My Biggest Boy Keeps Getting Bigger!

My biggest boy Caleb turned 7 yesterday! He is not the oldest or the tallest, of course. But since the moment he was born his is by far the largest if you compare age for age. Some day he'll tower over all his big brothers, no doubt.

And he also holds a huge chunk of my heart!

From the moment he was born there was something about that kid. I took one look at him and was smitten, absolutely madly in love with him. It was way beyond anything I had felt when I first laid eyes on my first four. Not that I didn't love them - I sure did, the moment they laid them in my arms, that gush of love and sense of recognition that all moms feel when they meet their babies face to face for the first time. But with Caleb it was different. The rush of love was so intense, so much greater than I had felt with any other of my babies! I knew why. After 4 boys I had wanted a girl SO bad. I ached for one. I knew this, and since I choose not to know the sex of my babies until they are born (twins excepted), I had prayed and prayed my whole pregnancy that if it were another boy I would not be disappointed and that I would love him just as much. The Lord is good, and he answered my prayer! When I first laid eyes on that sweet, humongous nearly 11 lb. baby Caleb I was filled with love that was so marvelous, and so pure, that I can imagine it is perhaps something like the love our Heavenly Father feels for each of us. It is not that I love Caleb any more than any of my other boys, but the Lord just allowed me to have that experience with this baby so that I would not be disappointed with another boy - so that I would know just what a special spirit he had sent me, specifically for me, to bless my life. And that testimony of his greatness of spirit carried over to all my other boys. They Lord wanted me to know just what special, beloved individuals they all are to Him, and how lucky I am to have been selected out of all the world to be their mother.

I love to remember that feeling every time Caleb has a birthday.

And now he is seven, and I can hardly believe it! What a joy he is to me, my biggest boy. I love his broad, broad shoulders, even though he is skinny as a rail, and his huge noggin with his mop of blond hair (so glad the blond stayed! Alex and Nate were towheads until they were about 4 or 5) and his huge brown eyes that are so dark they are alarming with his blond hair. And of course I love the spattering of freckles across his nose! Love, love, love them.

Happy 7th birthday, Caby Baby! Thanks for the joys that you bring into my life every single day!