Happy 2nd Birthday Blake!!!

I have to say that turning '2' is one of my favorite birthdays for my kids. They are officially out of the baby stage in every way, communicate clearly, and can obey when we ask them to do things. Blake is no different.....he is talking in full sentences and clear enough for anyone to understand him (unlike that stage when, as a parent, you can understand them but no one else can.) He counts to 10 on his own and LOVES playing hide-and-seek. In fact, many times he will start his own game by walking in to a corner and counting aloud, "1-2-3....ready or not, here I come!" But he is significantly better than his older siblings at hiding....he will sit in a hiding spot, absolutely silent until you actually find him. He has an unbelievable amount of patience for this game and sometimes when I least desire for him to do so. We might be trying to leave for somewhere and he sees it as a perfectly good time to hide.....silently! No bribing or threatening will force him to reveal himself--the only way is to actually find him. And the joy on his face when you do find him is just precious!!!

He is also at the age of knowing how to obey--and also knowing that there is a consequence if he doesn't. But unless he is tired or hungry, he has become pretty obedient and even helpful. He loves helping me to anything...laundry, cleaning, picking up toys, etc. And he always says 'please' and 'thank you', which is so sweet.

Yet with being 2, he also quickly learned the word 'mine'. He rarely uses it with anyone other than his big brother and sister. And for the most part, he plays great with them. But occasionally he has had enough of their games and wants to play his own. He will take a toy or object away that seems to be central to whatever they are doing and say, "Mine!" and run away. Matt and I just mostly laugh because he acts like he's about 6' tall and 250 lbs!

He is no less 'Blake' and still gets into all kinds of mischief, but he has gotten more clever about it and I have learned to find most of it amusing! He is such a joy to have in our family and is full of life! He makes us all laugh and absolutely adores his big brother and sister.

I haven't taken him in yet for his 2-yr checkup because we are in the midst of 2 rounds of antibiotics in a row. I took him in a few weeks ago because he was just so fussy and not sleeping well and found that his tubes have fallen out and he had a double ear infection. After 10 days of antibiotics, the right side still hasn't cleared up. So we are back on a different antibiotic and following up with our ENT next week! Oh the joys....but I have to say that with all this, he is one tough little kid. With this 2nd round of antibiotics, he hasn't shown any signs of pain in his ear or anything, but the infection isn't going away on its own and we need to get it cleared up. What a trooper!!!

Okay, on to the big day!

He was so anxious to cut into his cake and he did get a bit of frosting when I wasn't looking!

He was very willing to let Wyatt and Sadie 'help' open his gifts!

He first opened the Wisconsin Badger jersey from my parents and wore it all night!

So excited for two new 'Boz' videos (it's like the christian version of Barney)

Our family's first set of Duplos and he loved them!!

Opening his fire truck from Nani and Pops

He was so excited for Wyatt and Sadie to show him how to work it!

They all seemed to enjoy the tools!

About 1/2 an hour after we opened gifts, our friends, the Scribners, came to surprise us all for Blake's birthday.

All the kids took turns trying to blow out the trick candles

Blake and his buddy Addi

Blake..we love you and your zest for life! You experience things to their fullest potential and have a high tolerance for risk (like your Daddy), yet you are also very tender-hearted. You don't like strangers and would prefer to be with you Mom or Dad. You continue to be a great napper, so long as you don't have an ear infection. And you continually have some form of a scrape, cut or bruise on your body somewhere. You are very fast and we have a hard time catching you when you run away!! You love singing "Jesus Loves Me" when we rock you at night and always go to sleep with your 2 blankies and little bear. Your daily routine starts off each morning by helping Daddy make the coffee and you could do it without us helping you out, easily! You are always the first one up in the morning (amongst the kids) and you get so excited when Wyatt and Sadie come downstairs. You always run to give Sadie a hug and if she isn't awake, you constantly ask if you can go wake her up. Your favorite word these days is "yeah" and you can now play "Zingo" with the family and actually understand the game!

Blake David, we love you and are so thankful to have you in our family. You are a true joy to be around and we look forward to seeing you continue to grow!