Junior

Last Saturday we were finally home. I don't know where the past 2 months have gone...but we've been too busy. Little man is 8 months old in this pic! He is loving MOST table food and NOT eating baby food-that's another post. Anyway, after putting him in the tub last weekend, I tip-toed into his room to put this outfit on. And presto-JUNIOR! There's a story behind this outfit. I am the first person to say "dress them like babies-they have the rest of their life to wear Polo"...but this outfit has a story that makes me cry and I feel the need to write about it.

A little background info for this post: My husband lived in Chicago for several years before he moved home when we got married. His boss in Chicago was John...Italian, wears mostly black, strong New England accent, and a charmer! Daniel was like a fish out of water...STRONG Southern accent, Preppy, and far away from home with no family close by. Johnny and his wife Mary took Daniel in as their son. They spent holidays together and shared lots of good times. When we began dating Johnny took me in and gave me the name "Sunshine" and it stuck...now on to "Junior"...

Last December we were stunned, scared, terrified, shocked, worried, didn't want to talk about it, wanted to tell everyone we knew...lets just say every emotion, when we found out about Baby Boy's diaphragmatic hernia. The day we got the confirmed diagnosis, I needed normal. So I took baby girl to church to "Jingle Jam". My hubby needed information, so he stayed home and researched online...something I had forbid myself to do. I sat on the back row with friends and cried. I cried because of the amazing truth of Jesus' birth and I cried because I wanted everything to be ok. I just wanted things to be normal. I had only shared the news with a very few people so most of the people that saw me that night wanted to know how how much longer before I would be having our baby boy. I can't tell you how surreal it felt to have this "secret". I wanted to tell everyone and yet no one, all at the same time. I wondered if people would say the same things to me if they knew that something was wrong with my baby. I wondered if they would say anything at all. I wondered if they would look past me, not knowing what to say...because really, what do you say?

MW and I made it home from church only to find Daniel with tear stained cheeks still looking at the computer. He knew all of the questions to ask for our appointment on Monday, he had watched videos and found great hospitals. We put Miss Priss down and then tried to sleep. I didn't really want to know anything Daniel kept talking about because I was still in shock...sleep didn't come...

The next morning I was VERY anxious. I had so many questions running through my mind. I was fine one minute and crying the next. I composed a mass e-mail to send out because I didn't want to tell the story over and over but I wasn't ready to hit "Send" just yet. Some how by telling everyone it made it more real. I wanted to "do" something but the doctor said there was nothing I could do to make things better or worse, so I started nesting and vacuuming-needing to "DO SOMETHING". 2 people called that day that will always stand out in my mind. One of them was my husband's boss Johnny. The phone rang and I answered, only to hear the best New England accent I've ever heard "Hello Sunshine, Dan told me about the baby and I just wanted to check on you." I began to SOB. Just the fact that he picked up the phone-I just can't put into words how much it meant to me. He proceeded to tell me that he did not mean to upset me, he didn't know what to say, he only wanted to check on us...and all I could say over and over was "thank you so much for calling you don't know how much it means." And in true Johnny fashion, he had me laughing by the end of the conversation, reminding me not to name my kid John because who names their kid after a toilet!

Fast forward to after Little Man was born, a package arrived containing this outfit from the pictures above. Polo button up, khaki pants and a d-ring belt with a note that said "So you can dress like Daddy!" Love, John and Mary. A little poking fun at Daniel-and an extremely thoughtful gift all in one! So here to you Johnny and Mary-I love you more than I tell you! Thank you for picking up the phone and just calling...it's something I'll never forget! I pray that I will ALWAYS call the people I love, even when I don't know what you say. God used your phone call in more ways than you will ever know and if I do say so myself...Junior looks too cute in his "preppy Polo daddy gear!"

PS The shoes are hand-me-downs from my nephew that complete the "Daddy Junior" look. For those of you who want to know a little secret about my husband...he's worn grey New Balances for at least the last 15 years. He gets a new pair every year for Christmas from his mom that become the "Good" ones. He wore them before they were "cool" and will continue to wear them LONG after they are cool because when he finds something he likes-he sticks to it! Kind of like the mirrored Costa sunglasses he was wearing when we first started dating 9 years ago...I HATED them but he wouldn't budge! :) I was secretly happy when he told me he lost them...until he told me he got another pair...just like them!