Friday, October 22, 2010

13

Today is a big day. Noah is 13. I have a teenager. 13. He thinks he has been a teenager for about two years now. He would tell me "So what? I a teen" I guess he can now officially enter the teenaged world. I am really handling it quite well. He started middle school in September and I guess I got most of my lamenting over at that time. There are times when I really have to step back and take a look at Noah with fresh eyes because I admit, he is a hard child to live with at times! Here are some things I try to keep in mind...
  1. When Noah is being stubborn and won't do what I want him too I try to remember that when he was on ECMO he was so stubborn that we couldn't talk to him or touch him or he would shut the pump down. Now being on a heart lung bypass may not seem like it is a good time to be stubborn but in reality, for Noah it was. He fought the good fight and came out of it not much worse for the wear.
  2. When Noah gets mad and "runded away" down the street and I have to chase him down and talk some sense into him I try to remember that this is the child that the doctors at MUSC said may never walk or run. I should be thankful that he is running...even it is away from me.
  3. When Noah calls me (or his brothers, or his cousins, or Butros Butros Gahli) an idiot (eeyait as he says it) I try to remember that this was the child we thought would never talk. I can remember Charles and I talking about how if we just just hear him say "I love you" it would make all the hours of therapy worth it. Now we can't get him to hush. And let me just say, why is it that the stronger the bad word is the clearer it comes out of his mouth? He doesn't say toothbrush real well but oh my soul can he say shut-up (and any four letter word that you can think of).
  4. When Noah tells me he wants another mother I try to read the note he left in my wallet when I got my wisdom teeth pulled. It said "I hope your teeth is o.k. love:Noah" He really does care.
  5. When Noah will not wake up in the morning I try to remember that this is the same child who did not sleep (at all) from the ages of 13 months til about 6 years. God bless the peaceful sleep.
  6. When Noah goes through his afternoon without so much as a kiss my foot, I try to remember that this is the same child who thanked me for paying the electric bill.
  7. When Noah gets out of the car and goes inside and sits his sitter in the chair to watch tv without once thinking to help me carry in bags or the baby or his bookbag, I try to remember the evening he made me a "sweet and sour" sandwich (which if you do not know consists of sweet n sour sauce from Mcdonalds and two slices of bread) just because I was having a bad day.
  8. When Noah is mean to Wil and beats him up I try to remember that this is the same child who sometimes reaches over and puts his arm around him and says "We best friends now". Please note this is ususally about 5 minutes before one of them runs screaming into whatever room I am in saying ..."Blank is trying to (insert some kind of  violent action here) with (insert some sort of weapon here) and it hurts!"
  9. When Noah complains about homework and pitches a fit about going to school I try to remember that this is the same child I used to put on my shoulders while pushing Wil in the stroller to get him into the school building when he was three.

I am so blessed to have him. I love hearing him say "I love you". I love how he signs 5 more minutes in his sleep. I love that he cares so much about Gabey Baby. I love how much he looks up to his Uncle Tom, Uncle Daniel and Uncle Bobby. I love that he sometimes talks my ear off and other times he is content to stay quiet. I love that sometimes I look at him and see myself and other times I look at him and I see Charles. I love that he can smell when someone has been in the car even if it was the day before. I love that he likes to climb trees just like me.
                                  


                                  

I Love You Noah!


10 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday Noah...PMS

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  2. Happy birthday Noah! Rachel, that is so precious!! I'm serious...you need to write a book!!! I'd buy it!
    DJW

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  3. HAPPY TEENAGER BIRTHDAY, NOAH!!! I love you too!

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  4. DEAR NOAH, I AM SO THANKFUL THAT I AM ABLE TO WATCH YOU GROW INTO A VERY CARING, HAPPY, AND LOVING TEENAGER. EVERY DAY I THANK GOD FOR BLESSING OUR FAMILY WITH OUR "BABY NO" MIRACLE!!! GOD IS SO GOOD AND I PRAY THAT HE CONTINUES TO GUIDE YOU AND TO BE WITH YOU ALWAYS.
    NOAH YOU ARE AWESOME !!!
    I LOVE YOU, GRANMOMMA

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  5. HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM ONE AWESOME OCTOBER BABY TO ANOTHER AWESOME OCTOBER BABY!!! I REMEMBER WHERE I WAS & WHAT I WAS READING AT THE TIME OF THE EXCITING NEWS OF YOUR BIRTH - I was a college kid in those days & really hated that I could not be there for your mum! Oh, and I think I should get mentioned in this post seeing that I was present for some of these photo shoots above ;)

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  6. You made me cry. happy birthday, Noah.
    Jackie

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  7. Rachel - this is simply a beautiful essay of motherly love. Thank you for sharing it. We all need perspective every once in a while.

    I must say I have loved watching you and Charles raise Noah - in spite of it all you kept moving him forward.

    He's a great kid. Tell him and Will and the rest hello!

    ERic

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  8. I just got around to reading this today. What a beautiful walk down memory lane and what a great treasure for Noah to hang on to.

    Laura

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  9. I don't know how I missed this post! I remember the day Noah was born. The fact that he got to ride in a helicopter without his parents to MUSC. The days traveling with GG to see him in the hospital... The birthday/Halloween parties....

    Also, good to know that you and your cousin are a LOT alike. I need to remember this list for myself.

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