at his apartment and we went home and I went to bed and crash. The next morning I had a friend request from him and he had sent me a message asking what I was going that night along with his number.  That night I had plans to go down to the local piano bar for a friends birthday. I went to the party but left early so I could go hang out and watch a movie at his place.

His birthday was just a week later so I took him out to dinner. I asked him about 20 or so questions... Questions like... Did he had any children. Had he ever been married. Did he talk to his family and was he close to them. Did he have a job. What did he want out of life. Did he want to get married and have children. Did he have any piercings or tattoos. Did he do drugs. He answered the questions correct (to my standards). He also said, 'you know this is our first date' - I replied 'yes, I know'. My thought was, if you don't answer these to my standard then we didn't need to start dating. I knew what I wanted in a boyfriend and future husband. I had dated the bad guys and the guys that didn't have the same goals in life as me or even belief's. I knew I wanted to start dating with a goal of marriage. I knew that I wanted to travel and see the states before starting a family. I wanted one child with the maybe the thoughts of one more later. I wanted a guy that believed in Jesus and God. I wanted someone that would wanted to raise our family with the same belief's in the lord. I wanted someone that would enjoy a glass of wine or beer while watching sports, but not a lush. Someone who would watch horrible reality tv or a sappy romantic movie with me. I wanted a family man, being the only child I'm close to my parents. I grew up seeing my grandparents and cousins every couple of weeks. I wanted someone that had a degree that had a passion to work. Someone that wanted to travel and not just sit at home but also enjoyed a Saturday night on the couch watching movies and eating frozen pizza. I didn't grow up with my dad going hunting or fishing. My dad was and still is a hard working man that kept the yard mowed, the pool clean, could build anything and fix everything, and never called into work. I knew that I didn't want someone that wanted to spend hours in the woods or someone that didn't have drive. I wanted someone that would be like my dad, in a way. I knew I wanted a year engagement and I wanted to wait five years before we started our family. To say I knew what I wanted was an understatement. I knew what I wanted and I wasn't going to just settle for anything else.

After his birthday dinner we saw each other every day and then about a month later we decided to make it official, July he moved in with me, October 11 we were engaged, October 3, 2009 we were married. I love being married to him more than I would ever thought I could.  I am so thankful that my roommate asked me to go to the bar that one Friday night when all I wanted to do was fall asleep on the couch while watching TV.

{Hot Springs: our first trip to the horse races - 4.2008}

{Las Vegas / Hover Dam - 7.2008}

{New Orleans, LA : day after getting engaged - 10.2008}

{Chicago - 7.2009}

{Wedding - 10.2009}

{Orlando: Honeymoon - 10.2009}

{Hollywood, California - 5.2010}

{New York City - 12.2010}

{Cancun, Mexico - 4.2011}

[West Coast]

{Seattle, Crater Lake National Park, San Francisco - 9.2011}

{Las Vegas - 4.2012}

{Hawaii - 10.2013}

{Florida: Pregnant - 6.2014}

{Florida - 7.2015}

{Florida - 7.2016}

{South Dakota and Wyoming - 8.2016}

[me and my cousin - Casper, WY - 8.2016]

{South East}

{Wilmington, NC, Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA  - 10.2016}

{Orlando - 12.2016}

{Kansas City - 6.2017}

{Florida - 8.2017}

{Chicago - 9.2017}

{Eureka Springs - 10.2017}

{Austin, TX - Fall.2018}

{10 Year anniversary - Fall.2019}

{Disney World - Spring.2020}

xoxo

ac