One more day until my boy turns...seven!

I can't hardly say the word....seven. I'm not sure why I am having such a hard time with this, I mean, my 12 year old daughter turned seven once...and my heart didn't stop beating. So why is this so hard? What is the problem?

He's my baby. 7 years ago, we were anxiously awaiting our little bundle of boy, wondering what God had planned for us. You see...we were told that he would be a Downs Syndrome baby. Three tests proved it, and they were pretty certain. The only certainty would come if I would let them do an amnio. I declined, as I had just heard of a friend who had lost their baby due to an amnio procedure gone bad. DH and I decided that it didn't matter to us whether he was a Downs baby or not, we would love him just the same. I prepared to stay home with him and Tater, quit my job, and started researching the limitations, treatment, therapy etc. that would be involved with raising my son. We had several fetal medicine specialist appts, cool 3-D ultrasounds, etc. and noone could give us a definite answer, so we just waited. We chose our delivery hospital based on their NICU, because a good percentage of Downs babies have heart defects. We were prepared to greet whatever little man God was going to give us. I went in to be induced 08-08-01, and labored all day. There was a certain peace that wasn't there the first time I did this...maybe because it wasn't my first time, maybe because I trusted God and knew that whatever the outcome, we were ready.

At 12:49 am on 08-09-01 I delivered the most perfect, healthy little boy! There were a couple of anxious moments right after delivery when the team of Drs were checking him out. You know what....no Downs Syndrome. Just a perfect, sweet, little healthy man waiting to meet his new family. Not to say that he wouldn't have been perfect if he did have Downs Syndrome...that's not it. It just seems like we had a huge amount to be thankful for right at that moment.

And now....well look out. No longer are we worried about developmental delays....this boy reads at a 7th grade level (entering 2nd grade this fall), speaks two languages (spanish and english) and learns in both languages (he is in a dual language immersion program at his school). We can barely keep up with his learning ability, and he amazes teachers on a daily basis.

Anyways, not to toot his horn too much (although I am EXTREMELY proud of both of my kids) I just had to pause and remember that day for a moment, just to realize again how lucky and thankful I am to have them in my life.

Happy Birthday Turbo!