Happy Birthday, Sweet Baby Nelson

I can't believe it's been a whole year. Where does the time go? I completely understand what parents mean when they say kids grow up too fast. There is not enough space on this blog or quite frankly all of cyberspace to articulate all the things that Nelson has taught me, shown me, given me, and brought to my life. I have always loved children (and babies especially), but I never imagined I would love a child this much. I still tear up and occasionally cry just thinking about him. I was blessed and honored to have my dear friends Ben and Katherine allow me to be there for his birth. I will NEVER for the rest of my life forget that entire VERY EARLY morning on Christmas Eve 2005 when this precious angel came in to the world. I can still see him looking up at me when I held him for the first time. He still looks at me that way every now and then. I will always remember him sleeping through the Alabama bowl game on my chest when he was a week old. That he doesn't do any more...sadly for me. When Katherine was pregnant, I wondered constantly what his smile would look like, what his laugh would sound like, and if he would like me or run screaming from the room away from me. Over the last year, I have seen that smile so many times, my heart is a puddle because it melts every time. His laugh is infectious and one of the only sounds in this world that can make any bad mood I have go away. And, thankfully, he seems to love me. He walks to me, hugs me, kisses me, and (occasionally) snuggles with me. Over the last year, Nelson has filled a hole in my heart that I didn't know was there, and I only have God to thank for that. God brought Ben and Katherine into my life, He gave Ben and Katherine Nelson, and they have allowed me to be a major part of Nelson's life because of the gracious and kind people that God created them to be. If all this fit in to one year, I cannot even begin to imagine what the next year and the next year and the next year have in store. Happy Birthday, sweet baby Nelson. Thank you for being one of the great loves of my life.