Rob is now Nine years old

Nine.  One year less than ten.  Almost a decade of life has gone by.  Rob, my dear firstborn son, that's enough!  You are officially old enough!

Rob, I continue to live in amazement of how wonderful you are.  Physically you look more and more like your father every day.  The top of your head now meets the tip of my nose.  You have a "million dollar mouth" - you are a patient of the fabulous orthodontist Dr. Priscila Denny.  You have had oral surgery to pull down your front tooth and the one beside it.  You wear an expander - an appliance that slowly widened the top pallet of your mouth.   You wear a size Medium/Large in shirts, a size 10 in pants, and a size 4.5 shoe!

Athletically you are finally starting to "love the game".  You played baseball this spring and went on to play all-stars for the first time.  You now are playing football.  #1 in our hearts; #12 on the field.  You are our starting center and you have had some laughs with your Nona because she keeps asking you how it feels to hand-off the ball.  You frustratedly correct her; quarterbacks do the hand offs.  You do the snapping.

Emotionally you have matured even more this past year.  You are a good friend, a loyal son, nephew, grandson, cousin, and brother.  You are very responsible, yet carefree.  You are cautious, yet curious.  You are a builder, a writer, a thinker, and a dreamer.  You love to make people laugh.

Your favorite television shows include Duck Dynasty, Outrageous Acts of Science, Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero, Star Wars: Rebels, and Lab Rats.  You recently went to the theatre and enjoyed watching Inside Out, The Minions, Jurassic World, and The Avengers.

To celebrate your birthday, this morning Nona stopped by and brought you doughnuts.  You got to open your present from Dad and me, then I came and ate lunch with you at school.

This evening we plan to go to the high school to watch Helena play Shelby County High.  Tomorrow evening you have requested my homemade lasagna (my boy!) so we are going to have an August-birthdays-celebration at your Mimi and Rocky's house.  Last, but certainly not least, on Sunday Dad and I are taking you, Caroline, and two of your friends to Six Flags over Georgia (sorry, Will.  You're not big enough just yet.)

Rob, I love you so much.  I am sadly certain that the next nine years are going to fly by.  As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be!

William Joseph is Three!

Weight: 31.6 pounds

Height: 36" (right at 3 feet)

You wear a size 2T pants, 3T shirt, and a size 9 shoe

Sleeping Patterns: You do take a nap everyday, but it only lasts about an hour and a half or so...You are in your toddler bed (crib with the mattress lowered all the way and front rails off).  Ever since we went to the beach this summer and you had no choice, you now sleep with us every night.  Sometimes we can get you to sleep in your room, but you will inevitably end up in our bed before dawn.

Eating Habits: You could survive every day of your life with a Pop-Tart.  Brown Sugar and Cinnamon flavor, to be exact.  But when I force you to eat something different, your breakfast favorites are waffles and pancakes, too.  You love spaghetti, chicken nuggets, and applesauce.  You love strawberries and grapes, but you are not very big on any vegetables at all.  So we are working on that. 

New Discoveries & Accomplishments: You are fearless.  This summer you swam non-stop (while wearing a puddle jumper.)  Your brother and sister were both terrified of the water at this age.  You love all sports.  Whatever is being played, you want to participate as well.  You are getting pretty good at recognizing your colors, but not so much your letters.  You can tee-tee and poopy in the potty, but you'd rather not.  You still prefer your diaper.  So we're going to work on that very soon.  This spring the Pappy (pacifier) Fairy came and took your pappies away.  The babies needed them.  (S)he picked them up out of our mailbox.  You were very tickled to see that the fairy left some grass leaves behind in the box.

Places You Love: When we go to the Galleria, you must ride the carousel, but you can never remember the word.  You always say something to the effect of "Are we gonna ride the, um, what's-it-called?"  You got to go to the beach twice this year and the pool several times.  It's safe to say you are a water-baby at heart.  You love going to the ballpark, and you are always game to go on an evening walk with the family.

Special Friends: You idolize your brother and sister - much to their chagrin sometimes.  You also love your cousins Mason and Josie Kate.  You have recently been babysat by Grace, Hannah, and Erin.  You are crazy about "the girls" which is what you use interchangeably to describe Grace and Sadie as well as Erin and Emily.  Also, you have this cute way of saying Milesh.  You get really excited to see him.

Current Events: It's almost football season again.  We are gearing up for some Helena Husky football and some Bama football.  Nationally we are getting ready for the next Presidential election.  The GOP race is wide open, but it looks like Donald Trump is the most likely nominee.  The weather here in Birmingham has been hot, muggy, and rainy.  So basically, just another Southern August.

What We Did This Day: Today is Friday.  We saw your brother and sister off to school.  Then we had a little bit of mommy-and-Will time at home watching your beloved Paw-Patrol.  Later we went to the Galleria so you could take a birthday spin on the carousel, followed by an evening of football.  We are planning to watch the first-ever Mayor's Cup Game, a.k.a. Helena vs. Pelham High School

Your birthday party was last Sunday at Nona's house.  It was a dump-truck-theme.  Post coming soon.