finally 4 ~ better late than never

I can only hope that since he can't read yet and thinks that the best use of a computer is to play his bunny game, maybe my youngest son will forgive me for being more than a week late announcing his birthday.

On October 20, 2005, a tiny Hurricane was born via a scheduled c-section. He was the biggest of my babies and had by far given me the hardest time while I was expecting him. In his defense though, much of what made my pregnancy with D so difficult had little to do with him ... 2005 was a turbulent year for our family all around, but all mommies know that once you hold that tiny baby in your arms, any difficulties seem to fade to a distant memory rather quickly.

This little guy was welcomed by his two older siblings with great eagerness. His sister saw a live doll to play with and his brother was excited because everyone else was excited, so surely his arrival must be a good thing.

With the exception of only having a one kidney, D was a healthy baby ... at least until he was about 24 hours old and the nurses began to notice that his breathing was labored and some other issues that I honestly can't remember. They began to run tests and discovered an elevated c-reactive protein (at least I think that was what it was called) which could indicate the presence of some sort of infection. Before I could really grasp what was happening, the nurses removed my child from my care and whisked him off to the NICU. I'll spare you the gory details of how incredibly upset I was. Suffice it to say that I was inconsolable. While I am sure that he received adequate care in the NICU, I hated every moment he was there. Fortunately, his stay was relatively short lived and by the time he was a week old he was home with us.

If I wasn't too lazy to find them, I could show you his newborn pictures, but instead here are some from when he was about 18 months (when we got our 1st digital camera!).

D was our only child to use a pacifier. I tried with LB, but she wouldn't take one. He got hooked on the vanilla scented ones they used in the NICU, but these were the only ones he would take after we came home. Unfortunately, they were bulb shaped ~ I feel sure that there will be orthodontic work in his future because of these.

This child was born a dare-devil. He pulled up to the ottoman before he could crawl and was climbing on and off of furniture before he was 9 months old. His daddy had to lower the mattress on his crib very early because he would climb out of it. By his first birthday, I had a hard time corralling him anywhere. It was around this time that my mom gave him the nickname The Hurricane, I think because it was so hard to stop him when he put his mind to doing something. I am sure that this will be a very useful trait ... someday!

Did I mention that he isn't afraid of anything? This was D somewhere close to 18 months standing on the top bunk, looking for all the world like he was thinking about jumping ... and by the time he was 2 he had done just that!

Now this little guy is leaving behind the toddler years and is heading full speed into preschool. He told me this week that he wants to learn to read ... wow! I wasn't quite ready for that, but here we go. His favorite things include cars, construction vehicles and trains ... specifically, Thomas the train ... mostly he loves anything he can make go! He also likes Curious George ... which is pretty fitting. So now, without further ado ...

Welcome to 4 years old, my little man ... you finally made it!

D and his best friend S (aka: Poptart) at his party

This is how he spent his birthday ... a hayride, seeing animals, a maze of hay bales, and getting to choose his own pumpkin, all followed by a picnic. I'd say that's a pretty good day, if your 4!