Friday Funnies and a Boy Turns 8!

Ya'll seriously....how old am I??  The boys and I dubbed this the bootie peach, we laughed, and laughed!  I especially love the reflection in the granite!  On a more serious note, I got these peaches from Costco, oh my goodness, they were SOOO good.  I was going to make a cobbler with them but we ate them all instead!

On Tuesday June 2, 2009, Sam turned 8!  I remember wanting to wish away his babyhood because he was SOOO boring, now I want him to stop growing and be my baby forever!

Reading cards in the morning before school.  The blue one is from Gabe!

In honor of the birthday boy we attempted water balloons.  See the teeny one in Joel's hand.  It had two pin prick holes in it and for the life of him he could not figure out why he kept getting wet.  Water balloons are hard!  We couldn't fill them at the kitchen sink because we have an integrated sprayer so I resorted to the bathroom.  The sink in the bathroom seems to be at a weird angle and the water balloons were impossible to tie.  I gave up at 12, but the boys were still pretty happy.  They tried throwing them at each other but quickly realized how much it hurt and resorted to throwing them on the ground.

We finally just drug out the sprinkler.  My big boys hamming it up for the camera!

One nice thing about running through the sprinkler in the afternoon is sending them up for a shower before dinner.  They are pretty neat eaters these days so it works fabulously!  After dinner Sam opened his present from us.  This HUGE remote controlled air plane.  He was thrilled.  Greg and I love the look on Ethan's face!

On the Friday after Sam's birthday we let him have his first sleepover.  I was totally stressed.  The boys nearly swallowed poor Sanjiv up with love and affection.  

Joel had a nice time too!

Sam's theme this year was Lego.  He wasn't all that impressed with the cake...oh well there's always next year.

ANOTHER REMOTE CONTROL PLANE!!  This one for the inside house!  He had a great birthday!

For memories sake I have been going through the day of each boy's birth on the blog.  I don't think I've done Sam's, so here goes:

Sam was due June 12, 2001.  Greg and I were excited and overwhelmed to be having our first baby.  On June 1, I went in for my 38 week appointment.  The doctor had told me at my previous appointment that she would strip my membranes if I wanted her too.  Of course who could resist the possibility of meeting their baby a few days early!  I can't exactly remember when my appointment was but it seems like it was in the morning.  The doctor warned me that if I hadn't gone into labor within 24 hours that the procedure probably wasn't going to work but she was pretty optimistic because I was already 3 cm dilated and 75% effaced.  

Greg and I went home that afternoon and prepared to drive up to Louisville to have dinner with my Mom and Dad.  By the time we left dinner I was feeling a little weird but I wasn't too optimistic.  It seems like we went home and walked around the block a few times but we finally gave up and headed to bed.  

About 3:00 AM I woke Greg up, my contractions (which were painful but seemed pretty easy) were coming pretty regularly so he called the doctor.  I hopped in the bath tub and around 5:00 we decided to go in.  I will always remember our trek that day.  We were driving smack dab in the middle of PT time so we had to drive SUPER slow and my oh so sweet husband decided to take some short cut that was the bumpiest road I think I have ever been on.  

When we got to the hospital I was at 5cm so they decided to admit me.  I remember my doctor asking if I wanted him to break my water.  By this point I'm thinking "this labor thing ain't so bad, what are all these women complaining about", so I said yeah, sure doc, break my water.  NEVER AGAIN will I allow someone to break my water before I have drugs (well except for Gabe but you will have to read about that here).  There is an amazing difference in contractions pre and post "breaking of the water".  YOZERS!!  I was begging the nurse for an epidural!!  Once I got my epidural I was loving life!  It was like a party!  

By noon I was ready to push.  Poor Sam he really didn't want to come out.  I'm actually quite surprised that I didn't have a C-Section.  After 4 hours of pushing, every alarm in the room started going off and every nurse came running in our room.  Sam's heart beat was down, way down.  I'm thinking it was in the 30's or 40's which is bad!  I remember the doctor saying, this baby is coming out NOW as he reached up and stuck the vacuum extractor on Sam's head.  Within a minute Sam was out and doing really well.  I don't remember him crying a bunch, probably from the traumatic yank out of the birth canal.  Wasn't he a cutie:

Now...for eight things I love about my eight year old:

1.  Sam is amazingly smart.  He surprises me everyday with words he defines for his brothers and math problems he figures out.

2.  Sam loves Army anything.  He loves to read about the army, watch TV shows about the army and he especially loves playing Army war games with his Daddy!

3.  Sam loves to help.  Sometimes I forget how helpful he is.  He can take the trash out, take the trash can to the curb, unload the dishwasher, make a bed like a pro...the list goes on!

4.  Sam is a VERACIOUS reader.  The world opened up to him when reading clicked.  I love when he reads me funny excerpts from his latest book.

5.  Sam loves people and gets along with everyone.  He's a peacemaker.  I don't think he's a typical first born in a lot of ways, but maybe he'll surprise me.

6.  Sam has recently been giving me the sweetest kisses.  I can't explain them but I know the days of my son giving me kisses are numbered so I'm treasuring each one.

7.  Sam is super responsible.  This year he has started giving himself his daily medicines (for allergies and asthma) and I know I can trust him!

8.  Sam is super frugal.  That kid can save like you wouldn't believe.

I love you Sammers!  Thanks for making me a Mom!