Life Within the Cuckoo's Nest: Austin Is Three!!!

The Birthday boy celebrating his "Birfday"!!

He was so happy! :)

Throwing balloons

We have been waiting for this day since he turned two. Ugh, terrible twos with this kid were no joke. But then, as predicted, the week before his Birthday I suddenly became extremely sentimental. I can't believe three years have come and gone! Since I am a month late in blogging this, I am going to add what his first month of being a three year old has been like along with his awesome Birthday party!

Some of Austin's three year old quirks are:

- He LOVES the movies Casper "Caspin" and Back to the Future! He asks to watch them constantly and whenever he watches Back to the Future he jumps onto his little car and zooms around the house like he is driving the flying DeLorean!

- He has always been a needy child when it comes to attention and there was never a shortage of it when he was a baby. But since we now have two kids only 21 months apart, he isn't getting all the attention he was once used to. So he has remedied this on his own by creating some private Mommy & Daddy time morning and night. He climbs into our bed first thing in the morning and requests for Daddy to turn on his show (which is almost always Shaun the Sheep or Timmy Time). There we lay together, Mom and Dad trying our best to grasp at those last few minutes of sleep while Austin giggles at his show while snuggled up under the covers in between us. This moment also occurs at night after we have put Evie to bed. The shows at night usually alternate and there are always snacks involved. Austin is not a big dinner eater so he snacks on cereal, string cheese, or yogurt while we all talk about our days. My favorite part is when he grabs each of our hands so we are all holding hands while we lay there together. Seriously, you can see the joy in his eyes! Even better is when he adds to the hand holding with "I yuv you Mommy, I yuv you Daddy...." Ugh, I die over the sweetness every time!

- One of his favorite phrases to say is "I like your (blank), where'd you get it?" You can fill in that blank with shoes, shirt, hair, car.... basically anyting! I have no idea where he learned that phrase but it is so cute when he says it! Not so cute was the time when I was getting dressed and he said, "I like your boobs! Where'd you get 'em?" or when I was sick and throwing up in the toilet while listening to him say, "I like your throw up Mom! Where'd you get it?" hahaha

- Whenever we drive by Dad's work, we shout "Hi Dad! We love you!!!" to which Austin hilariously adds "Waky waky Daddy! I yuv you!" He must know how bored Dad gets sitting in his cubicle? haha!

- We purchased season tickets to Wet 'n Wild this summer because we knew it would be rough trying to keep the kids entertained in this intense heat! Seriously, this has been one of the worst summers in a LOOONNG time! We are talking three straight weeks of 120 degree weather at one point (blaaa!). Austin loves the water park, especially the wave pool! Seriously, he could spend all day there jumping into the waves and getting washed ashore. Don't worry, life jackets are a requirement ;).

Cooling off in the shade at Wet 'n Wild!

- He is the king of getting out of things when he doesn't want to do them, especially when it is clean up time. So I made a chore chart and we started filling up an ice cube tray with large wooden beads whenever he did his chores! When the ice cube tray was full, we took him out on a date with Mom and Dad to the movies to see Finding Dory! He loved it! You could tell he felt so privileged to have his own seat along with a tray full of fruit snacks and pop corn!

Sneaking in a pic before the movie started!

- Not long after his 3rd Birthday party, he announced to us on a Sunday morning, "Austin is ready to go potty on the toilet." We were taken by surprise and weren't sure if we should believe him or not since his last potty training rendezvous did NOT turn out so well. So we had a fun little chat with him about what this step entails and he assured us that he was ready! So we packed up all his diapers, and just like we did with his bottles, had a goodbye diaper ceremony where we threw them all away! Yes, I fished them out of the garbage later because all I saw at that moment was money going into the trash, but he doesn't know that ;). I'm so glad we took that step because the next day, when the reality of his decision really set in, he began to beg for his diapers back. A part of me was wishing for them back as well, but this was just something we were going to have to push past! Once he realized there was no turning back, he has done so well! He has the occasional accident and we put him in Pull Ups at night because he doesn't always wake up dry, but he has not even once pooped in his underwear and for the most part he runs to the potty whenever he needs to go! It is amazing how big a difference waiting until he turned three made! We still have our power struggles because everything with Austin turns out that way. If he doesn't see what's in it for him, he doesn't do it. Plain and simple. So we have had to get creative with ways to keep him engaged in the common goal. That has included lots of candy bribes and at least 30 new Hot Wheels cars he has accumulated from every time he poops in the toilet!

- Afternoon naps are hit or miss nowadays with him, especially now that he has the "I need to go potty" excuse to come out of his bedroom. Sadly, that annoying charade also occurs at bedtime. He gets up and "goes potty" about 20 times before he finally settles down to sleep. On more than one occasion I have woken up to splashing noises and found him playing in the toilet. Because of this, I have also found myself scrubbing poop off the floor, toilet, and bathtub at 2am on more than one horrifying occasion :(.

- Whenever he sees the Disney castle at the beginning of Disney movies he excitedly tells us "There's Austin's work!!" Yep, he still believes he works at Disneyland hahaha. It cracks us up!

Well, I could go on and on about how Austin keeps us on our toes, but nap time is almost over so I need to skip to the Birthday party! Austin's Birthday was fantastic! Grandma and Grandpa Ronnenkamp came to visit so they could be a part of the fun, and fun we did have! We took them to Wet 'n Wild, went out to dinner at Chili's, let Grandma chaperone Evie around the chapel at church, and had fun watching movies as a family! Austin and Grandma Janis even got to cook together with his Baby Boy Bakery kit that came in the mail! They made us Macaroni and cheese cupcakes and they were delicious! So delicious in fact, that there were none left over for Dad to try after he got off work! Oops....

Some Fun With the Grandparents:

Cooking with Grandma :) YUM!

Seriously, they were so good!

Some pre-church family pics!

We love Grandma and Grandpa R. soooo much!

At Wet 'n Wild with the Grandparents!

Lots of fun swimming in our community pool!

Austin's bike was having some issues so Grandpa fixed it! Yay!!

Austin's actual Birthday was on a Friday and we weren't having his big celebration until Saturday, so we did our own thing that day and it was great! While Daddy was at work, we made fortune cookies to give out as party favors to everyone at his Birthday party and they turned out so cute! He did such a good job coloring the fortune to put inside the cookie and was so excited as he handed them out to everyone before they all headed home the next day :). He LOVED blowing up Birthday balloons and decorating the house and was super excited to open up the present Grandma and Grandpa R. had sent him in the mail (Star Wars Jammies!!). Once Daddy got off work, we went to Freeds Bakery to pick out Austin's special Birthday cupcake! I love this little tradition we created, however messy it may be... Speaking of messy, just as the waitress was taking our picture of us eating our yummy cupcakes, Evie decided to pee all over me! She was wearing a clean diaper so I have no idea how that happened but it's all part of the motherhood experience, right?

Austin's new super cool Jammies! He LOVES Star Wars!

Writing out the fortunes for his fortune cookies.

The final product! All bagged up and ready to hand out!

Showing off his fortune cookie skills ;)

Freed's Bakery! Cheers to another great year of Austin!

As always, he chose the "Spwinkle cupcake"

Showing his true side... hehe

After cupcakes we headed home to open Austin's special present from Mom and Dad! He has been growing out of his race car bed and spends most nights sleeping on the floor. But how do you top a race car bed? We wracked our brains and came up with the fun idea of a teepee! He would love it! I found a teepee online along with special lights that I could string inside the canvas so it would light up and, voila! Every child's dream bed! We put his presents inside the teepee and made him close his eyes until we said he could open them just to make it even more fun! His excitement made us all even more excited then we already were! He loved it! We had bought him a Curious George book about George's new tent and after he opened the rest of his presents, he sat there inside the teepee and read his book, obviously feeling so cool (hehe). Evie also loved the new bed and it became an instant fight for them.... ugh.

Opening his presents! BUBBLES! Austin loves bubbles...

Look at that happy face :).

Evie getting kicked out of the teepee for the 20th time...

Reading his book and feeling like a rock star! Teepee success!

I'm going to just post pictures of the day of his Birthday party because pictures say a thousand words. We had such a great time, starting with Krispy Kreme donuts and ending with a homemade Tractor Cake! Pinterest score by Mom!

Birthday breakfast at Krispy Kremes!

I love how Grandmas are always so helpful!

We pounded down a dozen donuts like it was nothing. Hey, we're celebrating, right?!

Then we headed over to Run Plus Fun as requested by the Birthday boy and had a great time! That's where the rest of the family met up with us to join in our celebration!

Playing in the ball pit with Nana and Trevor

Weeee!!

Throwing balls at Grandpa Porter

Giving Grandma Porter loves :)

Austin photobomb haha!

Next, we headed home for the best part of the party! Pizza, presents, and Austin's tractor cake! I was pretty proud of my cake decorating skills :). This boy loves tractors!

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday!

He was so adorable while we sang to him. You could tell he was loving the attention!

Blowing out the candles!!!

Cutting the cake

Divying up the sugary goodness!

I love how all the Grandparents and Great Grandparents get along so well and can chat and have a good time! It makes family parties that much easier!

He was more interested in driving his new tractors through the cake than he was eating it. And since it was his Birthday we let him play away! You only turn three once, right?!