Goodness me, Gus turns three!

I'm a little embarrassed by this, which is why I've never mentioned it on this blog, but Robby's nickname is Gus. I'm embarrassed for a couple reasons. First, I'm embarrassed because Gus isn't exactly a great name. It's kind of ugly. And secondly, I'm embarrassed because of how he got that nickname. When he was a newborn, he wasn't exactly a pleasant, happy baby. He was quite fussy and so he started out as "Grumpy Gus," and now Gus has just kind of stuck with him. Gus, Gussie, Gussers, Gus Gus...Yep. That's what we call this cute little man.

So there you have it. Gus is out.

AND it just so happens that he turned three last week! Yep. Gus had a birthday and we celebrated Buzz Wackyear style (that's how Robby says Buzz Lightyear).

His favorite present was this Buzz scooter. Neither of the boys have a scooter (I guess we like to invest in bikes around these parts more than scooters), so they borrow the neighbors' scooters all the time. Every chance Robby gets he rides his friends' scooters and he loves it!
So now he has one of his own and he is so cute scootn' around the driveway and garage on that thing.

This is my favorite age (I felt the same when Tyler was three). I love listening to what he has to say, as well as how he says it. Our lunchtime conversations with just the two of us are always a delight. I feel so blessed to have some good one on one time with him every day.
Robby is such a happy, sweet, tender boy. He has a few friends that he just loves and genuinely cares for. He gets super excited over little things and when he does his voice squeaks and goes like three octaves higher. He loves his big "bwuver, Ty-wer" and wants to play with him all the time. He melts my heart when I kiss him goodnight and tell him I love him and he replies, "I wuv you too mommy" every night. He loves to sing and remembers the words to songs very quickly. He likes cuddling and he loves to run fast.

We sure do love our little Gussers and we're glad he had a happy birthday!

Halloween

Here's the Halloween run-down:

Robby went to a Halloween party with some of his best pals. They were so adorable! The kids had the best time playing some really great Halloween games and activities. I loved watching him play and interact with his cute friends. He seriously had the best time!

Robby and I did a little pumpkin carving.

Tyler on the other hand, decided that this year he wanted to make this paper plate skeleton instead of carving a pumpkin. I think it turned out pretty cute.

For dinner, we made mummy hot dogs.

And then it was time to hit the streets.

We took a little break to ride on the hay ride through the neighborhood.

Of course, the boys had to check out how they did afterward.

A few days after Halloween, we took some of our candy (the junky stuff) and did some science experiments. We separated it out into a cupcake tin and tried to guess which ones would melt the fastest and which ones, if any wouldn't melt at all. I think Tyler had fun and I sure enjoyed getting rid of some of that candy! (and if you look closely in the foreground of the picture you can see the top of a vial of insulin. Yep. That's about how it goes in this house)

We rocked the walk!

I'm slow to update this blog, but I wanted to post a few pics from our JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes, even though it was a few weeks ago.

But first, thanks to everyone for your support. We surpassed our fundraising goal and are so very grateful for family and friends who donated to our cause. Our Chick-fil-A event was also a huge success. It was so great to see so many people come out to show their love and support for little Robby. I was truly touched.

The actual walk was great. Tyler was given my Garmin watch and foot pod and was in charge of tracking our pace and distance. I think it kept him engaged and entertained. Robby rode most of the way in the wagon and seemed to be content to take it all in.

3/4 of the way through the walk, the boys found this tree with all it's horizontal limbs and just couldn't resist, so we climbed trees for about 15 minutes, which was fine by us. At about that same time we met up with our friends, the Porters, who also have a son with Type 1 Diabetes.

It was nice to spend some time walking with them. Quinten was very cute to Robby. I could tell that he understood and appreciated the bond that they share and I'm sure he feels proud to be a positive role model for Robby. I love how cute he is trying to crouch down in the picture to be right next to Robby. Sweet. Toward the end of the walk, I saw two little babies (each one no older than 10-12 months old), one had a back pack strapped to his tiny little back which held his insulin pump and the other had a pocket sewn directly onto the back of her little onesie to hold hers. My heart sank. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to manage this disease in an infant that young. I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes as I considered the constant worry those mothers face all day, every day. It really hit home and reminded me why we were all out there walking that morning.

Again, thanks for your support. It was an awesome experience.