Happy 3rd Birthday baby...my first baby...my big boy. You came into this world pink and screaming at 9:26 am on November 11th, 2005. Weighing in at 7#11oz and 20 1/2 inches long. You changed our lives forever in an indescribable way. I feel like I hardly blinked and 3 very busy years have gone by. You were born in the morning on a cold, wet, snowy, November day. Your birthday is some how full of elevens...7-11 was your weight, born on 11-11-05, our address is 1105...daddy thought about going out and buying a Power Ball with those numbers. You have changed every day of your life. Lately it seems like you say more new words than when you first started talking. You come up with some of the funniest things. Like when I said we were going to stretch our legs after our long car ride and I come in from unpacking the car to find you totally naked doing gymnastic like stretches in the hallway! All this bending and twisting...I asked what on earth you were doing...you said "stretching my legs"! I am guessing you were naked because I had gotten your brother undressed and just stretching his legs out in a diaper. Your favorite word is obviously "why?". I have told everyone around us to give you a reason for the "why" question. It's very entertaining to listen to them try to come up with an answer. Like, "why are you going home now?"...well because my bed is there...why?...because that's where my house is...etc...usually by the time you stump us to come up with an answer, you're pretty satisfied with the previous 20 answers we have given you. Once in awhile we say the inevitable "because I said so". Auntie Tammy gave you a "because that's all you need to know right now" answer one day!
On our way out to the shack one day, I stopped to gas up the car and picked up some licorice for us to share in the car. I passed a piece back to you and said
"here you go honey". You kept asking me "why ooh (you) hunny?"
I said, "Why am I hungry...because my tummy needs food"
"why ooh hunny?"
"I'm not hungry anymore honey, because I am eating licorice"
"why ooh hunny?"
"why am I hungry?"
"no hunny"
"oh, honey?!"
"yeah (geez lady!)
"why are you my honey?"
"yeah"
"well because you are my baby and I love you, so I call you honey"
why?
"because you grew in my belly, so you're my baby"
why?
"because daddy and I made you"
why?
"because we love each other"
why?
"because that's what mommy and daddy's do, we love our babies"

Even if you don't look or act like a baby anymore, you'll always be our first baby. You are growing, even if you rarely eat a meal. You hit 20 pounds at 10 months and are 26 pounds at 3 years old. You are a little over 3 feet tall. You have morphed from a round faced baby into a little boy. You can count to about 27, know all your shapes and colors. You can sing along to many kids songs-like, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Rock a Bye Baby, Pat-a-Cake, Itsy Bitsy Spider and more. You can sing along to a few grown up ones-like, Taylor Swift's Pictures to Burn, Rascal Flatts' Life is a Highway and Keith Urban's Day's Go By.

It doesn't seem possible that 3 years ago we were watching Ben Gordon score his first two goals as a Golden Gopher. Daddy had you all swaddled up and were snuggling you in the chair talking to you about hockey. We had settled in for a long night. I sent daddy home to get some sleep and just you and I stayed at the hospital. You had slept for the first 12 hours of your life, which happened to be during the day, so that left us up most of the night. We struggled to figure nursing out together. I held you most of the night and just stared at you. I was completely head over heels in love with you. Daddy thought it was weird when I kept saying that I was in love with you and that I didn't just love you because you were my baby. He soon got it. I am still falling in love with you, 3 years later. Moments that make me realize just how sweet you are. I love how you bounce your baby pretending to get it to sleep. How you play and interact with your baby brother. How you touch my hands when we read books together. How you ask "ooh otay mom?" (are you okay mom) if you see me crying. How you get excitement in your voice when you tell me about something that you did. How you ask me to hold you in the chair, every single night, at bedtime. How you want just one more hug before you go to bed. How you give butterfly kisses to me. How you crawl into our bed, on my side, when you wake up early, just to snuggle. I know you grow older with every passing day, but you will always be, my first baby and my honey.

On a side note...by clicking on Ben's link, check out the date of the article being published. 02-13-08 (Emmitt's Birthday!) I told you we have this freaky thing with numbers!

last year's post in case you want to be nostalgic...

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