My Baby Boy

On October 30 several years ago my baby boy was born. I had been in labor about 16 hours, and then the doctor decided to do a C-section. Aaron was a beautiful baby--no hair, no teeth, big eyes, beautifully formed. He and I stayed in the hospital for eleven days.

When we went home, my mother came to stay with us and help with the baby. I remember on the first night while my mom was in the living room taking care of the baby, I was being a baby in the bedroom and crying about the fact that I didn't think I could "do this" as in be a mom, take care of baby, stay up at night, have any brain or wisdom to do the right thing. The funny thing is, I had been a director of a day care for about a year by then, and during that time, I knew everything. After the baby was born, I knew nothing.

Those first few weeks that I got to stay home with Aaron were wonderful. I remember a pastor's wife and her friend came to see the baby. He was sleeping and I didn't want them to wake him up (new mom worries). One of the women mention that he was really "laid back." At the time I didn't appreciate that comment, but as it turned out, Aaron does seem to be laid back a lot of the time. Still he doesn't get very wild or loud.

When Aaron turned three years old we were living in Arvada. He got a fire truck for his birthday that could be filled with water. Aaron's grandma and cousin were there for his birthday. Once he got water into the truck, he started spraying the yard, including Grandma, cousin, and Mom and Dad. He had a wonderful time. The rest of us had a pretty good time.

These are some of the things that make Aaron the person he is:

He is kind. He has helped many friends with money and moving.

He helps his parents. He helps me with cleaning and bringing in the groceries and sometimes will run an errand. He helps his dad with computer stuff and with mechanical and heavy things.

He is a hard worker, and he is one of the faster workers around. When he was a kid, if I wanted the garage cleaned in a hurry, he was the one I called on.

He was good to his grandma. He stayed with his grandma for several months when he was in college. He helped her with many things. She took care of him and he took care of her.

My husband and I have moved 26 times. Aaron has made it a point to help us every time except before he was born and a couple of moves when he lived too far away. He has always been our strong back and right-hand man.

He makes it a point to talk with his mom and dad. Most of the conversation between him and me is a little bit goofy with a lot of teasing, but sometimes we talk about very serious things.

He plays with the dog. Aaron sometimes stands in the hall, and when the dog is near, he kind of jumps and startles the dog who starts to run up and down the hall like a bat out of a cauldron.

He enjoys his sister. Sometimes when they are together, they still wrestle while sitting on the couch or in the back of the car. Not actual rolling around on the floor, but teasing until Jen cries like a baby girl or Dad says, "Don't make me come back there," to which Aaron replies, "Come on, Dad, I want to see you do it."

This day, October 30, is a day of good memories. And they keep going on.