3 months to 3 years

Dear Clayton,

It’s been quite a while since I have written to you and when I noticed the date today I felt I needed to give you a little update on your life.

You are 2 years and 9 months old today. Amazing! I can’t believe that you will be 3 years old in THREE months. I get shivers just thinking about it. Tater you are such a good baby with a wide range moods and tempers.

I love the fact that you are a momma’s boy and I make sure to cuddle with you every day. I do have to fight for your attention, now that Uncle Richey, Uncle Joey, and some of our other friends stay in the house you would much rather rough house and spend time with them. I understand that it’s a boy thing but I do find myself getting jealous.

You are quite the entertainer. Tater you are so strong and have such a great imagination. I am not sure where you heard about them but your new thing is Hero’s! You want to be a hero so bad and every day. I love seeing you throw your hands behind your back or cover your face like you are wearing your mask. I guess you have to keep your identity hidden. Then you take off around the house rescuing the imaginary damsels in distress. You also love to pretend to be a lion, tiger, and of course T-REX! P.S. You think that every dinosaur is a T-Rex. Did I tell you that you are adorable ;-)!?

I have tried to get you to stop growing but when you start talking to me at warp speed with sentences that only a mommy could understand, I sit back and realize that you are becoming a big boy. You will always be my baby boy but I love each stage that we are going through. I could do without the daily tantrums which you are allowed. Daddy and I are doing so much better with how we handle your trying times. You know just the right buttons to push!

Anyways, you love school and I love watching you through the door before I pick you up in the afternoon. Mommy is the overachiever of the classroom and makes sure to send books and cd’s for class at least 3 times a week.

Potty training is going well. You are still not 100% but you have made leaps and bounds. If you get to excited or distracted because of a game then you have an accident. I am not sure what happen the other day but when Daddy did not pick you up you pottied on his foot? I think daddy is still a little upset about that one lol! I need to hurry and switch you to a loose boxer because the tighty-whiteys are just too tight around your belly and you can’t seem to pull them down without a little assistance. I want to get you some little boxers.

You are growing like a weed and eating like a grown man. Daddy and I have watched you eat 2 ½ peanut butter and jellies and a huge glass of milk without issue. It’s quite amazing how much you can eat and then still chirp for a snack 30 minutes later. I think it is all going to your size 9 feet. Speaking of sizes you are now in a 4T shirt and shorts. You can still fit in a 3t but your little gut pokes out and you have little rings around your belly when I take off your shorts in the afternoon.

At night time you insist on having something to sleep with and it really is odd what you choose. Instead of a soft stuffed animal you would rather sleep with 3-12 metal hot wheels cars or several of your hard plastic dinosaurs, or your Kung Fu Panda DVD. I am not sure how you sleep well with all that poking you but you do. Since I mentioned Kung Fu Panda, you might as well know this is your favorite cartoon right now. I swear you watch it 20 times a week….no exaggeration. The one thing Daddy and I had to change was your cartoon regimen. When we got a tv in your room we didn’t realize that you would get addicted. WRONG! Lesson learned there and now you have about 30 minutes of TV time before bed. Its enough!

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you what a little fish you have become in the water. You are not scared to jump off the ledge or anything. Scares the hell out of me but I can’t seem to stop you from learning new things and conquering your fears. Clayton you are not a fan of lil’ bugs or any little animals. You and Sadie have a new found hatred for each other and that may have been helped by mommy.

I could go on and on about you and all the things you are doing and saying now. I just want you to know that mommy and daddy love you so much and thank God each day that he blessed us with such a beautiful baby boy. Now if only I could talk daddy into gearing up for a little brother. I know you want a little brother just as much and I am sure daddy would be happy for another little runt. Soon!

Freedom is not free!

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It comes at a price. We send out loved ones out to fight for everything that we as Americas claim our own. I want to send out a special thanks to Tanner, Joey, and Richard. We love you boys so much and thank you for everything you do and have done for my country and family.

Some moms would be horrified to hear that their children want to go into the armed forces....I have come to realize that this just may be Potato's destiny. He is surrounded with such great men that I should only be proud if he chooses that life for himself.

I know I am leaving a few faces/names out but you are always in our thoughts.

Both of my grandfathers served and now are no longer with me....I am proud of them and what they have done for my family!

Happy Veterans Day!

Build and Grow-UFO

I posted about my Saturday earlier in the week but just in case you missed it!

Ok after my little hell on earth we all loaded up and headed to Lowe's Home and Gardening for our Build and Grow session. It was totally cool that we were building a UFO. It had blinking lights and stickers.......I had a hard time containing myself. This build I wanted to be extremely special because Mr. Airforce/Uncle Richey was going to do the build with Potato.

Mr. Airforce has been in for a couple weeks and we have gotten to spend so much quality time with him, and well it's an understatement to say that he has been the highlight of Potato's days. He will be leaving in a couple days for ALASKA. Yep I said ALASKA! His base is located there and he is more than ready to go and live in the beautiful weather.

I can't believe that I have watched this child grow up for a little brat in his early teens to a grown terd that he is today. He is very special to our family of three and we will miss him dearly. DH is going to be building him a computer and we will get him set up on Skype so that Potato can talk to him. Did I tell you how much I love skype and how much it helps when your loved ones are not close enough.

I am trying not to cry as I think about my little brother leave.

When we went to visit him at boot camp he got an Air Force bear. It's adorable but I don't want to seem biased so I better get an Army Bear soon!

Anyways so drying tears and back to the build.....

Pop also joined us at Lowe's. He is a master carpenter, no lie, and was all to excited to watch his g-babe build a UFO. He also had to help out Ms Fumy and Kelon. It was pretty funny since Fumy comes to these builds half asleep. Not everyone can be a perky morning person like I!

Potato (or Pomatoe as Kelon would say) had a blast and really concentrated on his sticker placement. All in all a great build. I can't wait for the next one!

Mr. Airforce, Potato, Kelon & Fumy

Potato had to step in and make sure Ms. Fumy was doing it right.

Potato Mr Airforce & Pop

Mr Air Force

In April our family of three headed to San Antonio to watch my little brother graduate from Lackland Airforce Base. Our mini vacation was not nearly long enough but we had a blast. You can imagine our excitement with Mr Air Force decided to come in for the Forth of July weekend.

Potato's Nanan, (Mr Air Force's mom) , had sandwiches, fruit, and ritas to celbrate his home coming. Of course I had about 4 ritas to many! I could not pass them up since they were made with fresh mango and strawberries. Potato even assisted his Pop in making them. Since it was still daylight out all the adults decided to go and sit out in the scorching heat. Potato played catch with his friends then stole my sandwich. We had to eventually go inside because of the rain.

The neighbors decided to come over with their new baby Gavin and OMG he is beautiful. Of course I stole him every second I could. I didn't realize how much I missed that new baby smell until then. I guess I just need to have me another.....hopefully sooner than later.

Towards the end of the night all the boys were rough housing and a kid got his tooth chipped. Talk about crazy. All I have to say is boys will be boys and thankfully it wasn't a broken arm.

Potato missed his Uncle Air Force so much and even said his name today. How exciting! I am so sad that he will be leaving tomorrow morning.

Learning how to make RITA'S!

Baby Gavin! Oh how I love him!

It was a crazy night but DH was just so sleepy lol!

Mini Vacation Part II

I wanted to continue my earlier post about our little family vacation to San Antonio. Thursday night Potato of course was rejecting the pack-n-play that the hotel provided. I think I jinxed myself when I told my sister-n-law that my baby sleeps any where and with no problem. Ha! I hope she is laughing at me now. So with only 3 hours of sleep Mr and I woke up at 7am so that we could slam the hotel breakfast then head to the base for Richards graduation. Needless to say it was a very long day.

Photos from Thursday:

It was a beautiful Friday morning and I just knew it was going to be nice and warm like it was on Thursday. Not the case! When we sat in the bleachers and the wind kicked up and the temperature dropped we were all huddled together. The graduation ceremony was beautiful. All of the flights of soldiers came out and lined up then the did a march of the state flags that represented the Airman's home state. Then they had an airplane solute, which Potato was very excited about.

Richey was tapping a drum in the band.

On a side note while we were sitting in the stands freezing our exposed toes off Potato was charming all of the ladies. He had several grown women and a couple teenagers cooing at him. I never knew how much of a charmer he was until he, somehow, was able to bat his eyelashes enough to get a woman to donate her blanket to him. I mean come on that is some serious talent. I used to think that he had my girlfriends wrapped up because they just loved him but these women definitely could not get enough of him and had a hard time focusing on why we were all there.

After graduation we got down from the bleachers and attempted to walk around and get the blood flowing. There were old fighter planes lined up so I wanted to take Clayton around to look at them but he was only interested in one and that is where he stayed.

Then it was time to head out and go visit some more of the city. We decided to go explore The River Walk and The Alamo. There is no way that I can possibly describe either except BREATH TAKING!

After all of that we decided that the evening would be spent by the pool vegging out!

I know this post was long but I have so much to share. Part III will come soon so please keep an eye out!

Mini Vacation

At 3 a.m. Thursday morning the Randolph family headed to San Antonio, Texas. The weather was gorgeous and well we had an exceptional time. Our trip had been scheduled for a while now. We were going to watch my little "brother" graduate from the Lackland Air Force Base! What an honor?! I will have many pictures and a couple videos for you later. As of right now I am going to soak up some sun and finish unpacking! YAY.....

These pictures are from the coin ceremony on Thursday morning. Which meant that they completed the graduation requirements and declaring them Airmen!