9 Things I Love About My Landen

Happy 9th Birthday to Landen!  Mom's too tired (lazy?) to post pictures tonight of our recent celebratory adventures, so I will just talk about my first-born son and pictures will follow some day in the near future!

My Landen is 9!!  Wow.  It seems like just yesterday David checked me into the hospital and went to Burger King to get something to eat.  (In his defense, NOTHING was happening at that point.)  At some point during the night/early morning approaching LABOR day no less, I declared that I wanted to give the anesthesiologist $1 million dollars for the epidural he had just administered.  David thought that would be a bit extravagant.  No way.  I was sure and still am that that man saved my life!  :o) 
And, so . . .
here are 9 things I love about my Landen.
1.  His smile and laugh.  He has always had the best smile and belly laugh.  He has been making other people smile for his entire life.  One memory I have of him as a baby is sitting in church with him facing me.  He smiled at me and I heard several women behind me making "ahhh" sounds at the sight.  He was a distraction in church quite often . . . and not always because he was cute!  (That part I didn't love so much . . . .)
2.  His love of reading and history.  I love how he can pick out something obscure (like Great Lakes ships) and study every possible detail.  Then he remembers those details, too.  Still, I have to remind him EVERY morning to brush his teeth.  That must not be an important detail in his life!
3.  He is a wonderful big brother to his younger siblings.
4.  He eats anything I put in front of him.  He's a mom's dream around the supper table and even helps me cook and bake on occasion.  In fact, he made and frosted his own birthday cake today!
5.  He has discovered Garth Brooks and thinks it's cool that radio stations are still playing songs from "way back then."  Maybe we'll go to see Garth at the Brown County Fair some day together when he is on his retirement tour.
6.  I never have to wonder what he is thinking.  (I don't always LIKE this quality right now, but I know it could come in REALLY handy if he continues this habit as a teenager.)
7.  He loves to mow the lawn, thus taking the pressure off of me to find time to sneak outside and mow in short bursts over several days.  Now we do it as a team, with him more than willing to watch his baby sister (and watch TV) while I do my part and get some fresh air, too.
8.  His red hair and freckled face.  I always wanted a little red head (and now I have two)!
9.  From the moment I knew I was expecting him (and the charts said he was 4 mm long!), I was completely head over heels in love with this child.  When he was born, I knew for the first time what it meant to be willing to give my life for another person. 

When God gave me Landen, he made me a MOM. 

I am so very grateful for that.

Happy Birthday to the one and only Landen Joachim Melius!