Happy Birthday Clayton!

Clayton Andrew turned five years old today.  Wow.  I can't believe this day is here.  I remember some casual statistic roll off the tongue of a cardiologist when I was pregnant with Colin.  She said about 75% of children with HLHS make it to their fifth birthday.  I think she was trying to be comforting, but let's face it, those aren't really great statistics, and of course, Colin was in the other 25%.  Clayton, however, continues to thrive and live each day not knowing there is anything different about him.  Just the other day he told me, "When Eli gets big he can take meds like me."

Oh Clayton.  You just don't have any idea how special you are.

This morning the birthday boy was treated to an early morning donut run with his dad.  They brought home donuts, selected by Clayton, for the family.  We had a great morning in church (Aaron stayed in the nursery, which is always a blessing).  Then this evening we had Clayton's friends William and Abby and their mom, Elana, over for dinner and some cake.  Due to deployments and travel, these kids hadn't seen each other in many months, and they had a great time together.  We got Clayton a swing set for his birthday, and it was put to some good use tonight.

5 years old

Clayton selected this very patriotic donut.

Clayton and his long time buddy, William

These two are good friends.

Five candles on a carrot cake.  I never ate carrot cake as a child.  I guess no one ever served it to me.  In fact, I didn't even know carrot cake actually contained real carrots until I was an adult.  Anyway, I'm making sure I'm raising my kids the right way.  Carrot cake is delicious, and it's a favorite around here.

We are going to have a birthday party on Saturday.  We've always had small celebrations with just family or our close friends, but this year we're having a real kid party at the park.  We'll see how it goes.  Pray for good weather and minimal wind.  This is Oklahoma.