My Son

One year ago my son was born. The past 12 months have light-sped by. My little boy is a cognizant, babbling, running, and mischievous human being. It’s hard to believe that one year ago he was placed in my arms and welcomed to the world for the first time.

I thought I would have been happy to have just one child. We were enjoying my daughter Eden so much, it just didn’t seem necessary to go through those awful nine months of pregnancy when we were happy with our family. But we thought it would be nice for Eden to have a playmate and a friend.

I was dreading pregnancy. I remembered all too well the miserable nights, the sickness, and the weight-gain. I had finally lost the weight from my first pregnancy, and it was no easy task. But did we really want Eden to be an only child? No.

The first three months of being pregnant the second time, I was sicker than I’ve ever been. I couldn’t get off the couch. It was like I had the stomach flu morning, noon, and night. I lost 15 pounds in 4 weeks. You’d think that was a blessing, but it was awful!

After the first 3 months the sickness eased some. Soon I gained back those 15 pounds and then some. And then some more. My stomach felt like a bottomless pit. I couldn’t stop eating. The day finally came when we settled on a name (at last!) and not long after that Lance was born into our family.

Recently I was having a very difficult day. My kids and I were at a park downtown. I was trying to get a very grumpy daughter into her car seat, and I was biting my lip at the pain from a freshly sprained toe. Nothing was going right. I managed to buckle in my over-emotional daughter and turned for my son. He looked up at me and gave me a dimpled smile. And suddenly everything seemed right again.

I can vaguely remember the miserable pregnancy, but it’s almost forgotten. I am still dealing with the weight I gained, but soon I’ll reach my goal and that part will be forgotten too. What I never will forget, though, is the joy that Lance has brought to our lives. Every second of this blindingly fast year with him has been worth it.