9 years and not under 1000 grams anymore!

Today is May 17th.  In Germany, today is Fathers Day.  The people of Norway are celebrating the Norwegian Constitution Day.  For all my Christian friends, I'm sure you know that today is Ascension day.  The 40th day of Easter.  The day that Jesus is said to have ascended into heaven.  Here in Belgium, Ascension Day is a holiday.  Everything is closed, everyone is being Holy... And it's not even Sunday!
Here in our house.  It's the kiddos birthday!!  With today being a holiday, there's no school!  What better way to celebrate your birthday than to have a day off!  Talk about one excited kid!!

 I know that all parents get excited about their child's birthday.  I'm not sure if we get excited, or if we spend the day thinking about that day in 2003 when our life forever changed and in an unimaginable way.    I say "we." I really kind of mean "me." When it comes close to this time, every year, I think about how incredibly lucky we are.  Not only that we have an awesome kid, but the fact that we have an awesome kid who has conquered everything ever challenged with.  Has fought against, and beat, staggering odds.  Not only did this kid survive, but he can also walk, feed himself, breath on his own, talk.  You name it, he does it.  Just like every other kid.  The professionals tell you from the moment of birth that the ride is a roller coaster and that even after the years of physical, occupational and speech therapy, there will still be things that pop up and they'll have to be dealt with.  That absolutely is true, but this amazing kid has managed to face and overcome all of those obstacles.  Now days, it's no longer the forgetting to breath, or the speech, or the gross motor skills, or the horrible allergies(they are still an issue, but we've figured them out) it's more of an education obstacle.  I'm proud to say that with hard work, even that is something that is being overcome.  We just received the Terra Nova(standardized testing that all children do every year) scores and he did awesome.  In fact, he did better than awesome.  We're very proud parents.  I know that everyone is proud of their kids, but I think it's more than just being proud of him.  It's the fact that he's accomplishing things so big, and was given such grim odds of accomplishing even the basics of day to day living.  There's a lot to be said for that.  So anyways...  Happy Birthday to our little man, it seems like just yesterday that you were fighting for life.

Under 1000 grams

9 years later

Stopping for a second so I can take a picture of the soccer net he got for his bday!