Pumpkin Turns 2!!!!

I can't believe my baby is 2 years old. Really, it literally seems like the other day that we brought him home from the hospital and I can still vividly remember all the birth details - which is a minor miracle since the "pregnant brain" I got when I was preggo with Mister never actually went away....but that's a whole different story.

Pumpkin has been a joy to have in our family since the day he was born. He has always had an easy-going nature and even obliged us with an early entrance into the world (11 days before his due date). I was so big and uncomfortable and I remember telling someone at church the day before that I had no idea how I'd make it another 2 weeks before my due date. I just felt like I was ready to pop out the front! Well, my water broke that night and Pumpkin was born in the wee hours of a Monday morning (in the middle of a beautiful snow storm, no less - though thankfully it didn't get too bad until we'd already arrived at the hospital and didn't have to drive anywhere else that night). Even the labor and delivery was short and sweet. Well, mabye not sweet, but definitely short and I amazed myself by delivering him naturally. That's probably one of my proudest accomplishments in life right there. Now everything I do I compare to that: like when I'm exercising and I want to quit running (or whatever is hard at the time) and all I have to tell myself is "having a baby was way worse than this, keep going!"

Pumpkin was the sweetest, most mellow baby around. I thought we hit the jackpot with Mister and was worried that lightning wouldn't strike twice. Well it did. And Pumpkin was even easier, if that can be imagined. He, like his brother, was an amazing sleeper. Pumpkin started sleeping through the night at 10 weeks old. He was always mellow and happy. I never worried about leaving him with a babysitter because he was so easy to care for. Feed, change, sleep, play, repeat. For bed we just laid him down in his crib (wide awake) and he didn't fuss or anything. Man, life was easy.

Now as a toddler, he's still easy-going, for the most part, but a little spicier with those toddler tantrums mixed in. He's smart as a whip and talks up a storm. He's known his ABCs for a while now (all the upper case, almost all of the lower case), and he can count to 10. He loves to read and loves to do puzzles. He loves airplanes and loves to barge in on Mister's "learning time", trying to do the workbook pages and write the letters himself too. His funniest mispronunciations are: feet (beeps), the letter W (bubble boo), elbow (belbow), seven (fezen) and sorry (fozzy). I just LOVE hearing him say those words.

Today we had a nice time celebrating. We took the boys out to lunch after Mister's gymnastics class and got the boys one of their favorites: chicken tenders and fries. Tonight we celebrated at home by making my amazinly talented cousin Helen's dark chocolate cupcakes with vanilla cream cheese frosting. Oh my heavens! They were amazing! She should definitely start her own cupcake business - they're way better than any cupcakes I've ever bought anywhere else. Of course Pumpkin got completely messy and sticky (though Mister was his usual cautious self and tried his hardest not to get his hands dirty or sticky). So we whisked them off for a nice long bath (another favorite of theirs) and now we're settling down to watch Milo and Otis (thanks for the gifts Uncle David, Auntie Amanda, Uncle Kiel and Auntie Lauren, they got here just in time and the boys love them!).

We are so blessed to have Pumpkin in our family and can't even imagine life without him. We're so grateful that Heavenly Father has trusted us to care for such an amazing little spirit. Two years down, eternity to go! :) We love you baby!

***I'm still editing my pictures so check my facebook account for them later.