Happy 6th Birthday to my baby!

This morning at 1:46 am my sweet, first born son turned 6. He was born 1 month early and spent 15 days in the NICU and 4 months on a heart monitor at home. He had a rocky start, but I couldn't be any more proud of him now if I tried.

This was the 1st time we saw him, and he was 4 hours old. He was struggling to breathe so much under the vent hood that his chest was caving in. His IVs were also failing so within 12 hours of being born he was transferred to a higher level NICU and put on a CPAP and his IV was moved to his umbilical cord. This is the only picture of him with hair, because by the next time we saw him at 10am they had shaved his head to move his IV there. All 5 pounds 8 ounces of pure sweetness!

6 Wonderful things about Brandt:

1: He has such a sweet caring side, and has a huge desire to learn about our Lord, Jesus Christ. This summer he was in my room and another teacher stopped by. She asked him what his favorite thing about BCS was, and he told her learning about Jesus. Affirmation that we are making the right choice for our family by sending our kids there and the huge sacrifice it is.

2: He is such a great sharer, and has been since he was a little kid. He is always making sure that his brothers have the same thing he does, and will ask for 3 of whatever so he can share (even last summer when he was in the hospital for his concussion he was asking for stickers for his brothers).

3: He has such a strong desire to learn. He picks up things very quickly, and just amazes me at what all he remembers. In fact his music teacher is teaching the whole grammar school the school fight song. She told me that out of all the students (Pre-K through 6th grade) he was the 1st person to know it. He has been reading for almost a year already, and just started Kindergarten 2 weeks ago. He wants to know all the ins and outs and how things work, but he processes it all and just stores it. All of his teachers are floored by him, and one always tells him he is "smarter than a 5th grader". He has never seen the show so he thinks she means it literally. lol

4: He has such a tender heart. He wants to do good and please you. He does not want to disappoint you, and works really hard to make right choices. He does not always make the right choice, but he is very quick to apologize if he messes up.

5: He loves his brothers. Each and everyone of them. They are all so close with each other. He asks constantly to hold the baby and is so gentle and sweet with him. He will get the pacifier or come get me if he can't get him to stop crying. He'll bring me a diaper without me asking if he thinks it will help. He knows how to encourage them and does so on his own accord. Most of the time he builds them up, and it is amazing when you stop to think he is just now 6. When Brayden's teacher has a hard time understanding him, she'll get Brandt to help. Brandt does so in a manner that doesn't embarrass Brayden at all, and is such a big help to both of them.

6: He has such a funny sense of humor. Even as a baby he would laugh at the punch line of jokes. He is such a ham and loves telling jokes. He loves making his friends and family laugh. He can have the baby rolling on the floor laughing with his silly faces and moves.


We celebrated his birthday yesterday. Brandt wanted to have a swim party again this year, but he decided he wanted it at a different swimming pool in town that has a few neat slides, and things to climb on.
They have a really large slide, and he has not been big enough to ride it before. However, he is now tall enough to ride, and he rode it over and over and over again. This was his 1st time down it.
Brandt, his daddy, and my nephew Hunter
Bryson riding on Hunter's shoulders

Brayden is a water baby! This is the 1st summer that he has really enjoyed it, but he would spend all day everyday in the water if he could. He loves flipping under water and seeing how long he can hold his breathe.

They also have neat slide that isn't as huge and anyone can ride it. Bryson rode it over and over again as well. It goes into the big pool and is pretty steep with a life guard at the bottom and he felt so big riding it.
This is my grandmother holding Brennan. Poor baby was so hot, but he slept really well on her shoulder.
Daddy took him in the water to cool off. It was his 1st time in the water and he liked it. He soon relaxed and started sucking his thumb, and was almost asleep before his brother splashed him. He did not enjoy that though. lol
Brandt wanted a Star Wars party, and I thought his cookie cake turned out really cute. We let Brandt decide what he wanted on the cake, and he decided "May the force be with you" was perfect. lol

We are very proud of you, and love you very much!