9 Years

Okay, we honestly didn't plan our kids birthdays to be almost exactly 2 years apart, but hey, they are. Though it does make it easy at party time, especially because they have always wanted to have a joint birthday.

Today is E's 9th birthday. My first born. My son. When I was in labor with him, I thought it was just a stomach ache. Early labor started in the morning. I was throwing up and couldn't keep food down. At 3:30 that Saturday afternoon I heard a POP and felt a trickle. Sure enough my water had broken. We were at the hospital by 4:15 and then there was a great gush! By 7:34 pm, my baby boy had arrived!!

So, in honor of his 9th birthday, here are 9 fun facts about him:

• He has always been a sweet boy. I used to sleep with him on my chest every afternoon for our afternoon nap. He still lets me cuddle with him.
• He is very independent. Always has been. I would put him down and he would be content playing--as opposed to K, who always had to have someone near.
• By 18 months he was addicted to Hot Wheels. When he was 2 yrs old he could even identify if a car was a Hot Wheel. There were many times we would give him a random car and he would look for the Hot Wheel logo, and if it was not there, he would let us know it was not a Hot Wheel and he would not play with it!
• He started walking on October 31, 2001. B and I were watching the World Series (Yankees and Diamondbacks). E was tempted by a red plastic cup I was drinking water from. B had E by him and he started taking steps to get the water.
• When E had been crawling a few months, B and I would put E in the middle of the room. We would go to separate sides of the room and call E to see who he would come to. He came to me most of the time!
• Since I was in the hospital with brand new baby K, E didn't get to have his 2nd birthday party on time. We celebrated his birthday with friends in February.
• After E's Hot Wheel addiction, he switched over to a love of Bionicles, and now to Legos. I am constantly stepping on or vacuuming up legos.
• E has only lost 4 teeth. Both my kids were late teethers. He is anxiously awaiting to lose more!
• He is very competitive---could he get that from me ;) He loves to play games so we play games at least 2 to 3 times per week.

Happy 9th Birthday E! Loved you yesterday, love you still, always have and always will!