Breath of Fresh Air

Aero turns 11 months in 4 days. Which means he turns 1 next month. And I can hardly believe that a child can grow up so quickly.

When he was born, he had to wear oxygen for the first 3 months of his life; which I found a little ironic since his name means "air" in English (it's also a European spelling of "Aaron"). He looked like such a fragile little thing. Very cute. Extremely cute. But fragile. Today I look at him and the oxygen days seem like another life. He is lively, flirty, cuddly, and smiley.

In the times during our 2 miscarriages, I prayed for the Lord's perfect timing for our next little baby. I knew He knew which sperm with which egg would make the perfect addition to our little brood. And it was Aero. I can't explain or pretend to understand if it was supposed to be him all along; but I do know that he is a breath of fresh air in my life. He is perfect for our family.

I've seen such a tender side in Marcail that had not had reason to come out before; she adores her baby brother, and is protective, caring, watchful, and adoring. Donovan has gone through a little adjustment in handing over the "baby of the family" role, but most of the time, he is just eager to do boy things with his brother already. I have to explain to him that Aero isn't big enough to wrestle with yet, though I appreciate the sentiment. The nice thing is that Aero is good-natured and also appreciates the sentiment : )

Aero will squeal and I will hear the pitter-patter of little hands and knees crawling on our wood floors as he races as fast as he can go, to keep up with his siblings. He is already so eager to be one of them, to be in the middle of their games and play.

But mostly, I just know that for me personally, he brightens my life. I look at him and see answered prayers. I see a gift from Heaven, longed for and sought for, and finally delivered; and upon delivery, finding the gift above and beyond what I could have imagined.