I don’t post a lot of forward facing pictures of Baby Suddreth, because reasons.

But, I feel like I need to brag about him and show him off for a minute.

This kid amazes me every single day. His intelligence, empathy and compassion are incredible.

His resilience and adaptability are probably the things I most admire about him.

2018 has been a year full of change in a short amount of time.

For starters, he turned two just before the summer started. That brought on a whole new skill set, lots of development and those dreaded terrible two tantrums.

Then, he switched classrooms at school, and his best bud in the class didn’t move with him because he was going to be gone for the summer. He did pretty good with that change, though I think he missed his friend. But, he had several new kids join the class and he became pretty good friends with a couple of them.

We took a couple of vacations during the summer and he is really a pretty good traveler. We took our very first family vacation with just the three of us and we went to Ft. Lauderdale. It was a great trip and we will definitely be going back with The Sequel.

We also went to Colorado to celebrate a family wedding. Baby Suddreth loves the mountains and talks about them still.

In August, he switched classrooms again because the new school year was starting. His entire class moved with him, his best bud returned and the one kid that didn’t move at the beginning of the summer rejoined the class so the whole crew was back together, plus one new friend. That classroom/teacher change was a little more difficult, but after a couple of weeks he really settled in to the routine and is thriving and excelling.

Throughout the whole summer, our house was under a major renovation. We had work crews here nearly every day for roughly four months. Part of the renovation was creating a new room for him. Every chance we got, we’d take him through the construction and show him where his new room was going to be.

At the beginning of October, the renovation was complete and he moved into his new room, complete with a brand new big boy bed. He told us at the furniture store that he didn’t want to sleep in a crib anymore.

Fifteen days after moving in to his new room with his new bed, his baby brother was born. We expected a sleep regression and we are working through that. But add in teething and a cold and you’ve got some unfortunate timing and a more difficult sleep regression than anticipated.

To top it all off, all this change – it’s all happened in the span of four months. And honestly, he has been amazing throughout all of it.

It hasn’t been without its struggles, or its tantrums and meltdowns and whining. But, he has really been incredibly adaptable.

I hope he never loses that ability. I hope he’s always so self assured.

Perhaps the thing I’ve loved the most during this period is watching him love his brother. He loves his baby brother. He calls him “my baby brother.”

The day his brother was born, he came to the hospital after school and he was so. excited to meet him. I cried so many tears watching him meet his brother.

Aside from the sleep troubles, he is adjusting to his new role as a big brother wonderfully. He is more demanding of Daddy’s time and seems far less interested in Mom at all. If I’m being honest, that hurts a bit. I expected to be less involved once the baby arrived, but I didn’t really anticipate that he would be okay with it and that it wouldn’t really phase him.

The first time we went to dinner as a family of four I still wasn’t able to lift anything heavier than the baby. Lifting the carrier wasn’t an option, so I went to help him out of the car. When I opened the door he said “No, Mommy! Daddy help me.” That stung; and I cried. In the parking lot of the restaurant.

I know it was hormones that got me, but even now, nearly three weeks later, that still stings. I keep reminding myself that he’s growing, and becoming (somewhat) more independent. But I miss the snuggles and the hugs. I miss the old bedtime routine. I miss him being a baby.

He’s growing up so fast. I love watching him learn new things and show off his new skills, but it’s all so bittersweet.

But I’m so proud of the person he is becoming. Watching him grow in to his personality is quite a joy. And as bittersweet as it all is, I am looking forward to him growing even more and watching his relationship with his brother grow, too.