"Baby Caleb" is 11!!

  How is it that he still seems like my "baby Caleb"?  He's growing too fast!  Caleb is my sensitive second child.  He has the biggest heart ever.  He loves loves loves our babies and it doesn't take long for them to figure out "Buddy" is the guy to hang with.  Addison will actually call him when she wants something or wants to play.  I trust him to keep her safe over his big brother!!  He is a nurturer.  He loves animals as much (if not more) than people and He loves the Lord.  He truly desires to understand and obey God's laws and ways.  Loving God and loving others is not an issue for this guy!  Sometimes loving or caring too much is though ( I totally get that!).  He, like all our kids, has many names.  Caleb Matthew, Caleb, Mattie, Buddy and Buuud!  Buddy came from the little's not being able to say Caleb.  Mattie was my nickname, Paul's mom's nickname and my Grandma's nickname!  His middle name was picked out thinking of all three and still makes me smile every time I say it.  Usually I am the only one who calls him Mattie.  And Buuud was given by his Papa.  Remember the Cosby Show and that little girl always called her friend Bud but it was all drawn out... Buuud?  That's where that came from.

   For those of you who don't know, when Caleb was 6 they thought he might have Muscular Dystrophy.  It was the scariest time ever and the most amazing.  They were sure he had Limb Girdle MD and then after tests he didn't.  They continued to test, sure he had X but after prayer and time the tests continued to come back normal or just off but not enough to classify him as having it.  The craziest test came for the final disease Pompeii Disease.  It came back positive :0(  We prayed and called all of our friends to join us.  They retested (the same sample) down at Duke University for the second time and it came back negative???!!!!  Yup, same skin, same lab, same doctors... same God doing miracles!  He stopped going downhill physically all of a sudden and started making gains.  Last summer I watched him run and cried. I couldn't believe he could do it.  He was finally labeled with just mild muscle weakness. That does give him issues at times.  He gets very sore especially in the summer after sitting all winter and he can't run as well as other kids his age.  He has very tight leg and hip muscles and doesn't make muscle easy.  Unfortunately that means he easily gains weight unlike his rail thin brothers.  The weight tends to level out after growth spurts though so that's good.  What he has discovered is having tight hips means you can rock a Rip Stick and a snow board!!  I am thrilled watching him grow and still rattled to the core when I watch any shows about MD or muscle diseases affecting children.  I know so many of their feelings as parents but was blessed not to have them become reality.  I pray and cry for them anytime I see them.

  Sorry, that got kind of downer... it was suppose to be a victory story!!  And it is!   Here are a few birthday pics.

New Rip Stick.  No more borrowing his big brother's.

Here's cake #1 just for family on his actual birthday.  It was a giant cookie with lots of frosting!  He decided it was better than mom's homemade because it had more frosting!  Thanks...

Cake #2 was an ice cream sandwich cake with chocolate whip cream, carmel and chocolate syrup AND peanut butter cup crushed up over the top... very low calorie!

Did I mention it was two layers of that??  It was DEElicious!!  

Thank you Lord for letting me be the parent of THIS child.  He challenges me and makes me a better person everyday.

Happy Birthday Mattie... I love you!!