your golden birthday

to my sweet, sweet carson on your "golden" birthday,

i'm not really sure how we got to eleven already.  i swear it was just a few days ago you were a tiny little preschooler singing along with mickey mouse and handy manny calling leaves "leaps" and telling us "love, love" at night.  now we're watching all the avengers/super hero movies and cartoons are a thing of the past.  bodily functions are what's funny now (as with any other eleven year old i know) and every once in a while i think i catch an eye roll in my direction.  watching you grow up and get bigger and stronger by the day is by far my favorite thing.  knowing where you started and the odds stacked against you makes you all the more amazing.  your dad and i had never been parents before, we didn't know what to do or how to act with something so tiny and fragile.  but you taught us that good things come in teeny tiny packages and that you are not as fragile as you look.  you are the strongest, bravest, smartest, funniest, most resilient kid i know who started off in a 1 lb 15 ounce body.  you are our living, breathing, walking, running, climbing, swimming, miracle.  i am thankful for every single second we have gotten to spend with you since you made your grand, yet very early, entrance into this world.  and while we will always feel like a piece is missing we know cooper is up there watching you amaze everyone down here.  happy, happy golden birthday to the one and only, carson.  

and as usual, she couldn't leave his side for one second.  did i mention that he is probably the best big brother anyone could ever imagine having!