15

I can hardly believe that Will is 15!   Funny as it may sound, I remember being amazed that Dave and I made it to Will's 1st birthday as that first year was a doozy for us.  In fact, Dave bought me a beautiful gold Tiffany charm bracelet on Will's 1st birthday in honor of surviving that first year as a Mom (wasn't that so sweet?).  Back then I would never have been able to imagine the fine young man he has become or the way our family has developed.  I would never have thought that charm bracelet would have charms representing 3 kiddos on it!!  Our first year with Will was SO rough that we had pretty much settled on the idea that he would be an only child. {The day Will was born Dave's Mom was diagnosed with cancer.  She died when he was 8 weeks old. His first plane ride was to her funeral.  Will had horrific colic (he cried/screamed 7 hours a day straight).  He also had MAJOR head surgery (half his skull was removed when he was 6 months old).  One week later Dave had major back surgery. I left a career I loved to handle all of this and probably had some baby blues.  Will also had all kinds of therapies (speech, OT, physical etc.)  It was a tough year.}   Look at us now though!  God had much bigger plans than we could have ever imagined for our family.

At 15, Will is very smart, very compassionate, awfully cute, a fabulous dresser, an avid reader, a strong swimmer, a selfless volunteer, pretty funny, quite polite and well mannered and he knows EVERYTHING ( ha ha! don't all teenagers?). He is also a strong Christian.  He can be a great big brother when he wants to be too. I will tell you that it has been a little bit of a rough year for us.  Will and I have always been very close but the teen years have been a bit bumpy at times.  I can say that Will is always quick to apologize when he hurts my feelings and he is about as good as a teenager gets.  But still...he IS a teenager and a bit of a challenge. I am working really hard to keep a close relationship with him.

We have had a busy day.  Will had swim team and drivers ed.  Then I took him and his best friend (and the friend's Mom who is one of my best friends) out for a nice lunch.   Will and his best friend have known each other since they were a few months old and they are going to the same high school which is so nice considering they have never gone to school together.  We gave him a G shock watch that he wanted and a few shirts.  I only had a minute to snap some quick pictures this morning (not the  best light at all) and I wanted to post them as I am headed out the door.  

Happy 15th Birthday Will.  We are so proud of you!!!