For the B-man

G-man fans, this one is a little off track. In fact, it's not about him at all. It's barely even about me. But it is about some pretty cool friends we have and an awesome boy that turns two today. Read on...

In October 2007, I was 7 months pregnant with the G-man. Coincidentally, my two best friends from high school were also pregnant. Laura was expecting her second in April and Becky shared my nerves and the feeling of disbelief by expecting her first in July. And unknown to us, we were all having boys. It was cool to be experiencing another chapter of our lives together, 20 years after we first met. We talked about what was happening with our kiddos growing inside and our growing waistlines.

Yet despite all the emails and updates we received from the mom-to-be gurus, we each knew there was no such thing as a normal pregnancy. For starters, in November, I went on bed rest and the G-man came the next month as a wee thing a wee early.

Laura was actually pregnant for the third time, having miscarried earlier in 2007 at almost 20 weeks. Without knowing what had happened then, it was hard to know what would happen now. (And I have to admit, I'm ashamed that I wasn't there for her more when she was going through that pain. It took having the G-man to make me realize what it must have been like.) I was always so happy when each month passed, each visit was great and CJ arrived as a perfect little dude right on time.

But by far, the biggest surprise of all came to Becky two years ago today when the B-man was born. Not expected to make an appearance until the first week of July, a showing during March Madness was, well, madness. What was the universe doing?!

So early, so tiny, so fragile, no one knew what to expect, including something we mommies take for granted once our little ones are beside us, not inside us - would he live?

The first hours for the new family weren't fairy tale happy. They were chaotic, dramatic, filled with frustration, worry and fear. But they were also filled with a rush of love. B-man was here. He couldn't be cuddled, not even touched, but he'd already moved into everyone's hearts.

He fought everything that came his way, and slowly the fear lifted and we knew B-man was now here...to stay. But it wasn't easy. He charmed the NICU for almost 4 months, sometimes mixing it up, sometimes keeping it all smooth sailing. And each day, he brought his own family and their friends closer to him and each other. Not a bad day's work for someone barely bigger than a dollar bill.

Fast forward through the next months as B-man gets his groove on and, while facing challenges large and small, starts meeting his milestones and grows into an amazing little boy. So many problems or detours could have happened along the way and yet it turns out the universe really knew what it was doing. He has some permanent hearing loss, but is rapidly learning sign language so nothing can stop him. And now, two years later, he's almost caught up to his peers on so many levels. But one that he excelled in from the beginning was the amount of love he gave and received.

And now, since G-man, CJ and B-man all arrived within 4 months of each other, I'm lucky enough to experience another journey with my amazing friends.

Happy 2nd Birthday B-man!

(ps: don't take my word for it - want to see how awesome B-man really is? his blog is first on my links to the right.)