"Happy Birthday, Dear William..."

(Will this morning with his birthday muffin. He blew the candle out all by himself!)

One year ago today, our lives were forever changed. God gave us the most precious gift we have ever received. That gift arrived at 10:29 am, May 10, 2005, after much anticipation. We cried with tears of joy and called him William Reed Prather. One year ago, I became a mom and Scott became a dad.

Today is Will's first birthday. It is hard to believe that one year has already gone by. He weighed in at 6 lbs, 7 oz, 19.5 inches long and now he is such a big boy at almost 19 lbs. He was beautiful at birth; he becomes more and more handsome as each day goes by. Born with light brown hair, it is now unmistakably blonde. He has kept his blue eyes so far; maybe he will take after his grandpa Harvey and two great-grandpas.

It did not take us long to realize that Will was full of personality. He smiled for the first time at 5 weeks and has not stopped smiling since. He is one of the happiest babies I have ever encountered, and for that alone I know we are truly blessed. Will loves people and loves to laugh. He is so curious that he often refuses to sleep because he must know what is going on at all times! With our crazy schedules, he has always been a trooper, putting up with everything we put him through. He is the light of our lives, a light that I pray will never grow dim, but keep shining brighter and brighter!

Our journey began on Thursday, September 16, 2004. I went in for a regular appointment with my doctor and asked him to run a pregnancy test...I was suspicious even though I had tested negative at home the day before. It was about 10:00 am; I had left work for a quick doctor's visit. While I was waiting in the exam room, I heard a student nurse out in the hallway say, "This test is positive!!" My heart leapt. There were several other patients there; could she be talking about me? Seconds later, the nurse and doctor poked their heads around the door with huge smiles on their faces. I will never forget those looks. "Guess what?" he said. "You're pregnant!" I was so excited and so scared all at the same time. The worst part was, I had to go back to work and not say anything to anyone!! On my way to Scott's office to pick him up for lunch, I stopped by the flower shop where I used to work to get him a white rose. On the card, I put, "Clear your calendar for May 22 [my due date]." As soon as he saw it, he knew. We went out to eat to celebrate! My mom knew that I was going to the doctor that day and was suspicious that I was pregnant. I didn't want to say anything yet, because I was also waiting on a blood test to come back to further confirm the pregnancy. She called me that afternoon before I got the results back and I basically told her that everything was fine and I would call her back later. It was so hard to do that! But when I got the results back, we called our parents to let them know the good news.

The next 7 1/2 months went by fairly quickly and without incident. I had a great pregnancy. Of course, in April, I had to go on best rest, but you all know that story! So that brings us up to May 9th. I woke up that morning and began having strange cramp-like pains about every 15 minutes. I had never really had any Braxton-Hicks contractions, so I didn't really know what contractions felt like, but come to find out, that's what they were! I called the doctor's office and talked to the nurse to see what I should do. She said to come in when they were 5 mintues apart (duh!). So I waited. I called my mom and told her what was going on. She said that I would definitely be having the baby by the next day, so she booked a flight to Midland at 9:30 that night. When she and Scott got back to the house at about 11:30, I took some castor oil in rootbeer, just to make sure things were getting going.

Sure enough, I woke up at 2:30 am with contractions about 5 minutes apart. I woke up my mom and Scott and we got to the hospital at 3:30 am. Since it was the middle of the night, only 2 nurses were on staff (little hospital!) so it was a while before I was checked in and given pain medication. When we first got to the hospital, I was already dialated to a 5. At 7:30 am, when I finally got my epidural (I love you Skip, wherever you are!), they broke my water and I immediately went from a 6 to an 8! At 10:00 am, I began pushing. Will was ready to come out! He was born at 10:29, much to all of our surprise--the doctor wasn't quite ready for him, but he did catch him in time--yea! My wonderful friend Harmony was awesome and videoed the whole thing (strategically--you rock, girl!) and Mom and Scott were right by my side. It was a wonderful birth. I am so thankful for how it all went. Will was able to come home the next night and I have only been away from him one night since!

I thought I would share some of my favorite pictures from the last year:

The picture to the left is our little family on Will's two-week birthday, May 24.


While in Katy in July, we had professional pictures taken of Will and I. The one to the right is my favorite.

All decked out in baseball duds! ~Sept. '05

Smiling with Grandma La Don, July '05.

Dressed as a pea pod for Halloween!

With Grandpa Tim at Thanksgiving.

With Great-grandpa Harvey at Christmas.

With Nana Terri at New Year's.

A happy smiley boy in January.

There are so many more pictures that I could post of my sweet baby, but I will stop here for now. I will never forget these moments. Every detail is imprinted on my memory and on my heart. I love you, Will. Happy Birthday.

Love, Mommy :)