Happy 1st Birthday Isaiah!

I can hardly believe a whole year has passed by since I first got to meet you. This time last year I was just getting started with labor and was anxious to get it over with so I could finally see your face. And then at exactly 5:21 pm you arrived and I fell madly in love with that sweet face and your head full of soft hair. I remember wondering for months if you would look like one or both of your brothers only to realize that you looked just like you. I will never forget that day.

 

The first few months you were so quiet and calm. You had such a gentle presence and barely disrupted the flow of our family. Now, while you still go with the flow, you have begun to find your voice and aren't afraid to use it. While mostly speaking in grunts and babbling you have no problem letting us know what you want.

And you have each one of us wrapped around your little finger...you truly are the baby of the family! Your brothers love you dearly and my heart melts every time I see you light up as they enter a room. I am so excited to see the bond between the three of you grow.

I think that at some point during each month of your life I have looked at Daddy and said, "I love him just like this. I don't want him to grow anymore." But of course you continue to grow and of course I continue to love you more and more each step of the way.

Happy 1st Birthday our sweet Isaiah!!! Can't wait to see what this year brings.

Waking Up...

It's that time again...Five Minute Friday. A little late this week as I both forgot and spent must of the day on the couch sick. This weeks topic is Waking Up.

Ready? Here goes:

"Waking up is so hard to dooooo!" Okay, maybe that's not quite how the song goes but it sure sounds good to me. I know that I have never been much of a morning person. I remember in college thinking that it was ludicrous that they even had 8 o'clock classes. 'Who comes up with this?' I would wonder. Needless to say more days than not I was barely making it out of bed for lunch. What with all that late night studying and all (insert wink here).

And then I had kids. And life as I knew it changed in more ways than one. Waking up past 6:00 am was a thing of the past. I literally cannot remember the last time I truly slept in. Probably almost 5 years ago. But you know what...it really isn't all that bad. Getting to wake up with the sun, sip my coffee while the birds chirp. And some mornings I just lie in bed listening to the chatter of my children. Nothing like a 4 year old's logic to give you a good giggle first thing in the morning!

I guess waking up isn't all that hard anymore. I do have 3 mostly chipper faces to greet me when I get up. And each day is truly a new adventure. I can't help but think of all the things I missed out on by wasting away my mornings back in the day. Then again, sleeping past sunrise sounds appealing every now and again!

DONE! You know what, this time 5 minutes actually felt long. I went into it remembering how short the time felt last time and expected to the timer to go off at any second. Actually, I had plenty of time to write this week.

Want to join in on the fun? Go visit The Gypsy Mama to get the rules (if you can even call them that) and to link up with the other participating bloggers.

I remember

On the morning of September 11th, terrorists hijacked four commercial jet planes and attempted to fly them into several U.S. targets. One of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11, crashed into Tower One of the World Trade Center at 8:50 AM. United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into Tower Two at 9:04 AM. As the world watched Tower Two collapsed to the ground at about 10:00 AM. Unfortunately, this horrible scene was duplicated at 10:30 AM when Tower One crashed to the ground. This terrorist attack brought about the death of approximately 3,000 men, women and children from nations around the world. ~ from : http://americanhistory.about.com/od/terroris1/p/wtc_September11.htm

I know that I will never forget that day. Where I was, how I found out, the feeling of helplessness that everyone shared. I was a sophmore in college at WSU and was awoken by my mom calling bright and early. "You need to get up and watch the news," she said when I answered. I was like, are you kidding? Why would I get up this early to watch the news? She preceded to tell me what had happened. I rushed to turn on the tv in time to see the second plane crash. I just watched in complete disbelief. My first thought was to wake up my roommate whose dad was in the military. Surely this would effect her more than me. If you knew my roommate at the time you won't be surprised to now she wanted nothing to do with getting out of bed. So I just sat and watched by myself. Overwhelming footage of people in complete disarray. News anchors breaking down from the trauma of it all. I remember thinking about how this was going to change our world as we knew it. Would we go to war? Would the war come here and disrupt our everyday life? Would they start attacking more cities? Where would it be safe to go? All I could do was pray. I went to work that night and as customers came through they all wanted to talk about what had happened. You could tell there was a strong need to connect to others who were feeling as helpless as they did.

I will never forget the images of people falling from those buildings. I will never forget the fireman, policeman and other service people who risked their own lives to help those in need. I will never forget watching children on tv leaving signs trying to find their moms and dads, pleading to the camera through tears. I will never forget how people came together for a long time after that. I WILL NEVER FORGET.