Riley's Birthday Weekend

I titled this post Riley's birthday weekend since it seemed like even though his birthday was on Friday, there were mutiple little celebrations thoughout the weekend! Monday morning came and I mentioned something about his cousin Kortley's birthday and he snapped at me and said "No, no more Birthday!" Riley loves presents, and loved getting them, but if you know Riley...lets just say he doesn't do well under pressure, which includes being sung "Happy Birthday" to by more than one person. I think one of the pictures demonstrates his typical "on gaurd" face while my family was singing to him on the night of his Birthday. The funny thing is that apparently Ben was exactly the same as a child. If people would smile at him or pay too much attention to him, he thought they were laughing at him and he'd frown or run and hide. Sounds JUST like Riley :) Anyhow, it was a great weekend...and Riley got some really cool presents including a pop up cars tent from his Hansen grandparents. Just don't ask me to demonstrate how to fold it up....the directions say it folds up nice and neat just like a clamshell. Yah RIGHT a clam shell! None of us could figure it out. Today I finally got it to fold up small enough to fit halfway in the carrying case (hey, it's better than nothing). On the last step of the included instructions, there is a picture of a lady with the carrying case casually flung over her shoulder, and supposedly we are to believe that the tent is in the carrying case...but I'm not buying it. Not only that but she is SMILING as if the ten steps to closing up the tent were some sort of fun. I was definately cursing in my head today while trying to fold up a massive tent "nice and easy like a clamshell". Roger and Marrianne gave him some cute presents including a couple of little stuffed monkeys, which he now sleeps with. He also fell asleep tonight wearing his new Lighting McQueen hat, which was one of the things he got from my Dad and Laurie. He got to spend some time with Kortley, and we took them for a Jeep ride which put Kortley to sleep. I thought it was so cute that she fell asleep on Riley's shoulder!

Warning: Here is the mushy part.

My little boy turned three. THREE. I cannot believe it. I can't even reconcile the little boy I have now with the newborn I picture in my mind. I cannot believe how much I love Riley. When he was born, I became really depressed which clouded my feelings over and kept me from truly feeling the love I had for him. But after a couple months I was so in love with him, and it has just gotten worse! As he's gotten older, I love him more and more. I remember thinking when he was six months "I love him so much. This has to be the peak of my love for him. It has to go down from here." But then along came one year, and I thought "Wow, THIS is the best and I love him more than ever. But I bet when he's two, he'll really bug me and I'm afraid I won't love him as much." Well, you can guess the rest. As time goes on, I am realizing that no matter how old Riley gets, or how he changes, my love for him cannot possibly diminish...only grow. Simply because he is my child, and to me he is perfect. And to top it all off, I know Ben feels the same way. I see the joy he gets from Riley, and the joy we both get from Riley. Riley doesn't even know it, but he is truly our comic relief each and every day. Just tonight, not three minutes after we got him to bed, he comes into our room and sais "Good morning!" I think he really thought he could fool us. Happy third birthday Riley! We love you!