Like every good parent, I am fairly certain my children walk on water. Well. Eli may run on it… Too often I am guilty of seeing an awesome moment and running to grab my phone to capture it, only to have the moment disappear and not only have I failed to record it, I have also failed to witness it in its entirety. Adam gives me a lot of grief about that, but I want to remember everything about these days. Our children are only little for such a short while– soon the boys will grow up, and won’t think it’s fun to act like a T-Rex in the kitchen, or sing to Let It Go for the hundredth time.
Here are some of my favorite moments with my 3 little men:

Sam– “Good morning everyone!” This phrase is said more excitedly than I knew humanly possible. Every morning he wakes up in the most incredible mood, ready to greet the day. If we’re lucky, he’ll say Good Morning to us all individually.

“Hello everyone, nice to meet you. My name’s Sam, and that’s Jack, and that’s….” I die laughing every time he does this. Where did he learn this?!? He is taught to shake hands in preschool, but the extras are all him. He also hates when we laugh at him….

“No Mommy, stop laughing,” complete with a finger wave. Any time someone laughs and he thinks it’s at him, he gets super irritated. He will even tell off the grandparents so watch out!

He is becoming a master of the Frozen soundtrack. Let It Go is sung daily, and not only does he know the words, he will also change pitch at the right time. (Side note: when Sam sings this, Jack chimes in with what’s going on in the song– “And now Olaf comes,” and ” Elsa gets a new dress,” etc. Adorable) Where Sam gets his musical ability is beyond us, because Adam and I are just musically gifted enough to be able to operate the radio. His other favorite song is Do You Wanna Build a Snowman (duh, mine too).

Jack:
This boy is so smart it’s ridiculous. It horrifies me that I will one day have to help him with math or science homework, and will know nothing. He can do 100-piece puzzles completely by himself, and throws a fit if we try to help him (or God forbid Eli comes within 10 feet). He loves books, his Kindle, and painting/drawing/coloring/writing, etc. We are working on writing his name right now, and he’s getting better.

Jack is obsessed with phones, so we never get to record anything he does — he stops once he sees the phone and tries to bargain with us to obtain it. Anyway, I so wish we could show everyone his athleticism– he is awesome at baseball/t-ball!! We pitch to him and 75% of the time he hits it. The smile on his face is so great.

“1, 2, 1 2 3!” He sings this little diddy with pointed fingers and hitting the table in rhythm. I am sure he learned this at school and I am obsessed with it!

He has become such a boy lately. Laughing when he farts and burps, super physical with his brothers, and wants to play baseball whenever we go outside. However, he also has a love for Disney princesses– the shirts we use as “bibs” are mine and Adam’s old t-shirts, so they are super long on the boys. Jack gets down from lunch the other day and proclaims: “I’m a princess!” I ask him which one, and he responds: “I’m Ariel. But Jack have no red hair. Aww, man!” Then he sees one of his brothers grab a basketball, runs over and shoves them down, and takes the ball. I handled the situation like any good mother would– I told him princesses don’t hurt their brothers. Pretty sure the message went in one ear and out the other.

“I can’t!” This phrase shocked me the first time he said it! It was complete with a foot stomp. Every time he says it Adam and I tell him that’s not something we say in this house- you can do everything. Once we calm him down from yelling he “can’t” a dozen more times, sure enough, he does it and is all “I did it!” with an enormous grin on his face.

Eli:
Oh, my Eli. There has never lived a more adventurous, fearless, thrill-seeking 18-month-old. I cannot explain to you the terror he brings to my life. He is constantly throwing himself into, onto, and off of things. He climbs every piece of playground equipment and goes down every slide. Eli has also inherited my ability to run into every door or wall, but he never makes a sound. Within 3 minutes of waking up he has at least one bump or bruise to add to his adorably chubby body. I’m also fascinated by the fact that he just doesn’t care about being dirty. AT ALL. The twins ask for a wipe the minute a crumb lands on their leg. Eli seeks out mud puddles, and usually ends up falling into them.

The child still doesn’t talk much and it drives me nuts-I know he can, he just won’t. His favorite words are “yeah” and “that.” He also loves to shake his head No, and asks for milk and food by screaming. So polite. Sign language hasn’t really worked with him- his only true sign is “More.”

Now, this same fearless, adventurous little boy is also devastated any time his mom leaves the room. Devastated. World ending, devastated. My workouts are now a half hour max because that’s all the crying the Y-Care staff can handle (don’t blame them!). Today I brought a Kindle for him though, and that did the trick! I hate doing that, but whatever works…

We are trying to wean him from the Nuk except for sleeping, and for the most part he does okay! We leave it in the crib and he waves “bye” each time. I’ll be honest though- Eli is a screamer and a yeller… There are about 95 times a day I want to put a plug in his mouth! (Have I mentioned I’m an amazing mother? 😉 )