Happy 14th Birthday, Andrew!

It is hard to believe that it has already been 14 years since giving birth to Andrew. I have tried not to dwell on the fact that he is 14 years old as that would mean that I would have to admit to how old I have gotten. Yes, 14 years have passed. As Andrew has aged, I have aged right along with him. There is no denying it.

But this is about Andrew….

I could dote on him and tell you how wonderful he is. Those of you who already know him, know how wonderful he is.

So I’ll show you…

Andrew is wonderful enough that we sometimes let him play with fire. He is at least wonderful enough that he did not complain that he only had a single candle on his 14th birthday cake. He didn’t even complain that his 14th birthday cake was not home made by mom. As seeing I was only 2 weeks post-op at this point, he was lucky to even get a cake so he was happy to get what he got. This one was a Walmart special. It was a chocolate fudge cake. It was chocolate on the inside with a fudge icing on it. Fudge it was. It was actually quite tasty. Now, let us get to the important point here…where are those matches?

Andrew is wonderful enough that he even let me stage his “blowing out the candles” picture. See the problem was that with only one candle and 14 years of candle blowing out experience he was too fast for his mother to get pictures of the coveted moment in time. Yes, his mother made him reignite and blow out that candle at least 3 times and finally she gave up and settled for the totally posed approach to picture taking. It all works out in the end. The only difference is that there smoke is totally missing.

Andrew is wonderful enough that his mother even sometimes gets him smiling in the pictures. He has reached the age where taking pictures is not his favorite thing to do. I’ve seen him hiding from my camera more than once, but most of the time he does allow me a few snaps here and there. Sometimes we even get a few where it is clear that he is up to something. Maybe it was the presents though?

Andrew is wonderful enough that he even gets excited about getting pants/jeans for his birthday. When you are as hard to fit as him, you have to take them as they come even if they are are for big events like birthdays. When you have a 29 inch waist and wear a 34 inch inseam, you’re lucky if your mother (or anyone else for that matter, grandma in this case) can find 30×34 in anything. At least we know they exist in that size even if they are hard to find.

Andrew is wonderful enough that he even got excited about the new wrist watch he got. I got excited when I found it for the price I found it at. It even came with the wrong directions. Thank goodness for the internet and product information online. Makes me wonder if it was even on the write display thing.

Andrew is so wonderful that he even makes Agent P (aka Perry the Platypus) look good. Here he is in the Agent P baseball came from his Aunt Jennifer and cousin, Katlynn.

Andrew is so wonderful that he can’t help but smile sometimes.

Andrew is so wonderful that he is even smiling when he’s trying to get his mother to stop taking his picture…again….

Andrew is so wonderful that he even makes being 14 look good!

 Lance. Happy Lance!

Kyle. Happy Kyle!

Here is to another 14 years, Andrew! May the next 14 be just as much fun. Hopefully next year we will actually get to celebrate ON your birthday instead of you going camping with the Boy Scouts. It is OK, your mother got over it this year…but…that is how I knew you were growing up on me…when you didn’t care that we didn’t celebrate your birthday on your actual birthday.

Love you bunches, son!