They say it's your birthday

Today Parks turns 6. He has been so excited. Each day he reminds me how many days are left, and not to forget to buy him presents. He's even left reminders on the computer for me. I have gotten him some presents, but unfortunately, none of them are on his list. Here is his list from this year, word for word:

1. Toy tarantula with a remote control
2. Hulk costume
3. Turtle
4. Dinosaur with a remote control
5. My own calf wich is going to be a cow
6. A shark kite
7. My own cd player
8. My own big art set
9. A rug with spiderman
10. A mp3 player

Really? The calf/cow thing is not going to happen. He already has an art set (apparently it's not big enough?), and don't you think six is a little too young to be blasting mp3s? In any case, hopefully he's happy with what he gets.

We sure do love Parks. I think we get along pretty well together. He seems to know just how far he can push me and rarely goes over the line. He's so intelligent. It's been a lot of fun watching him learn so many new things. It's fulfilling to see him grow up and experience life.

I've been thinking a lot about Parks and about how he came to be. Well, not THAT part, but how he came into this world. So I dug up some old pictures. Here's me, very pregnant with Parks.  I think I was 39 weeks in this picture.  Yikes!

Parks was due to come into this world on April 11.  However, at the time I was finishing up my first year of an MBA program.  I was working 40 hours a week, and I slept my way through the rest of the time.  I remember feeling like I wanted Parks here, but I still had so much stuff I had to do first.

At my 40 week appointment, the doctor said Parks looked fine and that he could stay in there another week.  I was fine with that, so he stayed.  At 41 weeks they checked things out again.  Things still looked good.  At 42 weeks, I had just taken my last final for an accounting class, and I felt like I could finally have this baby- NOW!  So on April 26, fifteen days past my due date, the doctor finally said it was time for Parks to come.  I was induced and after 18 long hours Parks was born.  Yay!  We were so glad to finally have him here.  Aw, look at him:

Could you just eat him up?  We sure love this little boy.  We had another whirlwind after all that when Parks' pediatrician said he wasn't doing so hot.  To this day, we still don't know exactly what was wrong with him.  His blood pressure wouldn't stay up and he was having trouble breathing on his own.  He got to take a helicopter ride to another hospital with a larger NICU.  It was hard and strange to see him attached to so many wires and tubes and not know what the heck was wrong with him.  It was also funny to talk to the other parents with children in the NICU.  Usually they had preemies, so their first question was, "How big is your baby?"  When we told them he was over 8 pounds, they could hardly believe it.  Here is is in his little house:

He does look pretty big, doesn't he?  Anyway, that was a crazy, stressful, tiring week.  But after one week in the NICU, all his vital signs looked great and we got to take him home on my birthday.  What a great gift for me.  I guess he really just wasn't ready to enter this world.  But we're so glad he made it and we're so glad he's a part of our family.  We love him so much and have loved seeing him grow into the wonderful boy he is. 

He grew:

And grew:

And grew:

And grew:

And grew:

And grew:

Into the handsome little devil he is today.  

Happy Birthday Parks!  We sure do love you!