Happy Birthday, 'Lijah!!

I can't believe it's been ten years since that night.

Aunt Charity and Aunt Laura were on a train, heading in our direction.

I had never had a baby more than three days early, so it seemed like we had plenty of time.

But there we were, heading to the hospital, eight days before your (estimated by me) due date and 14 days before the doctor thought you were due! 

Clearly, you had places to go and as the evening drew to an end, the only real question was whether you'd be born on August 2 or August 3. When you entered this world, the clock hanging in front of me and the other to my right said two minutes after midnight. But when the nurse read off your birth stats, she announced 11:59pm as your time of birth. She then told us that the clock on her monitor was the only one that mattered, so August 2 became your birthday.

Your double-knotted umbilical cord should have given us all the warning that we needed about your desire to tempt fate over the next few years. I'm still not sure how either of us survived your "twos"  --- smart, quiet, fast and fearless,  I never knew what you'd do next.

Thankfully, you've calmed remarkably and the last seven years have been smooth sailing in comparison.

So here you are, ten years old. We thank God you made it, and we thank God for you!

Happy, happy birthday, Elijah! We love you!