On March 4th, we celebrated Imanuel’s 3rd year of life outside of the womb. Wow, how time flies! I still vividly remember blogging about how my pregnancy with him was going – how I couldn’t get that taste of bile out of my mouth, how I had barfed frequently (esp. on airplanes), and how I sat at my desk on my last day of teaching and knew that by the next time I came back, I’d finally have been able to see and hold my baby boy! And just yesterday, he turned 3 years old! It has been a joy and privilege being able to watch my baby grow.
When they are babies, even the littlest things bring so much pride to (first-time) parents – the first roll over, graduating to a bigger diaper size, eating solids, growing teeth, etc. But as they become toddlers, there is so much more reason to be proud -crawling to walking, speaking words to speaking sentences, learning to share, to saying prayers and asking for forgiveness and the list goes on. As their character and personality develops, you realize how much deeper a love can grow.
And as I reflect on these past 3 years, all I can say is that raising Imanuel has truly been sweeter as the days go by. Now, not to say that all days go “sweetly”. But the experience has brought greater and yet greater joy. I don’t wish I could go back in time. I’ve loved him even more throughout each stage of his development. And when I just long to go back to the times of having a baby (who can’t talk and talk and talk) I can always go to Micah. 
We had a low-key birthday celebration. We went to our weekly home school group in the morning, spent the afternoon together as a family, and then we had dinner at Pizza Hut with Grandma Karen. She never forgets the kids’ birthdays and always gets them such nice presents! While Imanuel and Micah don’t have their biological grandparents around, they are so blessed to have such loving grandmas and grandpas from church!
We made cupcakes and brought them to share with all of his friends from the home school group.
We came home and Manu opened presents!
Underwear and socks from Mama! And matching clogs/house slippers for the boys too!
A golf set from Daddy!
He was very happy with his gifts. In fact, when asked whose gift he liked better, Mama’s or Daddy’s, he said, “I like both!” He really loves socks. 
I made this mini-cake using 2 mess-kit bowls. 🙂 It was “funfetti” cake as requested by the b-day boy.
He was so excited to see his cake! He LOVES strawberries too!
He blew out all the candles in one try! Daddy was so proud! Micah just wanted to eat the cake.
Happy Birthday, Imanuel Alexander Ramos! We love you sooo much!!