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!