And Then I Blinked Again.......

My baby turns six today! It is so hard to believe that 6 years have passed. How did that happen?
Six years ago today I woke up knowing that I only had a few hours until I held my new son. Due to our living in a rural area, our hospital does not allow v-bacs so I had a scheduled c-section. I spent the morning relaxing with Little Man knowing that it would be the very last time that he would be my only child. My Honey and I left for the hospital at 10 in the morning. I was scheduled for a noon c-section but due to a few emergencies at the hospital I was pushed back. They began prepping me around noon and then I waited until nearly 1:30 to be taken to the OR. I was very nervous!!! Thankfully, everything went smoothly and at 2:11 in the afternoon my baby boy was born. He was a healthy 7 pounds and 11 ounces. He had a head full of blond hair! That was a surprise. Today he has a head of dark brown hair just like the rest of the family. He was perfect.
A few hours later, my mother brought Little Man to meet his new baby brother. He sat down in a chair in the room and my mom placed Muffin Man in his arms. He took one look at him and in the most adorable voice said "OH! He is my BEST brother!" It was just about enough to make me cry. He was smitten with him from minute one. I have a picture of the two of them at that moment that is one of my favorites to this day. After about an hour of visiting my mom was preparing to take Little Man back home. She told him it was time to leave and he asked "What about Muffin Man?" My mom explained that Muffin Man needed to stay at the hospital and Little Man got this horrified look on his face and said "We have to leave him here? But we just got him!" We all laughed. After a bit further explanation that I was staying with him and we would both be home in a day or two he was OK.

From minute one Muffin Man was so different from Little Man. Little Man had been my lazy nurser. He would slowly nurse, taking little cat naps along the way and was content to be held all day long. Muffin Man was my efficient nurser. He was all business, filling his tummy as fast as he could and then fussing until I put him down. He never wanted to be cuddled or fall asleep in my arms. I can count on my fingers the number of times he actually let me rock him to sleep. Each of those times is precious in my memory. Little Man was rolling over by 4 months and crawling by six. Muffin Man was content to just lay there and let life be brought to him. He never did anything until he was good and ready. As an example, Muffin Man did not even roll over until he was 10 months old! But then a week later he was walking! He had few words to say until he was nearly 2 but then he started talking in sentences. Little Man was interested in the potty chair around 18 months and was at least sitting on it and occasionally managing to put it to use. Muffin Man never even tried to potty train for me until his 3rd birthday. On that day he suddenly announced that he was 3 and a big boy. That day he potty trained and never had an accident after that! Everything Muffin Man does is like that. He doesn't do anything until he is good and ready and once he is ready he just does it and never looks back. He amazes me with this personality trait every day!

Muffin man in my comedian. He is so funny and he can make me laugh all day long. He loves to be the center of attention. He is my academic child. He has always been more interested in letters and numbers and using his little VTech computer than with action figures or cars. He has become a bit more of a cuddle muffin as he has grown older. He will now climb onto my lap and ask me to tickle his back or rub his tummy but he still doesn't like to just cuddle up and be held the way Little Man does. I treasure the time that he does spend in my lap because it is not often. He loves school and picks things up quickly. Once I explain a concept to him he pretty much remembers it. He LOVES bugs and frequently saves them from certain death at the paws of our cats. His favorite bugs are pincher bugs. We almost always have a jar with a few in it. I have yet to have figured out how to keep them alive for him. He is a very active child and has the attention span of a flea. LOL! He wears me out totally and love him to bits!

I was thinking the other day how with 18 being the age of legal adulthood, Little Man is 1/2 way to adulthood and Muffin Man is 1/3 of the way there. This seems so impossible to me. There is so much I want to teach my children and I just do not know if I will have enough time! Once again, I pray that God will lead me in my parenting and help me to teach them what is important. I pray that someday Muffin Man will know how much I love him and see how every decision I make on his behalf is based on that love. I pray that he will become a happy, productive adult and that he will not make the same mistakes I have in life. I pray that I can improve as a parent evey day. I pray for patience and wisdom.

Thank you Lord for the beautiful gift you gave me when you gave me my sons. Please help me to honor You each day as I raise them. Please allow me to learn the lessons you wanted me to learn from them, I know there are many.