Happy Easter Everyone, Happy Birthday Cade!

This week, my "baby" will turn 7! I can't even believe that all of my boys are growing up so fast. Because Cade is the third boy, he has grown up especially fast. He walked faster, to chase the others. He potty trained easier because he wanted to be big. He stopped watching "baby" shows way too soon because his brothers didn't want to watch them anymore. He became a clown, making sure we never forgot he was around. His size doesn't help either. He is so much bigger than any other kid his age, that he is always considered to be older. I am guilty of rushing him through the "baby" stages, as well. I needed him to walk and be potty trained, and get along with his brothers. So here I am, the mother of an 11, 9 and 7 year old, and in line in China to add another. I don't think I ever thought I would actually be this old. I always saw myself with babies, but never with older kids. As much as I hate to see them grow up, I love it at the same time. I love seeing the new things they can do, and try to picture what they will look like when they're in high school.

When I was 36 weeks pregnant with Cade, I told the doctor that she had to do something. My pregnancies were always very easy, but I had a lot of back pain with Cade. I also felt like he was always about to fall out. She decided to do an ultrasound the next week, and it proved that I was right. He was huge. They estimated he was already 8 1/2 lbs. She induced the next week (38 weeks), and I delivered a 9lb 2oz, 22 1/4 inch baby boy. She immediately held him up and said, "Look, it's a bubba". She couldn't believe how big he was. Cade size has never evened out. We have barely been on the growth charts at all. When I doubled his size at 27 months to see how tall he would end up, it came to 7 ft. tall! Let's hope he's not that tall! Cade was the easiest, happiest baby until he hit 18 months.

Then he turned into a temperamental, tantrum throwing crazy child. When he was happy, he was great. But when something didn't go his way, you'd better watch out, and pray to God you're not in public.

I learned more about myself as a person and a mother during that year than I ever had before. There were days that I really didn't think I could survive. The truth was, he is very much like me. We were both fighting for the same control. When I learned to give him some control of the things that really didn't matter, things started to get much easier. As soon as he hit 2 1/2, things were totally like they used to be. He turned back into the happy, hysterically funny child he was before. He has continued to be such a wonderful part of this family. He fills a spot nobody else could fill. He keeps us laughing all the time. He's stubborn, cocky, and doesn't mind beating up his brothers, and eats more than any kid I've ever see, but he has so much personality, nobody seems to mind. (Well, the brothers mind!) He's the kid in school who takes up for those who are being bullied. He doesn't back down from anyone. From a mom who has another child who has struggled with bullies, I love this about him.

Anyway, I love this child. He has been such a blessing and a joy. I could never imagine my life without him in it. Here are a few pictures of him through the years.
In this one, he had just turned 3. He wanted to play so bad that we let him play on Braden's team. Richard was the coach, and nobody could tell he was so young because of his size and he could really play!

Happy Birthday Cade!!
I'm sorry, I know I got a little carried away with the pictures. He's just so darn cute, and I could have put so many more!

I hope you all have a great Easter and week. The kids are out of schoo this week, so we are off to the beach for a few days. The weather's supposed to be great, but a little cool (relatively speaking). It'll be in the 60's. I am so excited to be getting away for a few days. Hopefully I'll have some cute pictures to post when I get back.