11

Today my oldest baby is eleven.

Now he needs to take off a shoe and sock to show how old he is....10 fingers is no longer enough.

We are in full swing birthday mode this week, celebrating two very special guys in our family.

Because each of them, their birth stories, their lives are unique I try to make sure they each get their "day."

Not gonna lie~ by the end of this week I'm wiped out.  ;)  

No big deal....partyin' birthday-style is fun, and it's not their fault that their birthdays fall back-to-back like they do.  I've told them enough that I tried really hard to go past Hunter's February 2 due date, happily willing to get as far into February as possible in effort to give us a different month to celebrate a birthday in.  But Hunter had other plans, and thankfully, Harrison is happy to share the week. :)

I think about that January day in 2001, and how thanks to all the drugs and a scary NICU experience....a lot of the details of his birth are a blur. However, there are certain things I will never forget:

He was beautiful.

He hardly (if at all) cried.

He gave me a love I didn't know I had the capacity to carry.

He made me a mom....my lifelong dream. :)

Together, he and I began a journey....the journey of a mother and her son.

It's a special relationship....it was unchartered territory for me.  Both the mom part, and the boy part. But there was something I learned really quickly....there is magic between a mom and her son.  

An understanding. A love that he showed me, that I instantly knew was unique to us.

The love a boy has for his mama is like no other. 

And I am crazy-in-love as well. :)

And so began our journey....he taking on the role of guinea pig without complaint.

Me, the inexperienced mom, who was determined to get it right, but messed up plenty. 

Bless his heart.;)

Harrison is an old soul.

He understands things I don't expect a kid his age to understand.

His eyes are green, like his dad's. And mine.

He has a contagious smile.

He's a heck of a baseball player, and I'm not sure which one of us is

more excited about this season coming up. :)

He loves to read, and thankfully...he still loves to let me read to him.

Last night we started the Narnia series, after finishing the 

Little House on the Prairie series for the second time.

I wonder if/when he's not going to want me to read to him anymore, 

so I'm going to soak it up in the meantime.

 I couldn't ask for a better kid.

Thankful for how much fun we have together, especially when it's just me and him.

And I love watching him be a big brother....he has a huge heart, and loves Hud and Hunter so much.  

And they think he's the greatest thing ever...makes my heart happy.

 As we continue on towards the preteen and teen years, I worry about how to change my parenting ways.  Is it going to embarrass him if I kiss him in front of his friends?

(Don't really care if it does....that just builds character, right? ;)

As he begins to take on more responsibility, pulls for more freedom, starts spending more and more time with his friends, I hope I'll somehow be able to let him spread his wings.

But I can't promise there won't be a rope tied around his ankle. ;)

Crazy-mad-nuts about this kid...Happy birthday Harrison!