A Day Late

Yesterday was Mother's Day (happy day to all moms) and it was also my baby boy's 5th birthday. I can't believe he's five already. Time goes so fast.

In honor of Riley's birthday I thought I'd post something else that Holden wrote for school.

May 13 by Holden

The best memory I have is May 13, 2002, the day my little brother Riley was born. Ever since I was able to talk and form sentences I was asking my mom for a little brother. I wanted someone to play with and grow up with and I thought it would be the best thing in the world. I asked for a brother for Christmas and asked for a brother as a birthday present. My mom always said she didn't want another kid and that I should stop asking because I would never be getting a little brother. As I grew up I kind of grew out of wanting a brother and just stopped asking or thinking about it. Then one day after supper my parents took me in the living room and told me I was getting something and that I could ask twenty questions about it and then guess what it was. At this time I really wanted a husky dog and I was asking all these random questions and I didn't have a clue. My parents told me I couldn't see what it was yet but that it was int he room. I was so confused and then my mom said, "I'm going to have a baby." I was so astonished. It was the last thing I expected her to say, it had never even crossed my mind. I fell out in the floor crying for the longest time because I was overwhelmed with joy. My mom came and hugged me and when I gathered myself we went to my grandparent's. That was a great day but not nearly as great as the day about nine months from then.

That day is as clear to me as if it just happened. I was sleeping and my dad woke me up and told me that my mom was going into labor. I got up and helped him get things ready and was very excited. After a while my mom's contractions died down and she no longer thought she was in labor. I went back to bed and eventually got over the false alarm and went back to sleep. Maybe forty-five minutes later he woke me up again and my mom was now sure she was in labor. We went to the car and got on our way to --------. On the way I remember thinking I was really helping my parents by timing my mom's contractions. I didn't even know what that was and I had no idea why I was timing it but I knew that I was helping and that was really important to me. We got there and as soon as we stopped my mom threw up in my dad's car for the first time the whole trip. This made me want to throw up but I was able to hold it back. We went inside and checked in and they took my mom back while I sat in the waiting room. I am pretty sure I eventually fell asleep waiting around for my mom to have her baby. My dad and granddad woke me up to go get some breakfast from the little restaurant they had there at the hospital. This is where I have a very strong memory of what my dad said there. We were eating something that was very good and I said that we can come back to this place for lunch. My dad said that we probably wouldn't be thinking about lunch because something more important would be happening then. Sure enough something more important was happening at 12:18 right when I would have been eating lunch. I was standing outside the room with my grandparents and I could hear my mom laughing. It confused me at first as to why she would be laughing because I thought it was painful but I found out later it was because they had given her so many drugs to stop the pain. I heard a baby crying and became very happy. After a minute my dad stuck his head out the door and said, "It's a little Riley." This sent me into tears and I grabbed onto my grandma. I was so happy because something I had wanted my whole life was finally here and I couldn't hold it in. I went in and saw him and thought it was the greatest thing I had ever seen. This was such a memorable day for me and is the best one that I can remember..

People always said they didn't know why I wanted a brother so badly once I got older because I couldn't even play with him. I have come to find out that was a lie. I play very rough with him now and he plays rough with me. He even plays video games with me that some 12 year olds can't comprehend and he is only four. I have much fun with him. Even though he is sometimes a little whiny annoying kid I still love him to death because he gave me my best memory ever.



















Happy birthday, Riley. You are such a blessing to our family.



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Now, some birthday pictures. Riley is so special he got two parties.

The first was at a local beach.



It came complete with a Yoda cake.












And, a Darth Vader pinata.





And, lots of presents.





Party number two was smaller and came with a homemade Darth Vader cake.
















And, even more presents.




Mostly there was a lot of this...



And this...



And a little bit of this...






Tears courtesy of big brother, Holden.

But, it was OK. They settled it with a duel.





And, diabetes, I'm sure it was there somewhere. We hardly even noticed.