December 27, 2009

21 years ago today....

...this precious little after Christmas gift arrived.


Our second little boy, born on his grandma's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom!

He started off pretty scrawny, then rapidly turned into a butterball. I love squishy babies. His feet were square, and Nordstrom had the only shoes that fit. We only had one style option and the sales girls said they had never seen little feet that wide (fat) before.


For a while when our boys were little, we had no grass in the backyard. I would give them each a hose with a trickle of water, and they played for hours. Good, clean fun and at least two baths a day.


For the longest time, he spoke his own language.

Once he started speaking English, every single thing he said was funny. He was the most entertaining kid ever. He was so good natured and never met a stranger.


He loved to collect rocks, read books, and take apart pretty much everything that crossed his path.


He had a real life encounter with the tooth fairy one night, and protected the family from space aliens. He heard them coming through his baby brother's nursery monitor, and was extremely frustrated that we didn't take the threat seriously.


He and my husband hatched some rescued goose eggs in an incubator. They truly thought he was their mother and followed him everywhere.


Time flies. It goes too fast. Before we knew it, he was done with high school. Where did that little boy go?


Then, last spring he joined the National Guard and is working toward becoming a helicopter pilot. In August of this year, we watched him graduate from boot camp along with 1200 other young men and women.


The proud parents with our boy.


Today we went for a drive in his new wheels, a Subaru something, turbo something...I've never been able to retain car model and engine info. We braved frostbite for a few pictures, and saw a bit of the countryside on a pretty winter day. His birthday. His twenty first birthday.


Happy Birthday Buddy. We are so proud of you and love you to pieces. We can't wait to see where your life leads, and look forward to watching you grow into the man you're meant to be. Thanks for being our boy.

16 comments:

  1. What a beautiful post...Happy Birthday to your son! Hope you have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  2. Such a sweet post! I know you are so proud...amazing how these babies turn into adults so fast, isn't it!?!
    XOXO
    Joni

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  3. WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT SONS? THEY ARE SUCH A BLESSING..HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUR GOOD LOOKING, WONDERFUL SON! CONGRATULATIONS MOM AND DAD..LOOKS LIKE YOU DID A GREAT JOB! Come say hi :D

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  4. Sniff sniff! So sweet. And National Guard - how awesome is that?!

    Oh, and the trickle of water with mud thing is a big fan favorite around these parts, too. :)

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  5. Oh my, I got teary eyed on this one. What a beautiful man! Love all the photos...the dirt eating one is my favorite though. Funny thing...when I was 19, I wanted to join the National Guard and be a helicopter pilot! I was told I'd never fly because of my poor eyesight. I'm so glad he's living his dream!

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  6. Sweet memories and such a lovely present reality! Congratulations on producing such a fine son. I can sense how very proud you are.

    jAne * tickleberryfarm.blogspot.com

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  7. Very touching post. You are all too right in how quickly they leave the nest. My oldest will be getting a driver's license in May and it was just yesterday he wanted Batman toys for his birthday! You are as proud of him as he is those new wheels HA! Rightly so. Great photo of the 3 of you! Sue in Mich

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  8. I love seeing how our children grow and change and become adults! Great post, very handsome son!

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  9. Happy Belated Birthday to your beautiful boy and your mama! We brought our daughter home on Christmas Eve 26 years ago...where has the time gone?

    Hugs,
    LeAnn:)

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  10. Happy Birthday to your big boy! I can see why you're so proud. By the way, Sweet Hubby says the car is a WRX Turbo. He said that after briefly glacing at your fuzzy picture. It's a testosterone thing.

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  11. Ohmygoodness, this made me tear up!

    My boys are 3 and 8 now and I'm scared to see how fast it will go by.

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  12. What a wonderful post!!!! 21 years old.....I had my boys home for Christmas, and when I woke up Christmas morning, I was still shocked to see men where my boys use to be! I love your posts! And your photographs are wonderful! Happy New Year!

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  13. Happy Birthday to your beautiful boy!

    rue

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  14. Happy New Year! We also had a post-Christmas arrival on December 27th...just four years ago and she shares a birthday with her extraordinary great-grandmother (who lives quite near your other son). The birthday girls are a mere 90 years apart and they love celebrating the big day together!

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  15. Fun...sweet post!
    I'm in love with my little Subaru right now. Just a little bit ago I had to stop in the 'middle' of a snowy, icy hill because a truck was side-ways in it. I stopped to make sure the driver was OK and when I started back up I wasn't sure if I would be able to continue up but...voila! I made it just fine and I'm truly in love!

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  16. I just found your wonderful wonderful blog thru Farm Chick(?)s... Thank you! Each post I've read so far has seemed written JUST for me (purging vintage linens, dreams of spring, icy farm creeks, Christmas in PJs WHILE feeding farm critters... ... ... ) and I can't wait to fix a cuppa and enjoy your older posts! But I HAD to comment on this lovely tribute to your awesome young man as he shares my daughter's birthday... She just turned six but I can see my baby is gone and a young lady has taken her place all too quickly. I hope the coming year holds all good things for your son, you and all your family.
    God Bless,
    Leslie

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