16 years of Austin (my baby boy)!

16yrs seems like such a long time...although looking back over the yrs I often wonder where they have gone!  16yrs ago, I gave birth to my first baby boy!   So much love and joy he has brought into our lives!  When I look at him, especially on his birthdays, I am reminded of those first special moments with him, when the world stood still and nothing else mattered.  The world kept turning, but ours frozen in time!  I can still feel the cuddly warmth of him in my arms that first time, smell him all fresh and new into this world, and see him as my baby, in my arms!

The yrs have brought hysterical bout's of laughter from him to trials and tears!  So in honor of him on his special day, when he will take on all new adventures in the life of a 16yr old, such as driving and dating, I am going to reminisce of a few moments of the past 16yrs...so stick with me.
Bringing Austin into this world, although worth it, was no easy task!  I grew very sick during the end of my pregnancy (as I know more now than I did then), and I thought that he would never make his arrival into this world.  Finally 4 days ofter due date I went into labor and delivered him early in the morning of the 23rd of March.  Although I was on medications during my delivery that made me ill and delivered him without medications to relieve pain, It was still the most breathtaking and intimate moment!  And it was during my delivery with him, I decided I was going to become a labor and delivery nurse (it only took me 16 yrs to get there).

At 10weeks Austin got very sick with RSV and was hospitalizes for 3days.  Even though he didnt feel well he still smiled and flirted and cued at the nurses.   He has always been such a sweet little man.

As a little boy he loved to go to the airport and watch his airplanes come in.  He was very peticular about the way he looked, his hair and his clothes!

14 months he took a dump in his dump truck, and proceeded to paint his room with it during nap time.
He drove moms car over Grandmas basket ball hoop when he was 2!  He was so upset to have to tell Grandma.

That summer he was bitten by a yellow jacket and went into anaphylaxis shock!  Very scary moment for mom!  He just tried to smile at me because he knew I was stressed and his little face continued to swell.

He loved to fish, take things apart and put them back together and climb! That kid could climb anything and everything...from the fence at 13 months to the basket ball hoop I found him sitting in at 6.  One day I found him on top of the street sign sitting there!
  
I will never forget in the 1st grade when he won "feet of the week" and brought home a foot doughnut and a little girl in his class.  I sat and watch with pride as he pulled the bar stool out from the counter, got her seated and cut his foot doughnut in half and let her choose the half she wanted first! How many 7 yr olds do that.
I think we always new he would be such a smart kid.  His kindergarten teacher told us once she could get him to do class work because he went around the room and found things to repair and just wanted to fix everything!  Not a shock he still fixes everything.  It was in Kindergarten that he took apart our broken vcr and simply told us that it needed a new fuse.  Who even knew they had a fuse (not me)!

As the yrs have passed and I have watched him grow from my little man who would stick out his pointer finger and say "cool man", to my little big man that is bringing home girls to meet mom, fixing the computer problems and inventing stuff, there is so much pride and thankfulness in my heart for the love and laughter that he has brought to us over the yrs.

I love you forever, I like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be!  (from a book I read with him as a little boy)!
Happy Birthday Buddy!