Eight Years Young

Our baby turned eight on Friday.  It's hard to believe that over eight years ago, I was fitting into my post pregnancy (Isaac) jeans and psyched about it.  My jaw dropped when I found out I was pregnant with our third.  We'd actually tried to get pregnant with the other two kids - it was intentional.  My pregnancy with Miles, not so much.  Trying to process the fact I would have three kids, three and under, was a hard to concept to grasp.  It didn't take Matt long to tell me that he was scheduling a vasectomy.  We knew we wanted more than two kids, but with a third on the way, it was time to make that decision.  

(He actually had his appointment in November right after Miles was born).

 God knows best - and thinking back, I'm glad it happened the way it did.  All of our kids are almost two years apart which couldn't be better.  They are close in age and love to hate each other =). 

A dear friend pulled me aside at a party the other day and told me she was mad at me.  This friend just had her third child recently (kind of a similar situation - three very young kids, stair steps apart).  She said, "I don't think you properly warned me.  You didn't tell me how hard this would be."  She was/is absolutely correct.  I told her I don't remember much of Miles's first year.  It truly is a bit of blur between sleepless nights and two small toddlers needing my attention every second.  To make matters even more insane, I was also teaching preschool part-time.  Miles was a fairly easy baby but never took a pacifier which made it difficult to soothe him.  We made our laundry room his "temporary" bedroom.  I put a pack-n-play in there along with a covered shade on the door and a small space heater.  Anyone with two small children know how integral schedules and nap times/feedings are.  I wasn't about to let our other two wild ones interrupt his schedule - primarily naps (and my sanity).  The only way to separate them from him was keeping him on one side of the house and them on the other for crowd and noise control =).

  I'm not sure how I managed to make it through that first year.  In fact, I vividly remember visiting OBGYN Dr. Lyons - a female (even though my OBGYN was Dr. Davis - a male) and telling her I thought I was losing my mind.  She put me on Lexapro and told me she wished they pumped this medicine into the local water.  I'd stopped taking "the pill" cold turkey post Miles and post vasectomy.  I'm not surprised my hormones was all over the map.  I only took the anxiety medicine for about two months realizing this was a truly difficult chapter in  my life, and it would pass (lots of prayer, scripture and an amazing husband).  Sleep also helps.

Isaac loved his baby brother but quickly had to adjust to a toddler bed and give up his crib.  He also had to adjust sharing his bedroom with a brother.  Many mornings, I'd find them both in the crib playing.  Sometimes Isaac would be bouncing Miles by jumping on the bed.  He put all kinds of toys in there, and they would play.  Miles loved any kind of action Isaac would throw his way.

FYI: Miles plans to skip college and head straight into the NBA,  if his shots aren't falling- it's the basketballs fault, his favorite player is Kevin Durant, he wants to stack dominoes all the time (and wants us to video them), he shoots Nerf basketball when he's not stacking dominoes, he is quickly out growing most of his clothes and shoes, he has had two of his eight cavities filled (round II tomorrow), school is a hobby (took all weekend to complete the desert habitat to the left - grudgingly), he likes the song "Whoop There It Is", and loves golf!

Because we celebrated Miles birthday last month, he was a bit confused when his birthday arrived. He was asking about presents and all the goodies that come with birthday celebrations.  I explained to him that we had already celebrated his birthday with our family and friends, but we would do something special for him as a family.  I certainly didn't want him to feel like we "slighted" him on his actual birthday.  Of course, I took the traditional birthday donuts and milk to Plano that afternoon so he could celebrate with his class.  However, that morning, I wanted him to wake up to something special.  I had purchased eight balloons and attached eight different gifts to them - everything from Spongebob chapstick to a FatHead Jr. poster of Kevin Durant.  He was tickled by them all!

October is a busy birthday month for our family.  Both of my kids have birthdays along with my grandfather and uncle. My mom had a big celebration that evening for our family and some close family friends celebrating the four special days.

We are above and beyond blessed and surrounded by lots of love.  Happiest of birthdays to my sweet Miles - you make us so very proud.  You completed our family and infect us with your ear to ear smile each day.  Love you buddy!  Happy #8!