It's Great to Be 3!

On the 14th of April Gunnar turned 3 years old. It felt just like yesterday that I had him... holy cow. This kid had about a full week of birthday. I am sure that he thought that his birthday would never end. His birthday this year was on a Tuesday. He headed to Wings with Heidi for the day. It was a big deal because she made him cupcakes and his friends sang to him. He loves hearing the happy birthday song, especially with his name in it. All day long Heidi and Gunnar practiced that he turned 3, so he was a pro when he got home on his age. After therapy, my mom and I got him a bunch of balloons tied to candy. He loved getting balloons from grandma. We still have these things floating around as I type.

Brent was in town, so my mom, Heidi, Brent and Gunnar headed to a yummy mexican resteraunt for lunch on Wednesday. All of a sudden the table behind us had a birthday with the music and all. Oh wait...we have a birthday boy. We got it all arranged and got Gunnar excited...then they all showed up with a little sombrero and started singing. So loud! Gunnar was more in shock not sure if he liked it or needed to cry. He just sat there frozen. Afterwards he loosened up and loved the experience. The server prior asked me if he would cry because they hate making kids cry. It was fun.

Saturday we had his big party. His birthday is the start of our spring cleaning. It always has been. The weather has always been perfect and our yard always a disaster. We spend quite a bit of time getting everything cleaned up. We had about 25 people at his party. It is always just family. This kid gets so spoiled. The party started at 3pm and my great uncle and aunt showed up right on time but where was everyone else. Eventually everyone showed up but they figured that they would give Gunnar his present early to occupy him, plus it wasn't wrapped. These trucks are huge and perfect for outside play. We had so much food and had so much fun visiting. The kids loved to play with the yard toys but were really drawn to the garden dirt. They spent lots of time in there.

Gunnar was so set on a Thomas party. He told everyone for months that he was having a Thomas party. I am not one to go to the party store and buy every character thing that they have. Just a waste of money in my opinion. So the only Thomas thing that he had was the cake. Heidi and Ren have gotten incredibly GOOD at making cakes. Gunnar's birthdays have been one of the many test venues. They did not dissappoint...no joke. This cake was HUGE and really yummy. It was chocolate with a chocolate mousse filling. We are not cake people at all but these have become fun. Gunnar was in heaven and this was all that he needed for a Thomas party. The red is much better than this. You may or may not remember Mrs. Lightening McQueen or Mary Kay McQueen. My brother in law, Ren, carved out the face. Just insane. They could market themselved and make a killing on these if they got in with the right people. If I was making these, I would charge so much.

So as Gunnar was talking about a Thomas party constantly, I couldn't figure out exactly where he was getting this from. Finally I figured it out. He talked to papa on the phone and he told him that he was sending him a Thomas backpack for his birthday. Pair that with the friend's parties that he is starting to get invited to and you have a Thomas party. He loved the backpack. It is a cute little version of the larger CARS one. Perfect for just a few things as the other is perfect for church. Papa, we love it!Thank you everyone for coming. It was quite an eventful day. I had hula in the morning, crazy cleaning when I got home, completely forgot to get more plates/cups/utensils from the store and Jeff's mom was supposed to bring her leftover hotdog buns and didn't so she headed to the store and she was last to show up at the party so we waited and waited. Overall it was so fun and always relatively stress free. Gunnar had a great day and loved all of the things that he received. My mom was also out and enjoyed herself. It was great to have almost everyone here with us.After his weekend of fun, he showed up to preschool on Monday and they celebrated his birthday. I really think that he thought his birthday would never end. For the next week, I was being sung to or had to sing to him Happy Birthday and open and present. It has been fun.

As far as growth, he is 39in tall (75th percentile) and 31lbs (30th percentile). He has always been my tall skinny boy. He grew 4 inches just last year. They also did his blood pressure and he was such a good boy. It was 91/55. What a great little boy.

The last few days, Jeff and I just stare at him and comment on how different he is starting to look. He is so big and starting to take on a big boy appearance. He is talking up a storm. He never stops. Things he comes up with are hilarious. He is also extremely active and quite tiring. He is getting stronger and crazier actually. Threes are far worse than twos. Those were perfect. Reegardless, we love him all the same.