Happy 30th Birthday to Son #2!

Wait, what?  That can't be right.

My second-born son is 30 today?!

Two of my five offspring are now "in their 30's."  How did that happen?!?!?!?!

Why, just yesterday, the birthday boy looked like this.

And the day after that (when son #3 joined the crew), he looked like this--that's him there on the left, with the killer smile and the exposed belly button.

This boy of ours made an early appearance, just as his father and I were getting back into the rhythm of normal family life after a long separation.  17 days before my due date, and just 4 days after his dad had returned from a 4-month-long Navy deployment on an aircraft carrier, he decided that his 15-month-old brother had been stealing the limelight long enough.  My water broke while my husband and I were watching a movie together, and we were off to the races.  After a relatively short labor (6 hours from the time my water broke until the time we heard his first cries, and only an hour and a half was hard labor), our second son burst forth into the world after 2 pushes.  The doctor actually had to say "Whoa, hang on a sec" after the first push, so that he could grab his catcher's mitt.  No one expected it to be that easy (least of all his mother, who'd pushed for 3 hours the first time around, and then ended up having to have a forceps delivery).  But he was very good to me from the start, that kid.

This trend has only continued, through the 3 decades that he's been on this earth (making it a better planet by far--not just for me, but for all who come into his orbit).

I would be sad that the little blond boy in these photos is all grown up, and that it seems like it happened much too fast...but that would be silly.  Because if he was still a little tyke, I wouldn't have moments like this with him.



I don't know if there is any greater joy for a mother of sons than to dance with them at their weddings.  What a blessing that is, to live long enough to see your boys find the women who will be their partners for life.  And these women do not make you obsolete; no, they make you a mother of daughters, finally.

So happy birthday to my sweet second son.  I know it will be a great day for you--because I know you already have the greatest gift you could ever receive.