I’m not sure how it happened….
I remember the day he came home from the hospital……
Speaking of bringing the 4th child home from the hospital…. If you have 3 children and are contemplating the 4th; let me encourage you. Say, “YES!”
Going from 3 to 4 children is nothing.
Nothing changes.
Your life and day will look exactly the same as it does now, you’ll just be feeding a baby every 3 hours. The 4th child is a piece of cake.
You’ll bring your sweet, innocent, beautiful newborn child home, look into his tiny eyes as he is mobbed by the 3 other little people living in the house and say, “Welcome to the Chaos.”
I’m a huge fan of 4 children. No one is ever bored. There’s always someone to play with. No playdates necessary. Life’s a party. Of course, I don’t really know any different.
Yesterday, he was just a little cowboy.
Today, he’s 8!
Here’s a little trip down memory lane. He’s always been an active, curly, blonde dude. Don’t let the cupid-like hair fool you. He’s no mamma’s boy. Very manly, very tough, very cute.
Speaking of blonde curls, DH has always said he looks like, Happy – the baby NewYear, in “Ruldolph’s Shiny New Year.” See the resemblance?He’s never been afraid of cowboy hats, tractors or blood.
Some quotable things this child has said to me over the years:
- As he stood, holding an empty plate, looking at his slice of pizza face down on the floor, “Mommy, I almost dropped my pizza.” I think he almost understood what “almost” means.
- Last week from the swimming pool he said, “Hey Mom, Can you hear what my brain is saying?”
- Not too long ago, he took off his shoe to show me his foot and explained, “I hurt my thumb-toe.”
- He just started using the phone this year. He loves to make calls and has my number memorized. He finds great pleasure in his ability to use the phone and calls me all the time. When I’m in the cow field, the garden, or on the back porch and my house calls me I instantly know who it is. He is getting plenty of practice using the phone: however; he is never sure if he got it right. For some reason when I answer the phone he feels the need to confirm my identity. This is how the conversation ALWAYS goes:
Phone: “Ring”
Me: “Hello”
7 year old: “Hi, my name’s Cole. What’s your name?”
Me: “Hi, Cole, this is Mommy.”
7 year old: “Hi Mommy.”
He begins every phone call exactly the same way, “Hi, my name’s Cole. What’s your name?” Every time. Never not. Always. I laugh every time.
All of our children have gone through phases when they pronounced words incorrectly. For some reason, the youngest child never gets to live it down. There are too many other people around listening and remembering everything you ever said wrong. Poor youngest children everywhere!
Thanks to my youngest child:
- Napkins will always be “Gapins”
- Horses will always be “Heeses”
- Peacocks will always be “Pea-honks”
- Donkeys will always be “Gee-Gonks”
Yes, we go to petting zoos to see the heeses, pea-honks and gee-gonks.
Happy Birthday, buddy, I love you!
XO
