Happy Birthday Jeran!

Thirteen years ago today this kiddo entered the world, too early to be born yet, but too excited to care.  After only a week in the NICU, he joined us at home and hasn't slowed down since.  When he was three and might have been starting preschool, I debated holding him back a year (seeing how his actual due date wasn't until September anyway).  Within a few weeks he literally started reading.  I thought he had memorized the book so I tested him again...  And again...  He was really reading.  (And hasn't stopped.)

With preemies you always worry about delays, but Jeran always kept the worries away.  The peace in knowing he had not only avoided delays, but was advanced for his age was a blessing.  When we realized he might be born early and I was put on bed rest, Tim and our home teachers gave me a priesthood blessing.  The council of the blessing was to trust in the timeline of the Lord, and that Jeran would be healthy and without delays.  

The timeline of the Lord brought Megan into our home shortly after the birth of Jeran.  By his actual due date, we had a 3 month old baby (Megan) and a 6 week old baby (Jeran), and one very excited 2 year old (Nate).  The next year was a whirlwind of formula, bottles, diapers, burpies, car seats, and sleepless nights.  

Thirteen years later, they're still best buds.  They went to preschool together, and from preschool to middle school, were only in separate classes 4 times.  Teachers kept advising us that "multiples" do better apart, but whenever we'd try it they'd end up back in the same class, and it seemed they did fine either way.

It seems like each year we're a little birthday'ed out by the time we get to Jeran's birthday, and adding Gabby's birthday in there this year only 9 days before Jeran's birthday didn't help the birthday energy.  His big day is also the day after Pioneer Day, a big holiday in Utah, so he has to fight a little for his moment in the spotlight.  

But this year he was looking forward to signing up for facebook the moment he turned 13.  He even baked these cookies yesterday afternoon:

That's a "J", the number 13, and FB for facebook

He also had his alarm set for midnight but didn't wake up until 6:00 a.m.  A little later he got a text from one of his friends saying, "I waited up until 4:00 a.m. to add you as a friend.  Where were you?"  Oops.

Unfortunately, the hype of facebook wore off, and the reality of the day set in.  It seemed that once again we had lost our birthday energy by the time Jeran's birthday rolled around.  (We'll need an energy boost for Joie in a few weeks...then put our birthday season to bed again until next summer.)

Somehow this year an extreme lack of planning had us forgetting to plan a birthday celebration before Megan and Joie left for Brighton Camp early this morning.  Also this morning Gabby was missing her sisters before they were even out the door.  I found her outside early this morning with tears in her eyes (she said it was just allergies), and later this afternoon those tears turned into huge sobs missing her sisters.  We had decided we'd do a family celebration when Megan and Joie get back from camp, and Jeran would have a friend celebration tomorrow...

But three of his really good friends can't come on the day he planned his party because they're also going  out of town.  We could tell the day was getting him down...  Long story short, we were rescued by Captain America, followed by an all guys camping/fishing trip Tim threw together this afternoon for him and the boys.

So now it's just Gabby and me here at home...  Right now she's downstairs singing with a friend and looking forward to a week of day camps at a local farm starting tomorrow.

And I promise we love you, Jeran, and could never, never, never forget your birthday.  Well... there was that one time (we're not kidding there, folks).