Happy 2nd Birthday Pooh-Bear!

Dear Jackal,

See below for what was occurring exactly 2 years ago to date. We started an adventure in which we had no clue what we were doing. Today, we still do not have a clue what we are doing. Only after you turn 85 will we have the right to say, 'We did good' or 'Maybe we should have done some things differently.' Please note that I am foregoing all vanity and posting pictures where I look like crap.
I still think you are one of the cutest newborn babies I have ever seen (if not THE cutest). I will never forget them wheeling you into my room in the middle of the night after I had you and you were in a little glass case all swaddled with a hat on and your little eyes looking at me quietly. The nurse said to me, "She is fussing." (I told them to bring you to me if you got fussy). You looked calm, cool and collected to me. I picked you out of the glass case, sat you on my knees and rubbed your shoulders. That was all it took.


Below we were en route to the aquarium to celebrate your 1st birthday. We spent about $50 to see fish, 2 hippos and all these sharks. You wanted nothing to do with the shark tunnel.
And below (today) I had to capture how long your hair has gotten. Yay!
You are wearing a onesie and only a onesie because you wanted your nightly bottle of chocolate milk (into which I slip your vitamins), and chocolate milk stains clothing. And our Christmas decorations are still up because I won't let Jim take them down yet.


The night you were born I remember having laid there all day with the Pitocin dripping having a grand old time watching TV and relaxing. The doctor checked me out and told me that I would begin to push soon. I immediately started crying out of fear of how this would end: c-section? uncontrollable bleeding? A lot of pain? With Hilly, I pretty much knew the drill, but not with you. I was pushing and pushing and getting really tired so the nurse (Katie) told me to stop. I overheard her tell the doctor that I was getting tired and wasn't progressing. I had this moment of clarity that there was this important life about to start and it was my job to just push hard and long. So I gave it my all. I remember almost blacking out. I heard the nurse say to the doctor, 'Out of nowhere she just got this energy to push.' Then, at last, my sweet Pooh-Bear arrived.

I love you, Monkey. Happy 2nd Birthday!

Mama