Happy Birthday to....

Yes, that's right! Our Samuel is now 3 years old! And I don't think I have seen anyone so excited about their birthday in a long time! We came in his room in the morning singing happy birthday (didn't sound too beautiful with my croaky sick voice:) and he grinned from ear to ear the whole time!!

We took the boys to the Lincoln Park Zoo on Saturday for a birthday trip because Samuel really wanted to ride a little train they have there. He hopped on, sat on the bench and barely looked back at us! It was the highlight of the whole trip for him:) We

saw lots of animal as usual and went to The Farm part of the zoo where Samuel got to climb on the John Deere tractor and then we came home and after his nap he got to open a present. He opened Mugga's present which was train tracks for his Thomas trains. Oh boy, oh boy!! They've barely left his sight since! If we let him, he'd sleep with them! But we don't.... Then on Sunday he opened more presents (legos, a Thomas backpack, a percy train and a Thomas book, which we've read about 14 times already)

He got his requested chocolate cake, refused to blow out the candles and ate all the icing off and left the cake....oh well! It was a grand day for him! I remembered throughout the day when he was born. It was so exciting being our first baby and we didn't know if he was a boy or a girl...We spent the whole morning on the phone with our moms updating them while they made travel arrangements. The whole day went SO fast. We brought all sorts of things to the hospital to keep us busy and never looked at a thing! The labor started out slow and progressed very fast. They had told us it wouldn't be till around midnight or later so Ben went home at 7:50pm to feed the cat and suddenly everything started to happen! Ben's mom called Ben and said, "you'd better get back here now!" He came back and they said it's time to push and 15 minutes later at 8:46pm...we had a beautiful baby! I'll never forget that moment when the dr held him up and said, "You have a son!" He didn't want to cry so they pinched his foot to make him cry but he quieted down the instant I held him. He had soft fuzzy blond hair and he was SO beautiful. I can still see that sweet baby face in my now 3 year old. He's still so beautiful with his blond hair, big blue eyes and button nose.

Samuel, you have and do bring so much joy into our home and lives. You are an incredible little (big) boy and we love you SO much! Happy Birthday, my sweet boy!