Suttie Joe will be 3 in just a few days...

Part of me can't believe that he will be 3...the other part can't believe that he will ONLY be 3.

He is SUCH a big boy.  He has a mind of his own, and personality and stubbornness to spare.

He talks up a storm, has an imagination to envy, and gives his brother a run for his money!

He's sneaky, snugglie, and sweet.

And for nearly 3 years... he was my baby.

But please don't call him Baby Suttie.  He's Big Boy Suttie Joe.

When Suttie turned 2 he had a verbal explosion.  It's like he had just been observing everything for two years, and then was ready to tell everyone what he thought.  He was starting to want to talk to people on the phone, and Mom really thought that was great.

When we went home for Thanksgiving last year, Mom just couldn't get over how much he was talking.  I remember her sitting on the love seat just watching him.  She was just amazed at home much he had changed since she had seen him last. 

What would she think about my baby now?

He's forgetting her.  He knows who she is in pictures, but he's forgotten what it was like to get to her house and have her be so excited to see him.  He's forgotten how she would hide in thier playhouse until he found her or how she loved to rock him.

I can't help crying when I think about it.  I cry because they were all cheated.  I cry everytime they celebrate a new milestone, and I cry for them, I cry for Mom, and mostly I cry for me. 

I plan to live for another 50 or 60 years.  I plan to live to see my babies pass the age my mom herself lived to see. 

And so I cry.  And if I keep crying, well that's a lot of tears. 

But thankfully, that's also a lot of birthdays and growing, and smiles, and snuggles and stories.  But I'm always going to wish my Mom was here to share it with us, because no one enjoyed those things more than her.