A Sandy Birthday

Today is Christian's birthday!

And it was a beautiful day, just as the day he was born.

Leading up to this day, the thought of his impending birthday gave me butterflies. Every time I would think about it for a minute I would feel a great deal of happiness and joy.

Although I may not be able to articulate this feeling of joy as well as I'd like, let me explain.

Christian was a very wanted child. Not to say that my other children were unwanted or anything like that, but Christian is ten years apart from my oldest. So in a lot of ways he was like another first child. He was planned for, there were new baby necessities, we decorated a nursery in green and blue, and we prepared.

Thinking about his birth only makes me happy. I remember how much we anticipated him and how excited we were to bring him into the world weighing in at 9 pounds...and a week early!

His birthday doesn't make me sad. It gives me joy, in fact. It's the day that connects the Christian I gave birth to with the Christian I have today. And if those two boys share nothing but identical genetic makeup, name, curly blond hair, and fair skin, they, too, share that blessed date of August 1st.

That's something to feel joyful about. It's something to celebrate.

I wanted to celebrate in a different way this year. I didn't feel like having a birthday party was quite the right way to commemorate my little guy's birth. He wasn't much impressed with a party last year or cake or the Funyons that fed all the other eager children running around hopped up on cherry sours.

So I thought - Let's do something Christian would like to do.

He loves the ocean. I play CD's with ocean sounds to calm him. Every time we've taken him to the ocean a calm settles over him. As I mentioned last year, when I was pregnant with Christian, we used to plan to bring Christian back to that very beach to put his feet in the sand.

It was decided.

We took our boy to the ocean for his birthday.

We laid him right there on the beach and Daddy rerouted a lazy river headed back to the ocean at low tide so it would flow under Christian. He felt the sand and it was so warm, there was no way on earth that boy would catch a chill. And when we were all done we carried him back up the beach with a curly, blond head full of sand.

It was a beautiful day.

And just like last year...can't forget little sister!

More from the ocean, coming soon...

Dear Christian,

The day you were born was and is one of the happiest days of my life. As long as I live I will celebrate you. I have many birthday wishes for you, but the biggest one of all is the same wish I held for you on the day you were born - that you are happy and healthy. Happy birthday, my precious boy.

Love you, Chrissy.

-Mommy