Happy Birthday Bubs!

This weekend we are celebrating our “baby’s” 3rd birthday. I am just feeling so thankful for my little guy I feel the need to write about him. Our older two children were born so close together (14 months apart) and in a way I feel like I didn’t get to enjoy them one-on-one as babies, because they really were both babies at the same time! As they got older, I had that gnawing feeling that I just wasn’t done yet – it sounds weird, but I just knew there was somebody missing from our family. I told my husband that I really felt we were supposed to have another boy named Josh…I know, weird, right? After finally talking him into the idea we decided to give it a go…and what do you know, we had a boy and named him Joshua.:)

The first thing I remember about Joshy was the way he was so alert and looking around the room with wonder from the moment the nurse handed him to me in the hospital. He wasn’t crying…it was like he was just in awe of his surroundings. He looked all around and then his eyes met mine. “Well, there you are,” I told him. “I knew you were supposed to be here.” At that moment, our family finally felt complete…there was no question in my mind. I am done now, I thought, my family is all here. What peace that feeling is, I really can’t describe it.

Every day for the last three years I have been so thankful for my littlest pal. “Thankful” doesn’t even seem like an adequate word to use. I joke that he keeps me young…because there is nothing I love more than to just hang out and be silly with him. Joshy loves animals, especially elephants, and we visit the zoo together at least twice a month. He is a natural entertainer and puts on shows where he sings his heart out and then immediately asks his audience for applause. Josh is always caring about others and when he sees someone always asks how they are doing or how their dog is doing. He makes me belly-laugh every day. His favorite musical artists are Lady Gaga and Johnny Cash. Seriously. He asks me to play “Poker Face” and then “Ring of Fire” on the IPod every single day…then spends the rest of the day calling me “Mama Poker-face, Mamamama” and singing into his microphone “…and it burns, burns, burns…the ring of fire…the ring of fire.” Did I mention he makes me belly-laugh every single day?

So, to God I say thank you. Thank you for giving me this amazing little human being to take care of. To Joshy, I say thank you for being my little Bubba, my sweet friend, for changing me in ways I didn’t know I needed to be changed, for making me laugh, for fish-kisses and head-butts, for your big squeezing hugs and for loving me and making me feel important always. Happy Birthday, my big three-year-old boy. I knew you were supposed to be here.