Dear Bently,

I need to write these more often. I hate when I have too many things I want to say in one letter. Sometimes I just want to focus on one thing! Well let's start with Halloween.

You are such a sweet kid. We were originally going to go as people from Monster's Inc because that's what you wanted to do. Well, one day at the store Olivia saw an Anna costume. You immediately said if Olivia was going to be Anna you were going to Olaf. No convincing what so ever. You just wanted to match her! And let me tell you, you look mighty adorable in that Olaf costume! I loved every minute you were in it!

We did lots of fun things for Halloween this year! We went to the library for there little activity. We also went to our church Halloween party. It was quite the adventure. It was our first big function as a family of five and you could tell we were newbies! You and Olivia basically ran crazy as your Dad and I tried to figure out how to juggle holding Lincoln and dishing up 4 different plates of food. We failed pretty bad at it. We finally got food when Olivia fell down and split her lip open! So I ran off to the bathroom to help her take care of the blood. Then when I got back Lincoln was ready to eat. So Olivia and I went to the mother's room to feed him. (Olivia didn't want me to leave her.) I remember thinking, at least Greg and Bently will get to eat. At this point I had eaten a roll. While in the mother's room Olivia had diarrhea. As soon as I finished changing her diaper you and Dad walked in. Where he informed me you had not been eating like I thought. You both had been in the bathroom because you had diarrhea too! Oh boy! By the time Lincoln was done eating, so was our food gone. Oh well.

The rest of the party went much smoother. We played some games and did the trunk or treat and got our picture done in the picture booth! After the party we hit up McDonalds. Because we were all starving. Haha! So much for not having to worry about dinner that night! ;)

We also went to the Christian Academy's Halloween party. We went in with pretty low expectations. It was super crowded and it was free and we were late. We figured we missed all the good stuff. Luckily that was not the case. The first thing we hit up were the bounce houses. I tried on the way to explain what a bounce house was, but you didn't really get it. Well I don't think you'll be forgetting about bounce houses any time soon. You and Olivia LOVED it. We let you bounce for most of the time because you loved it so much! Then we went trunk or treating. For reals this time. The church one was actually inside, this one was the real deal. We went at the very end so everyone was trying to get rid of their candy. We got A LOT of candy! You asked me to hold your candy bucket as we walked back to the car because it was too heavy!

Finally the actual day arrived. You were so excited leading up to it and kept asking if it was Halloween yet! The day of we didn't do anything too exciting. It's hard to do activities during the day time! We did have a couple trick or treaters come to our door! You and Olivia loved handing out hte candy. Since I knew we wouldn't have too many and we were leaving I let you hand out multiple pieces to everyone who came to our house. It was so cute watching you be so big and putting the candy in the bags! We had our annual Halloween dinner and were running super late. But we finally got in the car to go trick or treating. You were so anxious to go. You had been asking all day if we were going yet! On the way we stopped by Dad's friends house to trick or treat. This did not please you! You just wanted to get on the road. After that we finally went trick or treating. Boy did you LOVE it. I smiled the whole time watching how happy you were! You never got shy or scared. You just walked up to all those doors and boldly exclaimed, trick or treat! Than ran off to the next house. You had a hard time waiting for you slow sister! ;) One funny moment from the night: We were trick or treating at a house and it was a little boy handing out the candy. He was probably about nine. Well he put the treat in your bag and Olivia's and you were able to see what was in the candy bowl. You exclaimed, "I like liquorice." The little boy just stared at you and you stared right back. Unmoving. The little boy slowly put the Liquorice piece in your bag. You Dad and I laughed long and hard about that one.

So that was our Halloween! We had a blast to say the least! I know you loved it and I can't wait till next year! :)

Tonight I was frantically cleaning trying to get something done in the precious moments while Lincoln was actually sleeping! In my haste I found a folded up coloring page. I remembered you had told me the day before it was for me and I couldn't look at it because you wanted to put it in the mail box for me. I had been feeding Lincoln at the time and couldn't get you an envelope. Well we had both forgotten about it. I picked up and considered throwing it away without looking at it. You have been very into coloring and I have too many to keep. But I decided to open it and boy am I glad I did. There was a colored Minion and written on the side in your cute 4 year old handwriting were 3 letters. Mom. You had written Mom before but this was the very first time you had written it without asking for help. I can't even describe how much those three little letters meant to me. I bawled like a baby just staring down at it! I couldn't get over how much I loved you! I hope you know how happy you make me as a mom! I hope you know that the little things are most often the big things in life! :)

I love you so much my Bently man!

Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

The other day while I was working Daddy brought you in to see me! I looked up and saw you through the window just laughing and laughing and looking at me! I was so happy! I loved our little visit. The best feeling in the world is when I crouch down and open my arms, and you come running into them. I love it! You have started giving us hugs and kisses now! I can't even tell you how much it means to me. I feel like my little mommy heart is about to burst every time! I love being your Mom!
Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

Today is my second mother's day as an actual mother. I love being a Mom. I never want you to doubt that I love! I hope you will always see the reverance and the humility I have for Motherhood and all it encompasses. I hope one day when you have a wife you will treat her with dignity and with respect. I love being your Mom Bently! :) Thanks for making motherhood so incredibly enjoyable! I love you and I love you being your Mommy! Best. Job. Ever.
Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

Child oh how I love! I love days when I get to spend time with you! I love your Dad and all but I also LOVE days where it's just the two of us hanging out! I get to play with you and love on you! :) Today was like that! We went to the park with Aunt Shawna and Christina and Stacey. You were adorable! I was pushing you in the swing and the whole time you are gripping the front and staring at the ground. You looked not miserable, but not happy. I thought you were probably done and felt bad for swinging you for 10 minutes! To my utter and complete shock when I pulled you out of the swing you threw a fit! Screaming and kicking. So you went back in the swing. You stopped throwing a fit and resumed your hunched over position. I guess you enjoy it though you don't look like it on the outside! :)
When I finally got you out of the swing you had a blast crawling around on the sand! :) I loved watching you run your fingers threw it! I began chasing you! You recently started to scream when we chase you! It's hilarious! It makes my day hearing your little baby scream! :) You also do this thing when we get close to catching you where you plop your head down on the floor. Like an ostrich hiding in the sand. It's usually not a problem but today, like the ostrich, you really were in the sand. You have been drooling a ton because of your teeth so you can imagine your face when you pulled up from the sand! :) It was pretty gross but you were just smiling the whole time! You also got sand all up your nose! That was really gross! Aunt Stacey and I ran you to the bathroom to wash you off. Aunt Stacey was holding you when you let out a terrific sneeze. Snot and sand landed all over Aunt Stacey! Thank you Bently for not doing that on me! :)
You do so many fun things! I feel like I don't write enough of them down! I am stinky about writing in my journal so this is my journal for you! I will list as many as I can think of off the top of my head!
-You are too chicken to walk but you would rather us hold your hands and walk you around then crawl.
-When you are done with your sippy cup, or food, you throw it on the ground. You sometimes also throw it on the ground because you like to watch it fall. Dad always says we could feed a whole other kid just by the food you leave on the ground! :)
-You love watching cars! I am trying very hard to get you to say cars!
-Just these past couple days you have started to say the word Mom consistently! I LOVE IT! It's the most beautiful sound I've ever heard in my life! :) I can't even describe how good it makes me feel! :)
-You love bananas, hot dogs, candy (of course), and french fries!
-Don't get me wrong we give you drinks all the time! But every time, not matter how long since the last one, you drink like you are dehydrated and dying of thirst. You will chug and chug. You drink more than you eat! Thus, we have switched to whole milk because your Momma is worried about you getting too skinny! Daddy says you got that from him! :)
-You are constantly trying to get into the bathroom. Like constantly. If you hear the door open you hurry your baby butt as fast as possible over there. You always seem so proud of yourself when you make it in!
-You love books. You will just sit and look through all your books for hours on end. You love to flip the pages. I'll read them to you but you get impatient. Flipping the pages is apparently really fun! You are gentle though. Knock on wood, but so far you haven't ripped a single book.
-Lately when we say cheese you will scrunch up your little face into the most heart breaking smile imaginable! Sometimes you'll even close your eyes! It's hilarious! I try and make you do it as much as possible because I just love it so much! :)
-Dad has been trying for months to teach you to say "Oh Bugger" and then hit your head with your hand. I thought he was going to fail but the other day he said it, and you didn't say anything, but you hit your little head with your hand. I'm pretty sure your Dad was on cloud nine! And I got a nice little laugh out of it too! :) It's pretty much hilarious!

I know there is more but that is all I can think of right now! Every day you get bigger and bigger. I think you officially look like a toddler now. (Even though there is no toddling going on! ;) I love you my little man! You light up my world and keep me smiling!
Love,
Mommy