Celebrating 5 years of life.

My sweet firstborn son, Elijah, turned 5 today.

5 years ago right now I was not feeling too great! Ha! I was drugged and miserable as I came "off the mag" as the doctors were calling it.  It was kind of traumatic.

And I honestly don't remember much of that day. I don't really remember visitors or specifics.

But I do remember the sweet fuzzy orange faced baby that was mine, so clearly. I remember his smell and how incredibly soft his cheeks were. I remember just kissing them non stop.

Five years later...remembering the 18 days in the hospital leading up to his birth seems like a lifetime ago.

Elijah is a fantastic boy. I blog to remember. To remember him at this time. This stage of boyhood.

He is smart. He constantly amazes me with how well he learns from the world around him. He is picking up math and reading more and more daily. Eli is sweet. He is gentle and kind naturally. He is compassionate and gives grace and forgiveness freely. He is shy with people he doesn't know. He loves all the typical boy things ---football, superheroes, Legos. His favorite outdoor activity is to ride his bike and catch bugs. He is starting t-ball for the first time tomorrow. He is super excited and quite good at hitting the ball. He loves to look at books and be read to. He "reads" books to Simeon that he has memorized. He listens to God and is excited about learning his memory verses from the Bible. He is starting to pick on his brother at times...but will be the first one to cheer him up when he is sad. Eli loves to talk and spend time just being with his family. He loves to be at home. He loves to take pictures and play apps on my phone. Dad has been introducing him to Star Wars and he certainly loves that!  Eli is excited for Kindergarten at times. At other times he says he doesn't want to because he will me so much. I love to hear that...but keep assuring him how much fun it will be for him. 

I love celebrating my kids' birthdays. Celebrating who they are and how much we love them because they are our sons. I love doing special things for them and making a big deal about them being special and loved and celebrated.

Today we spent the morning building a bunch of his new Lego sets he got at his friend-party yesterday. We started with a special breakfast and lounged in our jammies for a long time. We then loaded up some books and Legos and went outside to play. The boys love to go places where they can run and explore. They let me play with my camera and I took pictures of the things they wanted me to. We met Daddy for lunch at Sonic, Eli's choice. Eli loves to go there because "we can eat outside and dance while we wait for our food." ---I love that about him. If other people were with us, he wouldn't dance. But when its just our family, he is so free and happy and totally himself. It's beautiful. Then home for quiet time. Eli and I cuddled together and talked for a long time while Sim napped. We sat on the porch and watched the rain.  And more Lego-ing after nap since it was too rainy to play outside. Spaghetti-dinner (Eli's choice, again). And a nice evening at home as a family. (His friend/family party was yesterday)

It was a great day!

Happy Birthday, Elijah. You are loved!