Five Years Old!

It's hard to believe, but my little boy turns five today. As I write this, Rhys is with his mom watching "Wall•E". I'm a bit jealous, but he's been dying to see it since he learned that it was being released on the same day as his birthday.

I can still clearly remember that day five years ago when we went to the hospital for Kristen's C-section. We still didn't know whether we were having a boy or a girl. We weren't really hoping for one over the other. We wanted to be surprised and just wanted a healthy baby. We went to the operating room, I got all dressed up in scrubs, boots, hat and a mask while Kristen was wheeled in and prepped. They called me in and I sat down up by Kristen's head behind the curtain that hides the view of all of the icky blood and internal bodily stuff that most folks don't want to see. When they pulled Rhys out, I stood up and took a good look. I didn't care about the icky stuff since that doesn't really bother me. After a quick look I was pleased to announce to Kristen that we had a boy!!

It took Rhys quite a bit longer to turn pink and start to cry. Irene came out of the gates all full of piss and vinegar, crying and pink as a baby piglet. I carried Rhys up to the nursery so he could be checked out and cleaned up. After a couple of days we took him home, but there were some complications with jaundice that took many days to clear up. We made several trips to the hospital for blood tests and even had a special blanket at home (called a billi-blanket) that we had to keep him wrapped up in. Basically it was like a tanning bed in blanket form with lots of lights that helped to break down the toxins in his blood. Eventually, it was all cleared up and it's been (mostly) smooth sailing ever since!

So, Happy Birthday buddy!!