I Can't Believe He's Eight!

It all started with this. He was supposed to be a 9 pound, 2 foot giant "monster" that had tormented my body for eight and a half months. But then, on June 27, 2003, at 8:58pm, after 7 hours of labor a little angel was born instead. He weighed only 6 pounds 10 ounces, and was 19.5 inches long. He was tiny. He was beautiful. He was the way I became a mother-my most treasured job so far. He was Aidan Robert Sims, and he was perfect.



This is him now. He's 8. Yes, 8 years old today. This picture was taken at his birthday party last Saturday at Kidventure here in Huntsville. I cannot believe that my baby is a belching, ball-playing, bike-riding boy. He has grown into in intelligent, loving, caring, fun, curious, sometimes too serious, compassionate, kind eight year old boy. I could not be more proud of him than I at this moment, except to hope for my pride to grow as he does into a young, christian man.

Okay, enough mushy mom-stuff...

Aidan chose for his party this year to have it at Kidventure. This is a local play-place in Huntsville. We've been regulars there since we moved here 2 years ago (2 years-WOW). It has inflatables, a wooden pirate ship, skeeball, basketball, air hockey, climbing walls, and an infant play area. The kids LOVE it. Best of all, there is a parent rest area with wi-fi, and quiet, but you can see your kids-and they have paid workers to help supervise the kids-YAY. For parties, you have the place to yourself and they help with gift opening and clean--up. We love them!

Anyways, here are some pics of the kids playing...

Aidan and the boys
Conner and Cooper on Pirate ship
Jevan and Cohen on the plane
The big boys in the spinner-sort of

Everyone had a really good time. Aidan received lots of great presents, but I'm a little impartial to one...

John and I got him a basketball goal.
A real one...he LOVES it!

As I spend this day reminding my self that he's still my "baby" while I try to constantly fill his ever-empty stomach...I will think back to how fast time really flies. It seems like yesterday we were picking out preemie clothes, waking him for a midnight feeding, bribing him with cheerios to crawl, and I could hold him in one arm. Now I can't even pick him up. As he grows I realize how precious time is and how thankful I am that God blessed me with witnessing not one but 2 angels becoming young men and I pray for their lives to continue in the same way and that they always are who He wants them to be.

Storms, Surgery, School's Out!

I wasn't sure what to title this post. I've been a bad blogger again...haven't posted in a while. Hope my many (the 2 or 3 of you) followers forgive me. I have a really good excuse. Really. I do. Okay, I don't, but we have been busy. Let me fill you in on life the past 6/7 weeks.

First, as stated in my last post (Texas), the Sims crew spent Easter in Longview, TX to help John's grandfather celebrate his 90th birthday. We had a good time, but spent 4 straight days on the road, 3 nights in hotels, and no normal schedule for the boys. If you know our boys, they NEED a schedule. Anyways...

Then, 3 days after returning from the crazy trip, our family spent about 12 hours off and on in our bathroom hiding from the many tornadoes that ripped up Alabama. Our house was spared, but just a few miles to the west and north, there was nothing left but destruction. Also, due to the enormous devastation, power lines to the area were destroyed, cutting our power for 5 days. We headed north to Clarksville (that's our hometown) to rest and have a semi-vacation until power was restored and Huntsville returned to normal....

The Tuesday after the storms, the day after we returned home and had power, I had my surgery. I had a robot-assisted hysterectomy (or as John puts it-major abdominal surgery). I only had to stay in the hospital one night and John took off the rest of the week to play nurse maid. I felt more normal after 3-4 days, but couldn't drive for 2 weeks, so Ma came to be my driver and spoiling grandma for a while.

As the school year ended (a week later thanks to snow-did I mention it snows in Alabama..) our lives started to look normal again. Conner had to be re-potty-trained, my house had to be re-cleaned and re-organized thanks to me out of commission for a few weeks. Just as summer started up...VBS called. Oh yeah, I moved down here almost 2 years ago, I still teach VBS in Clarksville. Go figure. So the boys (the little ones) and I stayed up north for a week singing songs about hippos and pirates (they're in the Bible-right?) and spending time with good friends-some of whom have actually visited us already!

Now we're in the swing of things. Lazy mornings that don't begin until 6:00am. Sounds of children playing (that means screaming, "he hit me", "no, I didn't-he hit me". Good times. Only 8 more weeks. Did I just say that out loud? Yes, fellow teachers-I have become the thing that I hate. I have become the parent that wants children to ALWAYS be in school. This time next year I'll be praying for the school year to slow. But for now, I'm praying for rain, cooler weather, and brotherly love to overtake my boys. 2 out of 3 ain't bad, is it?