Sunday, March 15, 2009

Happy birthday, Jeffrey!

Jeffrey turned 4 this week. He had scones with maple frosting for his birthday breakfast, we went to the park for lunch, and he had "chinchiladas" (Jeffrey's name for chicken enchiladas) for dinner. His birthday cake was, by very specific request, a yellow cake with blue frosting with a purple lightsaber on it (which is Mace Windu's lightsaber color, in case you don't know Star Wars as well as a four year old.) He got ninja turtles and legos for presents. Oh, and I should point out that he had to wear Adam's old basketball jersey that he had just gotten as a hand-me-down. It was a fun day!


Jeffrey is a good example that children are pretty flexible and can overcome some tough things over time. The valves in his lower ureters were too thick when he was born, so he wasn't able to urinate properly, damaging his bladder, ureters and kidneys. At 5 weeks old, he had a surgery to reroute his bladder to empty out of a hole in his abdomen. He had another surgery at 7 months, along with many painful and invasive tests and procedures. After that surgery and round of testing, he really wasn't sure who we were going to pass him off to next or what terrible thing they were going to do. He began to cling to Mom and Dad, terrified of strangers and refusing to go to anyone who wasn't a member of our immediate family. Now, though, just a few years later, he is totally independent and out-going. He doesn't ever want much help from Mom or Dad (which really caused a mess when he was potty training.) He says his "best buddies" are Jacob, Daniel and Josh. He and Adam go back and forth between "hating" each other and being best buddies, depending on how well they are sharing lego pieces. He really thinks he is one of the big boys. Even he and Beth get along great most of the time. He is a fiesty little guy, and we sure love having him in our family! (And, other than some minimal, residual kidney and bladder damage, he is healthy as can be!)

Here he is at birth and, below, Beth holding Jeffrey at 4 months old.

5 comments:

Allyson White said...

I love Jeffery. I can't believe that he is growing up so fast and that he even know what a light saber is (that shouldn't surprise me, right?). His primary teacher was telling me how cute he is in class. Great cake!

Rich said...

There's a story behind the cake. He found a picture in a photo album of Daniel's cake from his 4th b-day. He wanted it exactly the same except for a purple lightsaber. It didn't turn out quite as good the 2nd time around, but he didn't care!! (Khristine)

Jeri Pettingill said...

He is almost one of the big boys. Hard to believe that time flies so quickly. Glad he enjoyed his special day. What a great Mom to comply with the special requests and then explain it to those of us who are Star Wars illiterates

Allyson White said...

Okay--do I know how to spell or write in my comment? I don't think so. BTW, is there any way that I can be alerted when more comments are posted (like your response to me)? I end up missing responses because I forget to go back in and check.

Amy Beatty said...

Four already?! Love his spunky little personality. His food choices, and clothing is just perfect!