HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY ANDREW!!

I can hardly believe that my little baby turned 4 years old today. It seems like just yesterday that he was born and I was trying to figure out why the people in the hospital felt that I was qualified to take him home unsupervised. At the same time it feels like I've been a mom forever. I can barely remember a time that we didn't have this precious little boy and as much as he drives me nuts on a daily basis I wouldn't give him up for the world. Of course looking back now I should have known he was going to be a challenging kid. I mean I had contractions starting at 6 1/2 months. They continued off and on for the next 2 months to the degree that my OB suggested that the Army bring Adam home about a month early from Afghanistan because they didn't think I would make it to my due day of May 5. However Andrew had his own agenda because as soon as Adam got home the contractions stopped and I ended up being almost 2 weeks overdue before they induced. Somethings never change because Andrew still has his own agenda and only wants to do things his way and when he wants to do them.

My sweet boy the day he was born at 8lbs 13oz & 21in

Andrew's 1st birthday party & being stubborn once again. He was sooo close to walking so of course when my parents said they were coming to NY for his birthday we were hoping that would be the week he took his first steps. Well of course he didn't, while they were at our house. In true Andrew style he waited until they had been gone about 2hrs to head back to AR and he took off across the room with no help. They tried so hard while visiting to get him to walk but the stubborn little man had to do it under his own terms as usual.

His second birthday was the first "big family party". We had just moved down to AR while Adam was deployed so it was good to be able to have all of the family around to celebrate with us. It actually worked out well since his birthday that year fell directly on Mother's Day. We were able to have the usual Mother's Day get together and a birthday party at the same time. Going home for that 15months was one of the best decisions I could have made for us. It was great for the family to be around to see him grow. I was amazed at how much he changed during that time. He went from being a baby to an actual little boy.

This picture is from his 3 birthday at the park in Searcy. Can you tell he's a little hot? It was kind of a bittersweet birthday for me. Adam missed his birthday by just a few weeks due to the deployment extension. This was actually the first birthday Andrew understood what was going on and was super excited about everything. It was a lot of fun watching him open presents and blow out his candle.

This last picture was taken this evening before we went to Andrew's school Fine Arts Festival. They had art from all of the kids on the wall in the gym and then each class preformed a few songs. The pre-school & pre-k classes did The Hokey Pokey & This Little Light of Mine. It was adorable and all of the kids looked like they had so much fun. Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures. They turned out really dark so I'm not going to post them on here. Trust me though it was too cute for words. I'll try and get some party pics on here sometime the first of June. Since Adam is gone all of this month training we are waiting to have the party until the 31st when he's back. It was so odd looking back at all of these pictures. Especially the ones from the day he was born. While it doesn't feel like it's been 4yrs since Andrew was born, I really have a hard time remembering what he was like that little. Back before he could walk, talk and drive me insane. There are days when I would love to have that little baby back in my arms again, but at the same time I can't wait to see how much more he's going to grow and what kind of a person he's going to become. Only time will tell what the future holds in store for my precious boy. I know that I am truly blessed to have him in my life.