12? Really?

Time seems to creep as a child but I'm positive that it speeds up, immediately, when you have your own child.  On one hand, I can't believe it's been 12 years since I've started being a mom and Ian was born.... on the other hand, I can't seem to remember not being a mom.

I didn't always want kids.  It took 7 years of marriage for me to decide Rob and I should give it a go and begin to enlarge our family.  I didn't think it would be that easy... I was surrounded by several people that I knew and loved and they had been struggling with infertility for years.  I just assumed that I would also... or that it would at least take few months.  That was not the way it happened.  The very first month ... I even thought we might like to try this thing out... I was pregnant.  Things went perfectly.  The second ultrasound brought questions and worries of trouble with his heart and the doctor said that this was sometimes a sign of a baby with down syndrome.  That was the first time Rob and I had a discussion about Down Syndrome.  Weird.  9 years later we would have Si.  It seems fitting that Ian and Si would share the same birthday month.

Ian spent his 9th birthday stressed because Silas was still in the hospital.  It was hard to celebrate Ian while Si was in the NICU.  But Ian did it.  It was like a gift when Si came home only a day or 2 later. It's also fitting that Si should resemble Ian so much.  When I look back at baby pictures of Ian, he looks so much like Silas.  I remember being a little worried that Si would always just look like the one in our family with Down Syndrome....and I remember reading on the internet that "don't worry, babies do resemble their family".  Well, Si looks like Ian and better than that..... he, thankfully, has Ian's temperament!  Ian was always a sweet, laid back, friendly little guy.  He smiled and waved as we strolled past people.  He has always found it easy to talk to just about anyone.

  


This guy changed our life.  Really...what did we even do before we had kids?  I don't know... well, sleep...I did sleep a lot more.  Anyway, I love this guy with my whole heart.  My love for him grew every year and with every baby.  I remember Ian comforting me when I miscarried the first time.  He rubbed my back and all I could do was cry.  His heart is full of compassion.  He is so much like his dad and I'm so thankful for that.    He seems to know how I am feeling when he walks into the room with me... that has saved his siblings lives' on more than one occasion.  :)  Hopefully he'll keep taking care of this sister and brothers....they are crazy.

As he starts to become a man, I pray that he never looses that compassionate heart and his discernment with others.  Happy Birthday, Eeyore.  (he has never enjoyed that nickname....not one time)