Looking Back on Ian's First Year

Ian Kenneth was born four weeks early on May 11, 2007. He weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces and was 19 inches long. He didn’t handle birth very well and, so, spent six hours in the neo-natal intensive care unit. Thankfully the Lord was watching over him and Ian was discharged from the hospital with nothing more serious than a mild case of jaundice.

This is the only picture we have of him in the NICU.

At six weeks of age Ian was diagnosed with reflux, which his big brother also had as an infant. He has been on Zantac ever since. He has, however, never had a problem gaining weight. When the Lord made Ian he accidentally added two “hungry” centers of the brain and left out the “sleep” center.

Ian had some physical developmental delays. I say “had” because in March he suddenly decided he was done with just rolling around. He now cruises around from couch to table to toys to windowsills and back again. He climbs the stairs as often as I turn my back and has even climbed up on the couch. I fully expect him to one day get bored with crawling, stand up in the middle of the floor and run after Ethan.

His only words right now are “da-da” and “og” (for the dog), but he expresses his moods very well in screams, screeches, grunts and yells. I sometimes wonder if I brought a baby home from the hospital or Ethan rescued a howler monkey during one of his imaginary jaunts with Diego and baby jag-water.

Ian already worships Ethan and finds his big brother to be the funniest creature on Earth. For his part Ethan is very protective of Ian and loves to play with him. He loves to go with me to get Ian after naptime and say “Well hello there. Did you have a good nap? Want to play ball now?”

We’ve all been blessed to have Ian in our lives. Despite the sleep deprivation, the multiple changes of clothes from the puking, the digestive worries, the concerns over his development and the usual baby trials, I wouldn’t trade my precious little boy for all the money in the world.

I might consider loaning him out to his grandparents for a month or so, though. You know, now that he’s one year old and such a big boy.

Just teasing, sniggett. Mamma loves you.