Guess Who's 3 & the Christmas Tree...

The 30th we celebrated Boston's birthday. The day was much tougher to get through than I anticipated. I woke up and my first thought was back to that day three years ago. Britt woke up around 4am with contractions but they weren't very close. Finally at about 7am we decided to head to the hospital. I honestly didn't think we were going to make it there because she thought he was coming right then. Within about an hour of getting to the hospital Boston was born. We never thought Britt would be able to have a child again after going through chemo the first time around. When we found out she was pregnant we didn't think there was anyway the baby would be born healthy. Boston was born about as perfect and healthy as anyone could hope for. I remember the feeling Britt and I had that morning after she delivered Boston. We felt on top of the world...we had this new baby boy, Britt's cancer was long gone...we had no reason to think we wouldn't have a nice long life ahead of us as a family.

Had someone told me Britt wouldn't be here with us to celebrate Boston's 3rd birthday I wouldn't have believed it...not only would I not have believed it but I would have most certainly applied a choke hold on someone who would have told me that. It was so surreal that in such a short time after Boston was born that Britt has left us. Britt was rediagnosed with her cancer about a month after Boston was born. Life was never the same for us after that. It wasn't much fun thinking about planning his birthday without Britt. She always did such a good job when it came to birthday's. Luckily once again I have a great family who helped me make it a fun and memorable birthday for Boston.

Boston truly is our miracle baby. I like to think that Britt's last great mission on this earth was to bring him into this world. Anyone that knows Boston knows what a funny, loving little kid he is. He will melt any heart within seconds. He has brought our family so much joy despite so much other heartache in our lives. It's hard for a dad not to smile when he see's his son wake up in the morning and before doing anything else put on a baseball hat, grab his mitt and bat then go downstairs for breakfast. Happy Birthday Boston! We hope it was fun for you.

The 3rd birthday is special in our family. When one of the grandkids turn 3, Grandma Nae takes them to build-a-bear to pick out their own bear. It has become quite the anticipated event. It's probably the equavilent of a Jewish boy's Bar Mitzvah. So yeah, this is a big deal. Monday morning Grandma took Boston to get his bear, or monkey. Boston picked out a Monkey instead of a bear and he named him George...because every kid wants a monkey named George right? Well, you'll never guess what kind of outfit he picked out for his monkey...yep, baseball...full on with a bat, mitt and shoes. That monkey goes everywhere with us now and even has to have a carseat in the car.

The proud new parent.

Saturday afternoon the kids and I decided to go get our Christmas tree. This was another thing I was absolutely not wanting to do without Britt. I think she knew this and helped me out. When we got to the tree lot I walked in and pretty much looked right at the tree I wanted without having to look around forever trying to find a decent tree. We were in and out of that place in five minutes. That definately made things easier...until we got home. It's been interesting to watch Harmony these last few weeks as we've been doing Christmas things. She has just kind of naturally stepped in and filled Britt's role in helping me with a lot of things. Little did I know that while I was unloading the tree from the van and putting it in the stand she was in the house doing exactly what Britt does...cleaning the front room and moving the couch...yes moving the couch. I walked in the house to do this and saw that it was almost done except for getting it down some steps. I have no idea how she did this on her own but it made me laugh. I really missed having Britt tell me which way to turn the tree once it's in the house and where she wants it.

Later that night the kids and I decorated the tree. Usually Britt will unpack all the ornaments as we go and hand them to the kids while I take turns lifting each kid to put ornaments up on the higher branches. Once again there was Harmony sitting exactly where Britt always sits and was unwrapping the ornaments and handing them to Brynn and Boston. At this point I couldn't help but get a little emotional at watching this and wishing Britt were here doing this with us. The kids had a great time decorating the tree. I hope this will be a Christmas they will always remember.

I think Boston just got done doing Jingle Bell rap.