5 years ago ...

L was born, at 11:53 pm in Chattanooga, TN.

Our lives have never been the same. One thing you can say about L is that he is one interesting kid. He talks (incessantly) and is the only child of whom I know that thinks his Furby talks too much. He wants to be a chef and insists on helping cook dinner (yesterday he helped assemble a pizza). He torments his brother and flirts with nurses (a handy skill when you see them often).

L started his life having a hard time. He was born 6 weeks early and had problems at birth (respiratory distress syndrome, swelling, and sepsis). I wasn't doing too well either. By the time we went home (5 days in NICU), he had jaundice and required a bililight. When he finally had his levels go down, we had three days of healthy baby, and then he developed RSV (at twenty days old--three weeks before his due date). After that, we discovered the poor kid had bilateral inguinal hernias that required surgery to repair (which happened at 5 months). Finally, at 6 months we had a healthy (but very small) baby boy.

Now, we have a very active, very small little boy who can swallow giant capsules whole (the day we learned that we practically threw a party) and can open child-proof caps. He will tell you what the difference is between a blood draw and a shot. He is a better bowler than his older brother. He likes to sing and is absolutely adorable in the tiniest cassock I've ever seen (see the January 12 post to see the boys in their cassocks). He has 5 of the 6 Star Wars movies memorized (we haven't let him watch the latest one yet). He likes to be either Luke or Anakin Skywalker. He refers to his father sometimes as "Darth Father." He loves having us read to him. His favorite foods are olives, shrimp, olives, mint chocolate chip ice cream, olives, pizza, and olives. He has a great sense of humor, but you can only laugh when he's trying to be funny, and no other time!

Happy 5th Birthday, L!