Monday, August 24, 2009

happy 4th birthday, dennis!



today is dennis' 4th birthday. my memory of his actual birth is pretty foggy (poor middle child. i'm sorry, baby). i do know that my mom and sister were at my house and we were getting ready to leave to go on a crate and barrel shopping expedition when my water broke. so, instead of crate and barrel, tommy and i went to the hospital where i was hooked up to my antibiotics (i was group b strep for my last three pregnancies). i know that was probably about 7pm and that we were there all night, but i have no real clear recollections, otherwise. meghan (who was there in the delivery room with us for both thomas and dennis) says that at some point the next day, i started bleeding, which was pretty freaky and then he was born (very vague, i know). i didn't get to hold dennis immediately. he was whisked to the nicu because he was a "mellow fellow." in the meantime, i had a reaction to the anesthesia so they put benadryl in my iv, which pretty much turned me into a non-comprehending mass of sleepiness. i vaguely remember them wheeling me past him in the nicu to see him and just praying that they would put me in a bed so i could sleep. not a very romantic or noteworthy story. sorry, baby.

dennis was actually born on a wednesday at 2:45 pm weighing 6 pounds, 7 ounces (peanut!). he was, and still is, one of the honest-to-god prettiest boys i have ever seen (when i was pregnant with the girls i had serious fears that they wouldn't be as pretty as him. shallow, i know). he was also one of the calmest, most content, easiest to live with babies in the history of babies. he LIVED in his baby papasan swing. so easy going and pleasant (which was a GIGANTIC contrast to his brother jack. GIGANTIC).

dennis has grown into the wildest of my boys. and the toughest. i'm pretty sure that as they get older, thomas and jack will be running to get dennis to beat someone up for them (i should also note here that dennis is way, way littler than thomas and jack. they have always ranked in the 95+ percentile on height and weight charts. dennis tops out around 50%). dennis also had one of the first real emergency room visits requiring ketamine (for real...special k!!! wtf?!?!) and 10 stitches in his face by a plastic surgeon (proof of the "wildest" and "toughest" designations). he's also way more independent than his brothers, getting dressed by himself, going to school/camp with no tears, etc.

dennis is also convinced that he's the coolest of my boys (he may be right, there, too). the other day i was telling katie that someone said she was the sweetest girl they ever met and dennis, with no hesitation, said "did she tell you i was the coolest guy she ever met?" as if there was no question about it, he just wanted to know if the person passed along the info. dennis is also my tattoo kid. the other boys NEVER wear fake tattoos (which is a little weird as i have three real ones of my own). dennis ALWAYS has one. if we don't have the rub-on kind, he draws one on himself. cool. on tuesday, i had to take jack and dennis for school physicals and i was listening to the radio. "knock you down" by keri hilson, kanye and ne-yo was on and i was singing my heart out (it's my ring tone, right now, after all). when it ended, dennis said "i want to hear a song with a guitar." i started switching stations and a commercial with a nirvana song came on. when the clip ended, he said "that song had a guitar! you missed it!" i explained it was a commercial and kept looking. i found "doa" by the foo fighters and before i even settled on it, dennis yelled "that's it! that's the guitar song i want to hear!" see...cool. what other 4 year has such tremendous taste in music? my final dennis story involves his personal grooming (and his similarity to his father). tommy was taking the boys to game stop the other day and dennis went up to go to the bathroom before they left. he came downstairs and sat next to me and i smelled something vaguely familiar. sniffing, i asked him what he did. "nothing" was his reply. i sniffed again and realized what i smelled. i asked "did you put daddy's gel in your hair?" (tommy uses lots of gel. lots. he's pretty particular about it, too.) his response was "we are going out!" as if it is totally normal for a not-quite-four-year-old to gel his hair to go to game stop!!! see...again...cool. love this kid!
in short...he is a pleasure and a joy to have around here. he makes us laugh with his funny humor (and funnier pronunciation) and makes life easier with his independence (and consistent "help" doing the laundry). i would not trade my "baby boy" for anything in the world! happy 4th birthay, dennis! we love you!

11 comments:

  1. happy birthday dennis joseph! i can not wait to party with you tonight!

    do you remember how beore he could crawl he would scot around your house on little ride on toys. we thought he would never walk because he was so much quicker on the toys. and his obsession with sneakers, whenever we would come over he would immediately show us his shoes. god, i love him!

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  2. what a great story, that is funny he knows hes the coolest guy.

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  3. You are so blessed! You have a wonderful looking family and the cutest kids! Happy Birthday to Dennis!

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  4. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the coolest guy around!!

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  5. Happy birthday! I hope you have a fabulous day!

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  6. Yeah!! Hope you have fun celebrating!!!!

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  7. He sounds like a beautiful, spirited, energetic child!

    With an equally beautiful mom :)

    Happy Birthday!

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  8. What an awesome kid! I want two boys and I hope they are just like this.

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  9. HAPPY belated BIRTHDAY to little man Dennis!!!!

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