Happy 5th (GASP!!!) Birthday to Deal!

I have just a few years until my sons are taller than I am. Granted, they aren’t up against a huge challenge here as I am a whopping 60 inches tall (that’s 5’0 if you aren’t mathy). My baby boy is growing like a weed, and he is quickly creeping up on his big brother. Mac Daddy mixes up their clothes all the time. Then again, Bird’s long lost Adidas soccer shorts were unearthed in my drawer recently since Mac Daddy thought they were mine. Um, I’m small but not that small. But hey, the man folds and puts away laundry; I’m not complaining. Well, my baby boy who is fast approaching my 60-inch stature, is five today.

Five.

I can still see him toddling about cooing tahtahtahtahtyytyyytyy, his chubby cheeks flapping as he ran to me with outstretched pudgy arms. I still have his baby shoes and teeny outfit he wore home from the hospital. Everything from babyhood was so small yet so momentous. Deal was an especially easy baby and he has remained an easy going child. There is something special about this kid that makes everyone want to whisk him away to buy him candy and teddy bears. It could be his sweet voice, his kind demeanor, his adorable thumb sucking, his gentle nature. There is just something simply amazing about this little boy. And I’m not just saying that because he’s my son.

Deal was born under the best of circumstances. Three hours of labor. Three pushes. And somewhere in there I took a nap, jolted awake by the nurse telling me to push. Mac Daddy and I didn’t know the gender of our children before they were born. We didn’t want to ruin life’s greatest surprise, and we’d do it the same way even if we were Jim Bob and Michelle. Mac Daddy and I had settled on a girl’s name (Audrey Beth…Audrey as in Hepburn, my hero, Beth for his sister who died much too young). Well, we saw a mop of black hair (Yes, I saw it too. I watched both of my children being born thanks to a ginormous mirror angled just-so.) and figured we had a girl. Bird was born bald so it only made sense. Then we saw something alarming. A face. A pink squished face that looked like a brain.

Deal was born sunnyside up. And his disposition has been just that from day one.

Happy Birthday, to my baby boy Deal! There aren’t words adequate enough to express how very much I love you.