Well, today and last but most definitely not least, is Roman Gabriel, 3 year old son of Kristen. Roman was diagnosed in utero with gastroechesis, a condition where part of his bowel was on the outside of his body. About 6 1/2 weeks before his due date he appeared to be in distress so was delivered early by C-section and had his first surgery just a few hours after he was born. A couple more followed with a long stint in the NICU unit at Presbyterian/St. Luke's. I remember looking through a photo album during some of the hours in the waiting room, and the thing that gave me so much hope was seeing those tiny little bodies in the NICU and then following them to birthday parties later in life. Roman was probably in the hospital more than not his first year and he was hooked up to a feeding pump for 20 out of 24 hours much of that time. But on Christmas Eve just after his first birthday on 12/1, Roman's little body suddenly started working and he began to improve. There were a couple more hospital stints the 2nd year and one problem they had was finding a way to put an IV in since his veins were all so scarred. So they decided to do a surgical implant of a port that went directly into his aorta, he had a little button just under the skin of his upper chest they could use to draw blood and give him what he needed. But praise God, he stayed healthy enough last year that the surgeon decided to remove his port and now, except for some scars, he appears perfectly healthy, happy, and has caught up or exceeded developmentally. So he's our little multi-million dollar miracle baby and we don't take a single day with him for granted. He was named for Roman Gabriel, a football player, and would make any athlete proud with his incredible coordination, energy, and love for all things "ball". I imagine, if he gets a chance, he will play them all. Also ranking high in his interests are cars, trains, and DINOSAURS! He knows and applies correctly all the long words like "Triceratops" and I told Kristen the other day, his vocabulary fascinates me. He doesn't always say the words clearly but always uses them correctly. He loves playing with his cousins at Nana and Papa's house, and they are here often! I have a cute story about a day at the 'Boo at the Zoo" - his other grandma bought him an incredible little gorilla costume and I happened to be holding him at the glassed-in area underneath the gorilla house and we were right up against the rail. This was an incredibly realistic-looking costume and the big daddy ape suddenly saw this tiny gorilla on the other side of the glass and came right up to it. He cocked his head and just stared at Ro for the longest time. Roman got so excited he started jumping up and down and people were just going nuts. Of course, the rest of the group was up top so we didn't get a photo of that one, it would have been priceless. Oh, and one other little note - Gabriel also means "may the glory of God be upon him". That was and remains my intense, thankful prayer for him.
So - you've met my three little musketeers, the loves of my life - they are most definitely one of the real blessings about being older.
By the way, just to set the record straight on my mom, no, she is not an angel, in fact, she's pretty salty, but that just makes her all the more interesting. She said to me once "I just have a curious brain" - yes, and that makes her lots of fun to be with. If we go anywhere together she still sees 10x as much as I do! So...I'm getting kind of used to these early morning posts, it's not so bad to have lots of extra hours when no one else is using the computer. Happy Monday, hope you all have a great week!
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