Tomorrow is not just another day

Dear #1 Son,

Tonight you are still five years old. Tonight I can still count the years of your life on one hand. Tomorrow I will not be able to do that.

I am sitting her thinking about the last six years and it is amazing how fast the time has gone by. I looked at pictures of our lives in Seattle.

Daddy and I found out that we were pregnant with you the week after Daddy signed the lease on a one bedroom apartment. I loved that small apartment. We had a wonderful view in the back. The inside was very small, just over 400 sq ft but we had a computer and a TV so I was happy. (That's you in there. I thought that I was going to explode. HA!)
Having a one bedroom apartment that was that small meant that you had to sleep half in and half out of the closet for the first six months of your life. After that we would make you go to sleep in the bedroom and when Daddy was ready for bed he would put you in the living room for the rest of the night.


I was overdue with you and after having contraction for a week, I had had enough. Our midwife, Clair, was wonderful enough to send me to the hospital to have you induced. It didn't work the first day and they made me go home but promised me that I could come back early the next day. You still were not born the next day and I cried that night. I just wanted you to be born.

On Friday, July 13th, 2001 you were born. You were born in the afternoon. I think it was about 3:50ish but I'm not sure. But I do know that it was a beautiful Seattle day. Blue skies with just a few puffy clouds. There was a giant pine tree outside of our room. (I noticed this while I was getting the epidural.)

We had a tough time making you come out. It's a scary story. I'll tell you when you're a little older. You weighed 7 lb 13 oz and were 19 1/2 inches long.

You were not breathing when you were born but for some reason I knew that you would be OK. Before you were born, your Daddy and I had a talk. I asked your Daddy what he would do if you had to go to the NICU, would he stay with me or go with you. He said that he would stay with me. Well you had to go to the nursery because of your breathing and I don't think that your Dad even said bye to me. He was there when you were born and he waited with you until you could breath well enough to be in the same room with me.

This is a picture of the day that you came home from the hospital. That's a totally different and really long story where Mommy was sent home way to early. You were in the hospital less than 48 hours.


So I'll go to bed tonight remembering you as a tiny, new, little person because tomorrow we will be too busy celebrating the big, old(er) person that you are now.

I love you.

Mom