Andrew Phillip

My boy is 6 years old today.  I know every parent says it, but I can't believe it's been 6 years!! 

He came after two miscarriages, and an incredibly rough pregnancy.  By the time I was 6 months along, I had gone into labor and been put on bedrest and crazy medication.  I stayed in bed for 2 months, continually contracting, until my doctor finally allowed me to deliver on May 26. 

After 2 months of bedrest and cramping and medicine that made my heart race and everything that I experienced in that pregnancy, I was so happy to finally have it over with and be able to hold my baby.

And then he caught Group B Strep during delivery.  By the time the nurses realized he was struggling to breathe, and got him to the nursery, he was purple and having a heart attack.

It was the scariest day of my life. 

He spent 10 days at the hospital, on antibiotics.  On June 4, I finally brought my baby boy home.

Now, he's 6 years old.  He's my crazy boy.  The only one of my children to visit the emergency room as a result of a stunt.

The only one to kiss a skateboard with his face and get right back on.

The one who stood on the top of his crib as a toddler, to wrap the chains of the ceiling fan around the blades.  Who would wake up at 3:00 am when he was 4 years old, because he was smart enought to know everyone in the house was asleep and he could climb up on daddy's desk and get his beloved remote control helicoptor.  The one who struggles with a speech delay and just this week started to cal Amerie by her name, instead of "Mamway."  The one who's "painfully shy." 

He's also the only of my kids who thinks of the most carefully thought out question about the world, who wants to know the "how" and "why" behind everything that is and does.  The one who can't sit still or fall alseep or be serious for 30 seconds.  :) 

He's my boy.

I joke all the time that God gave me 3 girls and only 1 boy for a reason.  He wears me out every single day. He fights with his sisters and refuses to obey, simply because he's stubborn.  ;-)  He's hyper and he's always hungry and he hates green beans like no other.  

But that little boy loves his mommy, and his mommy loves him.  I know that at least once a day, he still needs to climb in my lap for a few minutes and just "Be."  I treasure those moments every day, because I know that all too soon he will be too big for my lap.  And when the moment is quiet, and him and I are alone, we have the best conversations.  I love his heart and his mind.  I know God has big plans for him.  

I took this picture last night.  I told him to smile.  I was lucky he let me take his picture.  :)

I had to promise this one to get the other one.  :)  He's teaching himself to move his eyes and his eyebrows independantly.  I have yet to get it on film.  ;-)




I love my bubba.  I love him so much. 

Today is Phil's day, so I won't get to spend it with the birthday boy.  But tomorrow, he wants to "buy stuff." That's all he has said to me.  "Mom...can we buy stuff??"  I don't know where he got the idea that "buying stuff" is what you do on your birthday, but I promised to take him to the train and hobby store.  :) 

I'm hoping he can stay reasonable.  ;-)