It's my punk's birthday!

Eleven years ago, I became a mommy for the first time.

We found out that I was pregnant with Cody at a very difficult time in our lives.
Steve's mother was terminally ill at the time and I remember thinking that it wouldn't be a good time to be pregnant. On the day of Steve's mother's funeral I suspected I was pregnant. A few days later, my suspicions were confirmed. Turns out, he was an incredible blessing.

Don't I look lovely? I often remind Cody of how hard my pregnancy and labor was with him. Here's the proof. Yikes.

I gained around 65 pounds when I was pregnant with Cody. I was hoping he would be a 50 pound baby. He weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces and was 20 and 3/4 inches long. That meant the rest of the weight was all chubb.

Love his big blue eyes!

This seems familiar...except the contents of the mess are different.

He's full of personality.

He has a great smile. He gets that from his momma. The kid is incapable of taking a bad picture!

He has been known to make a mess or two! Such as the time when he climbed on the counter and flooded my kitchen. That's blackmail material people!

He has a lot of determination.

My little punk is a brain. He didn't get that from his momma. He's a straight "A" student and his teachers have raved about his math skills. This is a picture of him at the Math and Science Olympiad. The Math and Science Olympiad! The only Olympiad I would ever have participated in, would be the "nose picker Olympiad", or something dumb like that.

He is a wonderful example.

He is the perfect big brother. I'm amazed at how much he loves his baby brother. He never complains when I ask him to check on Conner, get me a diaper, see what's in Conner's mouth, and watch Conner. The list goes on and on. I appreciate him sooooo much!

Happy Birthday Cody!