Happy Birthday, Little Man!

Samuel turned 3 this weekend! Honestly, we're amazed that this child made it to three.

Our time with Samuel hasn't been easy.

Samuel's first year, he cried every minute of every day. First we thought it was colic, but it never ended. We kept going back to the pediatrician over and over until finally he said, "I think your son just has a sour disposition." Samuel had low muscle tone in his legs and his mouth. He had to have feeding therapy because he could hardly suck a bottle when he was born. The child was, basically, pretty miserable to be around. I remember I called my parents just bawling, crying my eyes out, and they drove out to my house and my dad stayed up with Samuel one night just so I could sleep. It was really, really bad. I was extremely depressed. I cried a great deal that first year. Samuel is the reason I had to work...I just couldn't stay home with him. It was really, really rough. I have never seen a child that cried that much. He would even just crawl around playing and crying at the same time!!

Samuel went into the hospital with staph and scalded skin syndrome at 10 months old. For the next year, he was in and out of the hospital 6 more times with stomach problems. To this day, we really don't understand what happened (and neither do the doctors). From our best understanding, he was on so many antibiotics for the staph that it inflamed his intestines so much that he became unable to absorb lactose, fructose, and sucrose. That child vomited more in a year than most do in a lifetime. He was constantly dehydrated. David and I prayed so many nights, desperately desperately prayed for him to just make it through the night. He did. Today, he still avoids lactose (dairy) and fructose (fruits) but he's pretty normal.

This last year with Samuel has been fun! He's so verbal and, pleasantly, has a happy demeanor about him. We'll do something mundane like go to the bank and when we get back in the car he'll say, "That was fun going to the bank!! Thanks for taking me, Mommy!!" David read a Bible story and Samuel said, "That was a really, really great story!" Seeing a train on the train tracks just makes his day! He loves to do the calendar. He RUNS to his chair when it's time to do word cards. He's just a happy, fun-loving boy.

Samuel can recognize all the letters, count to 30, knows the days of the weeks and months of the year. He's a determined guy and if we tell him he can't have a cookie he'll climb the shelves to get one. He's also very clumsy, though. The child gets hurt more than any child I've seen. He's constantly falling down the 2 steps we have in our house. He often comes crying to us saying, "I bumped my noggin!" He also has a fascination with putting metal things in his mouth.

I think the best is yet to come with Samuel! He's becoming so much more mature and I can't wait to see how he changes over the next few years. Happy Birthday, little guy!