Benjamin's birthday

Benjamin Avery was born into the world at 9lbs 9oz at 3:42 pm Friday Feburary 13th 1998. My labor was over 29 hours long, and there were a couple bumps along the way, but he was a healthy happy solid baby right from the beginning! He was sleeping through the night almost immediately and he was the most easy going baby I have ever met!
It was just him and I back then. I was a single (very young) girl who was suddenly a mother, and while the circumstances were not ideal, I am SO happy to have Benjamin as a son. I was scared of the unknown and very nervous about the things I did know, but you can be certain as soon as that baby boy entered this world I was ALL about being the best mother I could. I had a wonderful network of friends who were not even considering having children of their own at the time, so Benjamin was sort of adopted in as our mascot! Everyday w/o fail someone would come to the townhouse and go straight for Baby Bubba as soon as they got in the door! (This was his official mascot nickname!) I also met Brian when Benjamin was 6 weeks old, and the 2 of them became fast friends! Benjamin loved Brian more than nearly anyone else because he tweeted like a bird, and he quacked like a duck when Benjamin touched the bill of his baseball hat, or his necklace (hey it was the 90's ok necklaces for men were "in").
I knew right away that Benjamin would be an intelligent kid. He was talking and counting to ten the Christmas before his first birthday. We was even spelling at the age of 2. I feel very fortunate that he and I were able to spend so much time together before he was in school. I will never regret the decision to stay home with them rather than send them to daycare! He is growing up so fast, and it amazes me that 11 years ago I was holding an infant in my arms whose entire world depended on me and what I knew. And now I am amazed by what he knows, and I am grateful that he is here to help teach me. I thank God that he trusted me to walk with Benjamin in his life, and I hope that he and I will always remain as close as we are. I feel blessed to be his mother and I look forward to every fleeting moment I get to spend with him.
Here he is over the years:


2005, we were playing with the different settings on our first digital camera!!

2006, Murphy E's birthday party, he was being a good sport for all the little ones.

2006, this was what I found on the camera one day...Mr. Benjamin got ahold of the camera!

Feb 2007 Benjamin and his good buddy MoJo

June 2008 Benjamin on my birthday at 300 First--can you tell he likes taking pix of himself?

Jan 2009 He is imitating me before I leave for book club. Brian and I keep telling him he has to stop giving us such great material for graduation time! This picture is priceless!!