River Flynn,

Buckle up. Put your reading glasses on. Grab a drink. Settle in. (ok ill stop)

This letter will be a long one. I’m writing it late, but life is a lot like that right now. You turned three on me and I am officially in love with every single thing about you right now. Two wasn’t horrible by any means, but it was hard. Something about not being able to express yourself with words makes being two rough. Which makes being a Mommy to that two year old tough as well. BUT RIVER! You are SO SO SO much fun! You are such an incredible little person and I just want to press pause and enjoy this age for what I know it is. 3 was so wonderful with Shep too. Something about finally getting a glimpse into the person you truly are just is magical to a Mommy.

For starters, you just moved to the big boy room. You had a last night in the crib moment, but I didn’t even know it was going to be the last night. That was ROUGH on me. Our bedtime routine has been 2 books, one song, one prayer, and bed. While I was pregnant I actually had to throw you into the bed which you thought was such a fun game, but in reality, it just was because I couldn’t lower you in there. You love stories and always try to get me to squeeze one more in. I read it, then you want a turn which is basically just you flipping through and mumbling at me. Then we do out favorite thing and rock. You don’t sit in my lap, but you squeeze right beside me and want my arm around you. It’s adorable how you get all situated with your night night and paci and rub those darn tags vigorously until it’s time to plop you down. We talk about breakfast and what our plans are for the next day to get you on board for the big drop off, and now want your closet light on bc monsters and wolves and such. That big bad wolf phase you’re going through is intense. It’s all we talk about. All we sing about (try making up a wolf song….bc you made me haha). But now? Now there’s no rocking. We didn’t get a goodbye rock. There was no work up to you sleeping in there. You asked after a few naps and we let you just for one night and suddenly you didn’t want to go back. In all fairness, you were thumping out of your bed a few times a night over a week’s course so we knew the time was near, but I needed that closure. Maybe the Lord knew I’d fall apart and it was best to do it without my knowledge. haha. Either way, you’re one step closer to a big boy and I’m not so sure how I feel about you growing up so quickly. You love the big boy room. You call it that and get so excited. You’re still in the dockatot so that’s been nice for the transition, but you’re officially in the zone and doing amazingly in there. At bedtime, we read books all together and say prayers. Shep loves to refer to the world as the city. Everything is “all the people in the city” “lets find all the things in the city” etc. A few weeks ago you started adding that into your prayers too and we nearly died laughing. YOU LOVE Sheppard. You’re indifferent with Auggie right now, but Sheppard hung the moon. I love to walk to my now office (still a crib in there) and listen to you two chat after I’ve left. The door is always cracked bc after making me rub your back for a second, you yell “dont close the door all the way” as I’m leaving. Literally every single night. As if I’m going to randomly close it after not closing it once since you moved in 🙂 You kill me with your little sayings. You boys sit there and talk and you sing Mary Poppins “stay awake” as loud as you can and listen to Shep tell you superhero stories about Gecco and forests and wolves and just chat away. I’m so happy you guys have each other. I always wished Dolly and I were close enough in age to have shared a room. It seems like so many special memories are made in there when I leave each night. My favorite is watching you two sneak to the restroom or hearing you warn Shep not to sneak out of his bed. You’re stubborn as mess, but smart as a whip. I’m just so stinking in awe of how wonderful you are. Thank goodness you’re out of it for the most part and it was short-lived, but there was a funny phase when you moved in where you would strip in your sleep. Every morning we would hear you heading downstairs (that’s another thing. You don’t wake us up you just head down solo like an old man zombie headed for coffee) butt naked dragging your night night behind you. Paci still in. No signs of letting it go. But yes, totally naked. The funniest sight you’ve ever seen. Trust me.

I guess this will need to be a four part series bc my fingers hurt and I have so much to say! I’ll be back tomororw 🙂 I LOVE YOU

MommyXx