Happy 5th Birthday Good Lookin'

I can't believe it's here already. Another child of mine is passing that ever-so-growing-up-birthday when they are no longer little anymore.
5 Years Old

Five is a big number in our house.
You are no longer one of the little little kids.
Even if you are not yet in school, 5 is the number of leaving the last of baby and toddler-hood behind.

5 is a Bigger Kids number

Good Lookin's was the most difficult of all my pregnancies.
(That should have given me a clue for what was to come).
I threw up the ENTIRE 9 months...living on nutritional shakes and PediaSure.
At 30 weeks, I went into labor and after doing all the shots to speed up his lungs, monitoring in the hospital and multiple visits to the doctor, I was officially put on complete bed rest for the next 6 weeks.
Did I mention I had a just-turned-3-year-old and 1 year old at home.
Bed Rest?!
I looked at the doctor and laughed and then burst into tears.
My mother flew up from Mexico and spent the next several weeks living with Luke and I and taking care of our little family.
Precious Jewel and Mr. Smiles equated her arrival with my being in bed and hated her.
For the first couple of weeks they did everything in their toddler power to make her go home.
My poor mother cried (a lot).
I felt horrible.
Luke felt horrible.
Precious Jewel and Mr. Smiles were less than precious and smiley.
After a couple of weeks they began to warm up to her and then grew to love her because she loved them in spite of their un-loveliness.
At 36 weeks, I was taken off of bed rest and told I'd have "that baby any day."
We waited and waited and then waited some more.
He didn't come.
Then our house that we had put on the market sold and we face a move the week before he was due.
My mother packed up our whole little apartment and moved us.
BLESS HER!!!
We moved into our new little house out in the country and it was crazy trying to unpack and prepare for baby when I could hardly walk.
The child has rested on my pelvic bone for nearly 10 weeks and at my next appointment I asked to be induced 2 days before Mr. Smiles birthday.
I was tired of the 29 weeks of contractions and the inability to sit down or hold my kids.
I was tired of throwing up.
I wanted this baby out!

April 26, 2006, he made a very fast appearance after only about 3 hours of labor.
I felt him moving down and yelled at Luke.
They had just checked me and I was a 6, but about 15 minutes later he made his appearance with one of my feet in the stirrup and the other on Luke's shoulder because they had only just dropped the foot of the bed and tossed it quickly against the wall.
Our doctor wasn't even in his scrubs yet.
I was totally smitten with the sweet new little bundle of love that had wreaked havoc on my body for 9 months.

He was all out there from the beginning.
He had (and still does) the most expressive faces.

We've never had to guess what he's thinking because whatever it is, it's all out there!

His 1st Birthday
(excuse the hilarious picture of Luke. usually it's me with the eyes closed).

His first bite of sugar...and boy did he like it!

His 2nd birthday we combined with Ben's 4th. Both were just recovered (with a few scabs left over) from the chicken pox.
I think we held their birthday's a week later than usual.

The day of his birthday he was still quite spotty.

By his 3rd birthday, he was totally and completely in love with Lightning McQueen.
And he requested the same cake the next year...

...for his 4th. (someone else had blown out his candles and he was NOT HAPPY).

He's grown up a lot in this past year (calmed down a lot too).
We have discovered he definitely has a connection with animals and is usually the one out in the pen helping to care for the animals.

This next year will be another wild adventure with him I am sure.
Life is never dull around this child.
The last 3 birthdays he's had, I've felt like doing a victory lap just for surviving (with my sanity and humor still intact) the year.
Happy 5th Birthday Good Lookin'!!!!