Happy "Birthday!"

Brennon's birth and first year will always be known as my most difficult.  But the boy that came from both circumstances has brought us so much, I don't even look back on those difficulties with any degree of sadness.  

Three weeks early and still 8 pounds, my little man came with some cuddly chub.

Brennon was plagued with colic from birth to 9 months.  He cried a lot.

 (1st "birthday")

 But once the colic passed, and he learned to crawl at 20 months, and then walk at 23 months, he was the happiest, most easy-going little boy ever.  Sometimes too tender, as evidence of him not wanting to even be outside if the lawn mower was on.

 This is one of my favorite pictures of Brennon.  Not because he's crying, but because of his cry face when he was disappointed that another little girl was playing with his toys.  It was hilarious the way he thrashed around and bawled his head off.  Look at those cheeks and chubby arms.

Had to capture that his legs got so chubby, they folded when in his Bumbo.

Once Brennon hit age 2, it was smooth sailing.  He was included in the Occupational Therapy program to help with his Gross Motor skills, in which he excelled and surpassed all of our expectations,

eventually landing him in the preschool that was pretty selective with the 3-year olds.  Brennon has always been one that worked hard for what he wanted, and always exceeded our wildest dreams.

 Brennon's 1st ACTUAL Birthday!

 (4-years old)

 His smile,

His peacemaking,

 His serene presence,

 His giggles have all brought joy and happiness into our home.

 (6th Birthday, when cousin Brennon came to visit)

The only sibling willing to shave their head in solidarity for Caden.  We played around a bit before bringing out the razor.

Brennon is still our most cautious child.  He loves to have things quiet, yet can't seem to keep his room clean.  He's known as our slob.  You can always tell when Brennon's been in a room, or where Brennon's been sitting.  One day his wife will probably get on him about it and all I'll be able to say is, "I tried my best every single day of his life."  But, like me, she'll see all of his other qualities far outweigh his sloppiness, and she'll love him fiercely for it.

Happy 11th "Birthday," Brennon Wayne Dirks!!!

One more year until you have another "Real" one.  Let's start now planning!

Brennon doesn't like cake, so he asked if I would make him a cookie cake.  Wanting to have some element that was my own, I got him trick candles.  They started to spark, so he knew they weren't normal candles, which was kind of a bummer.

It was kind of funny, because this picture was super forced for him.  I had time only to capture this photo before he was frantically blowing the candles out.  I didn't capture it, because it takes milliseconds to go between "photo" and "video," but he quickly blew out the candles and then scampered from his chair.  It was funny.  Eventually all the kids helped him blow before we placed the lit candles in a cup of water to soak for 5 minutes.

Remembering the cute picture from above, one from an actual birthday, I staged a fun one here.  He was less surprised with this gift, because the tell-tell signs of Legos in a wrapped box, but it was still fun to do.

"I got everything I asked for!"  Cookies to take to his class, school not cancelled as a Snow Day for his birthday, Chess Club, Pancakes from Ihop for dinner, Cookie cake, Legos and Rollerblades.  It was a good day!