Hopes and Wishes

Today, Noah turns nine years old.  It is hard to believe that my little boy is half way to graduating high school.  He is such an amazing kid...he really honestly and truly amazes me.  I am excited to look to the future and see what it holds for him.

Noah just chillin with my dad.  He was around three years old here and he loved my dad.

It was so hard to sift through nine years of photos, thousands of photos, and choose only a few to sum up his life.  Looking through photos from when he was a baby and a toddler brought tears to my throat.  Usually, I look at old photos and smile silently to myself, pondering on old memories.  But, something changed this birthday.  A sort of sadness that I cannot describe.  Maybe it is the fact that a person cannot go back and relive the past, it is gone.  Noah will never be an awesome baby again...or a crazy two year old...  He will never have to relearn how to ride a bike or tie his shoes or have another first day of preschool.  All of those precious memories, some milestones in his life, are complete and will never come around again.  I know it sounds cliche, but it is so important to make every moment in life count.

Noah has always been a very good, usually well behaved, little boy. 

Noah was ring bearer in my cousins wedding.  This is one my favorite photos of all time. 

It is amazing how grown up he is now.  Not only has he, upon his own request, been putting on deodorant and body spray, but every morning his also combs and styles his hair!  When I woke him up this morning with a Happy Birthday song, he said, "It's my birthday today?  Huh...I still only feel like I am eight."  Apparently he thought that he would feel different at nine years old.

I have so many hopes and wishes for him.  I hope that he grows to be a noble young man with a kind heart and always the best of intentions.  I think that he is well on his way to being an amazing young man.

Happy Birthday Noah!