Don't Blink

I wish I could get a better picture, but our dear sweet Blake is so hard to capture in a picture. To say he is moving a million miles an hour is an understatement. In general he doesn't like his picture taken and most of the time he is fidgeting or moving on from one thing to another so quickly you just can't catch him. He is such a sweet little boy though and I am REALLY having a hard time believing he is almost 4!

Could it really have been 4 years ago that Kurt and I were getting the bag ready for the hospital, reading every thing I could about labor signs just in case he decided to come early (which he didn't and decided to come 8 days late), rocking in the brand new unstained (who knew we would have a newborn with reflux) glider daydreaming about whether I was having a little Blake or a Whitney/Lauren/Natalie/Meg. Yet sometimes it feels as if it were yesterday. I think back through all the milestones he/we've achieved...smiling, rolling, crawling, walking, talking, singing, talking back, climbing, counting, kissing and on and on. I do love the stage we are in now. It's so nice to have conversation with him and really see into his personality. I had an epiphany the other night and realized though he may resemble Kurt more than I, he has my personality through and through. Even the quirky parts. I could list a million reasons why I am so blessed to have my Blakey Bear in my life, but here are just a few:

1. He too, is just so darn cute - He's one of those people that when he smiles, his eyes smile too. I love how his hair gets this multi toned yellow blonde during the summer. Girls pay good money for this color treatment! And his cheeks...4 years later they are still his best feature.

2. To hear him laughing or giggling is intoxicating. I love watching him catch on to something funny knowing it will produce a belly laugh.

3. I love how he likes to wear his shirt with the neck tie on it (the one courtesy of Aunt Jill) on days when Daddy has to wear a tie to work. ;)

4. His confidence at swimming and riding his bike & 4 wheeler make me so proud. He is really getting good/brave and I am excited for the next round of swim lessons to start so he can learn more and continue to improve.

5. How he likes to assign a Mommy and Daddy to everything. He is always so curious about whether or not a character or animal in a book has a Mommy and Daddy. It reminds me of how important our relationship is to him. We watched ET the other night and all he could focus on was "why did ET's mommy leave." We thought we were going to have to explain aliens, other galaxies/planets, etc. Nope. We just had to keep reassuring him that ET's mommy would be back at the end of the movie.

6. He still likes to read with us every night and "talk" afterward. He isn't the easiest guy to get settled down and keeping him out of our bed has increasingly become more difficult, but I'll admit I do like to have him close by sometimes...except when he has decided to sleep perpendicular instead of parallel.

7. He wants to talk about and do grown up stuff, yet he is still so little in my eyes.

8. He is ALWAYS so excited to see us after school and runs with open arms to hug us.

9. I also love how every day we ask him what he learned at school today and he says "nuffing". I can assure you our money is not going to waste even if he doesn't admit to learning anything. ;)

10. Hearing him say I Love You. Nothing better. Period.