These Three Miracles: Happy Birthday, Our Eli

I love this boy. I just love him to pieces. He is five today. FIVE - can you believe it? That is sooooo big. I am so thankful he has an October birthday because I cannot imagine him going to kindergarten already; that will happen all too soon, I know.

I love birthdays. I love remembering every minute leading up to that moment I heard his first cry and felt his weight in my arms. It's amazing how vivid and clear those memories are. My mom always said she could remember those types of moments like they were yesterday, and for sure, the moments of my children's births are exactly like that! I love looking at the clock and thinking about just what we were doing at that moment five years before; how we were preparing for him to be born, my friend Leslie coming to stay with Madeline in the middle of the night, taking a walk around the block with Tim, thinking we should run to get more milk for Madeline before we went to the hospital, and Leslie assuring me she could take care of that - good thing because he was born an hour and twenty minutes after we got through the check in process at the hospital! Our doctor almost missed him being born - and did miss Susanna - when a baby is fully cooked (5 days late for Eli and 8 days late for Sus) - there is no stopping him or her!

Some things I'm so proud of Eli for this year....

Overcoming his fear of putting his head underwater!

Now, we can't keep that kid from going underwater!

Riding his bike without training wheels!

I love that this guy has become a little biologist! He loves frogs, lizards, snakes and learning about any kind of animal! He's a science nut and fact magnet!