One Year Ago...

right now, I was lying in the hospital after giving birth (via emergency C-Section) to my sweet little Caleb.

What a year it has been. He is such a blessing to me. While it has been a very difficult year with depression (which I am attributing to postpartum), he has been such a wonderful baby.

Of the four kids, he has been the best sleeper. (Still not super fantastic by most standards, but really pretty good compared to the other kids.) He is generally so easy going and happy. (Not right now, of course; right now he is crying because he has a cough/cold and is miserable, is apparently having a bout of constipation, he is tired, and needs some motrin and he needs his mommy to rock him so he can go to sleep. Guess I'd better get right on that.

Here are some pictures:

I LOVE MY BOY!!!!!

Happy Birthday Aaron!!!

How time flies! 8 years ago, right at this very moment, I was in the Labor and Delivery room, being stitched up after what ended up being a very long, painful, traumatizing (for me) delivery of my sweet little baby boy. (I'll spare you the details, but it only took them just over an hour to sew me back together, if that gives you any indication of how things went)

Here we are, leaving the hospital with Aaron.


This is Aaron at 1 week old
(I know it's not the greatest picture. We didn't have a digital camera at the time,
and we just have a few scanned photos for me to chose from.)



Today we celebrated with a party in the park - with friends, games, water balloons, root beer floats, and cake. (in case you can't tell - the cake is a ZOO. (I should have forgone on the colored sprinkle walkway, since it muddies up the overall look, but Aaron loved it, and that's really all that matters! and it really did look a little better in person, but you'll just have to take my word on that one) We then had one of Aaron's favorite meals, Hawaiian Haystacks, for dinner.

This is the group of kids at todays party (minus Bryan and TJ (friend) who somehow missed being in the photo)

It was a good day.

Since Aaron is now 8, I will tell you 8 things I love about Aaron.
1) Aaron is very creative
2) Aaron is a natural leader (not always for the right, but we are working on that)
3) Aaron loves music and has natural talent (spoken like a true mother)
4) Aaron has a fun and adventurous spirit
5) Aaron has the ability to be a wonderful and caring big brother (he may not always choose to use this gift, but he definitely has it)
6) Aaron loves animals, nature, and the world around him
7) Aaron loves to laugh and to make others laugh (not always appropriate during primary or school, but a gift none the less)
8) He is my son.

I love you Aaron and I am proud of you!

And now I leave you with a few other photos of Aaron

12 (or was it 14???) stitches after impaling his armpit while climbing to the top of a flag pole.

What a handsome boy on the first day of school last year



What a goof ball. He and Trina were turning themselves into monsters. I came into the room to find this - and NO, it was not a washable marker, in case you are wondering!

Ya just gotta love this kid! and I do.