Holy Crap! I cannot believe my baby boy will be two years old in less then 10 days!!!! That seriously blows my mind. Seems like just yesterday I was in labor with him. I sure don't miss the pain, but I will never forget the moment the doctors held my beautiful son up and I got to see him for the first time. It was love at first sight and I never will forget that moment. James Ryan Welch, that would be his name. My miracle had finally arrived. Now time to spoil him! That was March 21st 2009. James was born at 10:33am and weighed 6lbs. 13oz. He was 20 inches long and had the most precious face in the entire world. I remember thinking (whew) no carrot top hair! That was a close one! Mom had always teased me about having a little boy with bright red hair and freckles everywhere. Well, she was right about the whole boy part and red hair, just not bright red! It was a little while before I finally got to hold my son for the first time. I had to have an emergency c-section, as James was breech. When I finally did get to hold him, it was the proudest moment of my life. That is where the photo shoots all began. I don't think there has been a day since that I haven't snapped a quick photo of him. Poor thing, it is a miracle he didn't go blind. James is so used to it now, when I say cheese, he literally strikes a pose. I love that little monkey so much! Look out Calvin Klein models, here come James Welch! He could get away with anything with those BIG beautiful blue eyes!
God has truly blessed me. James has been content from day one! He is such a good baby. He always just goes with the flow. When he smiles, it melts my heart. He has the best laugh ever! It's no wonder he has so many nicknames. I don't know how in the world I came up with Butter Bean. I am sure it will be embrassing to him later, but for now, he is and will always be my Butter Bean. Jeremy likes to call him Stinkbug. Mom likes to call him Nugget . Poor kid...it took him a while to catch onto his real name.
I remember when Jeremy first told me we could start "trying" to have a kid. We were at Folly Beach, eating outside at the Taco Boy when he first mentioned it. It was a late anniversary trip for us. That was early March and come July of 2009, I was pregnant with James. The funny thing is, Jeremy knew I was pregnant before I did. He came one day after playing golf and said "you are pregnant". I just shook my head no and looked at him like he was crazy. I said "why do you say that?" His was response was that he had hit his golf ball into the woods that day and when he went to go pick up, what he thought was his golf ball, he turned it over only to find that it said "World's greatest Dad" now how weird and amazing is that? If that wasn't God talking, then I don't know what is. Sure enough that week and I went and bought a pregnancy test and it came up positive. I remember sitting there and thinking "oh my gosh I am pregnant" I kept repeating that over and over again in my head. I immediately went back to Walmart and bought two outfits. One for a boy and one for a little girl. I also got a card for Jeremy to open. I called him when I got home and asked what time he thought he might get home that night. I was dying to tell someone. I couldn't hold it in any longer. So sure enough Jeremy got home and I had the card all ready to give him. So I hand it to him and his stinkin butt just sits it to the side. I am thinking are you kidding me right now? OPEN THE FREAKIN CARD ALREADY. Finally after saying "are you going to open that" fifty billion times, Jeremy looks at me and says "why? I already know what it is." I said "just open it" So finally he did. I guess I would have liked for it to be a little bit more of a surprise, but honestly it wasn't. I then brought the clothes in that I had bought. Jeremy took one look and says "I don't know why you bought little girls clothes, we are having a boy" Well, I guess he was right! He is the sweetest most perfect gift from God I could ever ask for. There is not a day that goes by that I don't thank God for him! I will be sad knowing that my baby boy is turning two, but at the same time, I will rejoice in the fact that God has given me one more year with him! I love you Butter Bean!
