Happy Birthday Austin!!

Fourteen years ago, the temperature was -12 degress.... that's MINUS 12 degrees. There was also quite a bit of snow on the ground as Aaron and I made the hour long drive to the Bloomington hospital. My water had already broken at home, but I hadn't started having contractions yet. It was five weeks before my due date.

For the next 20 hours... I labored. It wasn't bad, just exhausting. Many people hung out and waited. Mom, Dad, my step mom Julie, my brothers Kent and Evan, my sister-in-law Patti, my neice Haley, and our good friends Mike and Kristy. They waited, and waited and waited. At one point somewhere around midnight a few of them braved the cold and went out for breakfast. They still talk about how painfully cold it was that night.

FINALLY, at 2 in the morning, after 3 pushes, Austin made his grand entrance. After the traditional "It's a Boy!" the next thing the dr. said was "He's a little red headed baby!"

She was right... sort of .... his hair wasn't exactly red. It was bright orange. Bright orange fuzz all over his tiny head and tiny little eyebrows that looked like they had been drawn on with an orange crayon. He was perfect. All 6 tiny pounds of him.

Unfortunately he had gurgles... his lungs held some fluid. No doubt from being 5 weeks early. He was whisked past all the people who had been waiting hours to see him and taken to the nursery. He spent three days in an incubator on oxygen but he did very well considering.

So three days later we brought him home. Ethan was only 18 months at the time, but oh so excited. They have been best friends ever since.

Today, it seems like fourteen years went by in the blink of an eye. He has grown into such a great person. So fun to be around, such the crack-up, so smart, loving, considerate, sensitive and talented. Happy Birthday Austin...even though you're not so tiny anymore...you'll always be my little orange headed boy!