It Was 3 Years Ago Today...

...we met Jack Steven Vogel for the first time! It is almost impossible to believe that there was a time when I didn't even know Jack...a time when he didn't even exist! How amazing it truly is to fall in love with a perfect partner and then go on to create actual people that love you, too! I know, I sound so cheesy, but I am so emotional today. It is my anniversary of becoming a mother, after all, and that is what I wanted to be for as long as I can remember! I didn't decide until I was 20 that I wanted to be a nurse, but I think I knew I wanted to be a mom by the time I was 6.

We had such a wonderful day celebrating Jack today! Emma spent the day with Grammy so that Jack could have Joel and I all to himself! He asked a couple of times where Emma was, but I really think he was just checking to make sure she wouldn't be imposing on his day anytime soon. We went to lunch at Cane's, which was sooooo good.

Then we went over to the party store to get the supplies for Saturday, and we let Jack pick out a balloon. He picked Scooby-Doo. Joel clipped the balloon to Jack's coat and he looked so cute walking out to the car with that balloon blowing in his face! We had plans to go to the movies at 1:00, and it was only 12:15 at this point, so we went into the pet store and looked at fish and birds and bugs and lizards and turtles. Jack thought this was so cool. He asked if we could go there again tomorrow! Finally, it was time to go to the theater. We bought our tickets and then let Jack pick out whatever candy he wanted...BIG decision for a 3 year-old! He decided on Gummy Bears. Before we went into the theater, though, the three of us stuffed ourselves into the photo booth there and got the funniest pictures! Jack was hilarious...he was looking at us like "why the hell are we sitting on top of each other?" And then our faces showed up on the screen inside the booth so we could see if we were sitting in the right place and Jack looked so surprised and excited to see us there! The machine counts down from 5 before it takes each picture so Joel and I were posing for 5 seconds each time and Jack was just laughing! The pictures turned out so cute...I am going to keep them forever. The movie was very cute. We saw "Bolt" and I would so recommend it! It was very funny and a very good friendship story.

After the movie, we finally came home and Jack took a 3 hour nap! When we left him in his room it was obvious he was so tired, but not ready to stop having fun. Once we came downstairs, we could hear him singing happy birthday to himself. He really likes that song. While he napped, I finished decorating his birthday brownies, and Joel worked out and then started dinner. My parents came with Emma and we all had Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder that Joel made. It was delicious! My birthday brownies were quite good, too! Jack was so funny when we sang to him, he just grinned and grinned. And he blew those candles out so fast that my dad and Joel didn't even see him do it! We gave Jack a (Fisher Price) digital camera for his present and he loooooves it! Hopefully, he loves it enough that he will quit trying to take ours! He has already taken a good amount of pictures, and it came with a USB cable so I can upload them onto the computer!

He also got his first set of real golf clubs from my parents, the golfers. He practiced putting here in the living room and it was so cute watching my dad teach him how!

It was easy to see that Jack had a wonderful birthday today. What makes me happiest is to look at his face and see there that he knows how much he is loved. It is amazing that you can know someone for a time as short as three years and yet love them more than anything else you have ever known.

Once things had quieted down, I sat in the recliner and rocked my tired little Emma, and then Jack crawled up on my lap, too. Having the two of them still in my lap lasted only for a moment, but it was a wonderful moment and I soaked up every bit of it.

Jack and Emma are sleeping now, and I am excited to go to sleep, too! This was one of those days, though, that I had to write about so I would not forget how wonderful it was!