Moses: 3 1/2 Years Old

Dear Moses,

You are the cutest little love bug! Oh my goodness, I squeeze you all day long. You refuse to wear clothes around the house even though it's winter and cold in the house all the time (I try to keep the heat as low as I can stand because I'm cheap!). If you are forced to wear clothes somewhere like preschool or the grocery store, you strip down as soon as you walk in the door. I'm not joking, when your feet hit the floor, you're already pulling your shirt over your head. It's kind of annoying because I am constantly re-dressing you all day long, but you won't have it any other way and I've given up trying. The advantage to this habit of yours, however, is that I get to stroke your velvety baby skin all day long. You're thinning out a lot but are still soft as every. I love it! 

You love to be tickled and beg for it all day long. This morning, you woke your dad up long before he was ready to wake up, begging him to tickle you. You probably get tickled at least 50 times a day. I think it's your way to connect and get those endorphins flowing through your body. You light up whenever we do it or when we chase you. You love to be silly. You love to hide in obvious places and I'll pretend I don't see you. Your giggle makes me so happy. You love playing hide-and-seek with the whole family in the basement. You're never very hard to find, however, because you can't stop yourself from giggling. It always gives your location away.

You are such a homebody! Whenever we're out and about, even if we're somewhere fun, you beg to go home. You love nothing more than laying around in your underwear, snuggled up in your soft gray blanket with doggy. You ask to go home when we're at grandma's house, the children's museum, at the beach, the park, pretty much anywhere. You've done a good job with preschool and rarely complain about going, but you always squeal with happiness the second you walk in the door. There is nowhere you'd rather be.

You're in a pretty hard phase right now. You whine a lot and don't take no for an answer. I try to hold firm and not give in, because I know that makes it worse, but it's hard listening to your whining all day. You don't entertain yourself very well and follow me around the house a lot asking for me to entertain you. I do the best I can but I always have a lot to get done and can't always do what you want to do when you want to do it. 

You love music. You have a really good memory when it comes to music and you remember where you were when a certain song was played. A song came on the radio the other day and you exclaimed in excitement that it was the song at the end of the magic show at Lagoon. As soon as you said it, I realized you were right! I couldn't believe that you remembered that. You're always very aware of your surroundings and have a good sense of direction. You're a smart one! I can't wait to see you learn and grow even more!

Love forever,
Mama

3 1/2 Year Stats:
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Isaac: 6 Years Old

Dear Isaac, 

You turned six today and got to spend your birthday in California with your cousins. As the trip was approaching, I was worried that you would be upset that you weren't home on your birthday, but it turned out great. The day was heaven on earth for you. We had the best day celebrating you! It started with opening presents and then daddy and I got to take you our on a breakfast date. It would have been a little fancier, but with Covid making everything weird, we had to go to a drive thru. You wanted to go to the McDonald's for pancakes and hot chocolate. We ate it sitting on the curb in the parking lot since dining-in was still forbidden in CA. Real classy but at least it's a fun memory, right?! When we got back, you swam for hours in the Plowman's pool, ate donuts and pizza. In the afternoon we went to the beach. You built sandcastles and played in the waves for hours. We even saw a group of 5 dolphins swimming near the shore! It was magical! When we got home, we ate the "lava" birthday cake that you had requested.  It was such a fun day that I will always remember.

I love you so much and am sad that you'll be starting full-time school in the fall. I won't get to hang out with you as much! You're such a happy, easy-going kid and have the best heart. You're a loyal friend, you love to laugh, and are such a silly goofball. Oh and we can't forget that fact that you have the world's cutest freckles. Happy sixth birthday to my amazing little boy!

Love you forever and ever,

Mama

6 Year Stats:

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Eli: 10 Years Old

Dear Eli, 

You turned double digits today! I can't believe I have a 10 year old who's going in to 5th grade in the fall. That seems so old to me! You had a pretty perfect day building legos, shooting nerf guns, going out to a birthday lunch with grandma, watching cartoons, playing with your cousins, and eating lots of pizza and cake. 

You are such a great kid. You're curious and love learning as much as you can about how things work. You love maps and will spend hours exploring the world on Google Maps. You have the strongest FOMO I've ever seen. You panic if you think people are doing fun things without him. You take the world's longest showers--I'm talking upwards of an hour if I don't force you out. You are slooooooowwww at pretty much everything you do. When walking in a group, you're always the one in the back, not because you can't be fast but because you're in his own little world. You like to observe everything and take your sweet time as you daydream. You're always the last one in the family to get dressed, get in the car, brush your teeth, finish your food, etc. I used to get frustrated with you but I've just learned to accept it and let Eli do Eli. That's just who you are! You love to snuggle more than anyone I've ever met. Your favorite part of the day is bedtime when I snuggle with you, tickle your back, and talk to you about your day. 

Saying that you are sensitive is a massive understatement. Your emotions are all over the place and this has caused us to butt heads lately. We're going through a bit of a rough patch but I know deep down you love me..... I think. 🤞 I am so proud of the kid you are and know that you're going to do amazing things! Happy birthday, Eli!

Love,

Mama

10 Year Stats:

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Moses: 3 Years Old

Dear Moses,

You turned three years old today! I held it together most of the day but sobbed with my head against the fridge after dinner as I was putting the milk away. I was overcome with sadness that you're never going to be two again. Two year olds are my favorite! Babies growing up is definitely the worst part of life, in my opinion. I'd keep you tiny forever if I could. I can't let myself dwell on it too long or I cry.

You are such an incredible little boy. You're a ray of sunshine in my life. You're happy, silly, and easy going. Lately, you've started asking "Why?" to pretty much anything anyone says. It's so funny because you'll keep asking it until you're finally satisfied with the answer and sometimes it takes a dozen why's before you'll finally get there. You're also really into asking, "Buy it?" to assorted items around the house. You're interested in the back story of where we bought things, how long ago, and why we bought them. It's so weird. 😂

You're becoming really silly and love to make people laugh. You've started calling me "Daddy" this week just to get a laugh. In fact, you won't refer to me as mommy at all and have been exclusively calling me daddy the past few days. Today it morphed into "Poopy Daddy Buttcheek" so let's hope that one doesn't last too long! Ha!

You hardly eat a thing these days and are a skinny little guy. Your favorite foods are avocados, bananas, mangos, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. You've never met a fruit you don't like. You love veggie straws, dry cereal (you'll never eat it with milk), plain pasta, and oatmeal. You aren't big into sweets. I mean you'll eat them but you don't love them. Sometimes I'll give you a cookie and I'll find it half-eaten somewhere in the house. You absolutely loathe getting messy and will avoid foods if they're going to get on your face and hands.

You love watching shows and always ask by saying, "Show? Two minutes?" because you know that if you pretend you're only going to watch for two minutes, I'm more likely to say yes. Your favorite shows are Blippi, "Funny Mickey," which is the old original Mickey Mouse shorts, "choo-choos" on YouTube and videos of other kids opening toys. It's like watching these kids get presents gives you such a rush that you don't even need presents of your own!

He is our worst sleeper and still frequently gets us up in the night for ridiculous reasons like needing a toenail clipped and needing medicine for an injury that didn't exist at bedtime. You are the king of stalling. We have to lock you in your room during the night because if we don't, you'll come out of your room repeatedly in the night. We went through a stage a few months ago where you would get out of bed, come downstairs, and crawl into our bed 5 or 6 times a night. We got so exhausted and fed up with it that your dad took the door handle from the bathroom and put it on your room so that you can't get out. You hated it the first few nights and would pound on the door, but now you're used to it and you don't wake us up in the night anymore. One point for the parents!!!

You are completely obsessed with your doggy, the black and white dog from Build-A-Bear. You've been carrying him everywhere for months now. If we don't know where he is, you are miserable. I found a backup on Ebay and ordered him for you in case we permanently lost the original. I thought it was a great idea, but when I pulled him out after we couldn't find doggy one day, you had a huge tantrum when you saw him. You screamed "No, no, no, no nooooooo!" and hit him out of my hands. I guess there is no replacement for your true love (which we found that same day, thankfully). You also love trains, fire engines, and garbage trucks. Your favorite day of the week is garbage day and love running outside as soon as you hear it pull up to our curb.

No matter what I do, I cannot get you to wear clothes when you're at home. Even if it's cold outside and cold in the house, you'll walk around in only a diaper. Getting you into clothes when we go out is a challenge. You have a tan line on your lower back from being outside in the sun in just your diaper. I apologize to the neighbors all the time for your lack of clothing but it's not worth the fight with you. Even if I manage to get them on you, you take them off within just a few minutes, so I've given up.

You love your daddy and spend every minute with him in the evenings and on weekends. One of my favorite things about this is that you won't let me change your poopy diapers if daddy is around. This means I'm completely off diaper duty on the weekends! Every night when I snuggle you in bed, I ask you what your "rose" of the day was, and without fail, you always say "Daddy." I'm not going to lie, sometimes this bugs me a little bit. I'll be the one who takes care of you all day, daddy will come home and see you for an hour before bed but somehow he's still your favorite part of the day. Not fair!

I feel like I've gotten robbed of special alone time with you since your brothers have been home from school the past few months because of this crazy coronavirus pandemic. We used to have a few hours a day together while they were all at school but haven't had any since March 13th, when school closed down for the remainder of the school year. I miss hanging out with just you!

Moses Leo Alba, I am crazy about you! You're my little buddy who follows me around the house all day and talks nonstop. I love being with you all the time and am going to miss you when you go to preschool this fall (if you go to preschool this fall because of coronavirus). I am so proud of you and the perfect caboose you are to our family! Happy 3rd birthday, baby boy!

Love forever and ever,
Mama

3 Year Stats:
Height: 38 1/4 inches (60th percentile)
Weight: 32.5 lbs (60th percentile)

Oliver: 8 Years Old

Dear Oliver,

Happy birthday, buddy! We had such a nice day celebrating your birthday despite how weird the world is right now. Coronavirus is raging in full force around the planet and the world has basically been shut down for a few months now. It's been almost 2 months since you've gone to school and I've been homeschooling you and your brothers! Isn't that crazy?! I never thought I would be homeschooling all of my kids, but here I am.

Gratefully, you didn't seem to mind too much that your birthday party and baptism are going to be postponed until things normalize a little. Today, I told you that you were the king for the day and you could do whatever you wanted. You spent most of the day playing the Switch and watching TV, your dream come true. Grandma Janie took you to Target (with a mask on, of course) to pick out a birthday present for yourself. You picked legos, of course. Then you went to the Chick-fil-A drive thru.

I'm not going to lie, it's been a huge challenge to have the responsibility of teaching you and your brothers. There has been soooooooo much whining and crying when it comes to school work and it seems like you all need me at the same time. You've probably been the biggest stinker about getting your work done out of everyone. It is such a fight every single day. You're lucky that you're smart and that school comes easily to you. You're one of those kids who gets perfect grades without even having to try. I'm trying to teach you to have a good work ethic though and not just let you coast through school. You were in the language arts SEM, or gifted program at school for the first half of the year. I was so proud that you tested well enough to get in!

You used to be my best eater but over the past 6 months or so, you've gotten super picky. You've started refusing foods that you used to love. You're not just picky about WHAT you eat but HOW it's prepared. You refuse to eat leftovers of any kind, even if they're just a day old and taste great reheated. You won't have it! Butter has to be melted JUST the right amount on your bread. It can't be so warm that the butter completely melts into the bread but you also don't like it too cold and stiff. If there's a tiny corner of the turkey is hanging out of the bread, you won't eat the sandwich. You like cheese on some foods but not on others. Sometimes you like it melted and sometimes you don't. It's ridiculous! All of your picky preferences make it really hard to cook for you!

You are COMPLETELY obsessed with screens. I've never met a kid more crazy about them. You beg for them, you plead for them, you frequently say, "Mommy, I'll do ANYTHING" to earn them. If I don't know where you are, I can usually find you hiding in some corner of the house with a screen that you snuck away. We borrowed a laptop and an iPad from the school at the beginning of the coronavirus quarantine to do your schoolwork on, and they've actually become a big problem. You're on them all the time. Against my better judgment, Santa brought you a Nintendo Switch for Christmas and it has been so awful. I swear, 90% of the fights in this house are over the Switch. It drives me nuts. I frequently take it away for days or weeks at a time because I can't handle it anymore! Your favorite games to play are Luigi's Mansion 3 and Minecraft. Your favorite thing to watch on TV is gamers on YouTube playing video games. Ha ha.

You love screens but thankfully, you also love books. You love to read. You can plop yourself down on the couch and read for an hour at a time without taking a break. You stay up way later than I want you to every night reading in bed. I don't try to control what you read but let you read whatever you want. I figure it's more important for you to enjoy reading than to make you read books that will actually make you smarter. You favorite books are comic novel series like Dogman, Captain Underpants, Bad Guys, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Story Treehouse.

You are super talkative these days and love telling me the plots of shows and books. You'll follow me around the house for 15 or 20 minutes at a time going into lots of detail about whatever you're excited about. I try my best to listen and act excited, but most of the time, I realllllllly don't care about what happened in that episode of Voltron. I know it's important to you though, so I try!!!

You are super witty. Sometimes you say things that make your dad and I look at each other in disbelief and say, "Did he seriously just say that?!" The way you talk makes you sound older than you are. You use big words. You're still in speech therapy at school but I think you're almost done with it. You've made a lot of progress and hardly have problems with any of your sounds anymore. I'm so glad!

Oliver, you're such a fun guy to be around. As long as you're rested and fed, you're a happy guy with a chill personality. Being your mom is so fun! I'm so proud of the boy you are and for the person you're becoming. You always want to do the right thing and always try your hardest to be good. When I have to discipline you, you usually say, "Yeah, you're right. I should be better." You can admit when you're wrong. You love church and I know you have felt the spirit. You listen well when we do Come Follow Me and always give thoughtful answers to questions we ask. You're going to be a great missionary someday.

I'm so excited to see what you do with your life. I have no doubt that you're going to be successful and happy! I love you so much. Being your mom is a privilege that I don't feel worthy of!

Love forever and always,
Mama

8 Year Stats
Height: 52.3 inches (80th percentile)
Weight: 61.8 lbs (70th percentile)
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